Microsoft Confirms AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution Coming To Xbox Series X
In just a few weeks, AMD will flip the switch on its highly anticipated FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling technology, and we will find out if the real-world results match the company's claims and what it showed off during Computex 2021. It's not just headed to PC, either. At some point, Microsoft will enable FSR on its Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S game consoles, the company confirmed.
What's at play here is a "spatial upscaling technique" that is used to create a "super resolution" image from game engine input frames. Similar to NVIDIA's proprietary Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, the idea is to render images at a lower resolution and then upscale them, to improve performance at higher resolutions.
They are not identical technologies, though. FSR does not require machine learning, which is the key component to DLSS, and it is open source, so in theory it can work on any GPU. AMD even demonstrated FSR running on a GeForce GTX 1060, though it will "be up to [NVIDIA] to do the work on behalf of their gaming community" if it so chooses.
As for working on Microsoft's latest generation Xbox game consoles, the company told IGN FSR will in fact be ported over, and will share more details at a later date.
"At Xbox, we're excited about the potential of AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution technology as another great method for developers to increase frame rates and resolution. We will have more to share soon," the company said.
Microsoft can add FSR to the FidelityFX pile. Earlier this year, it was announced that certain FidelityFX tools were being injected into AMD's Game Developer Kit (GDK) for the Xbox Series X and S. At the time they included Variable Shading, Contrast Adaptive Sharpening, and Denoiser.
"For gamers, AMD FidelityFX coming to Xbox Series X/S means that future Xbox games will be able to benefit from all the platform-specific optimizations and incredible visuals that FidelityFX already helps deliver on PC games," AMD said at the time.
FSR continues to extend its reach. Earlier this week, AMD announced it was expanding GPU support to its legacy Radeon RX 480 and Radeon RX 470 graphics cards, in addition to its entire ranges of Radeon RX 6000 and Radeon RX 5000 series, its Radeon RX Vega products, and all AMD Ryzen processors with Radeon graphics (APUs).
Intel also hinted that its Xe-HPG graphics chips for gaming might support FSR. While nothing has been decided in that regard, Intel's graphics boss Raja Koduri said he and his team are "definitely looking it."
