AMD says FSR 4's new 'Performance' mode offers 'better than native' image quality in 4K

AMD delayed the RDNA 4 reveal and launch to ensure that the software side of the equation was where it needed to be. Raw performance and efficiency gains and other hardware improvements are always great. However, if the software support is lacking - not just on the driver front - then the experience can feel incomplete. This was an issue with RDNA 3, where AMD teased Frame Generation capabilities and other FSR improvements without them being ready on day one.

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All of that is changing on March 6, when the company launches its new Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT GPUs in collaboration with partners such as ASRock, ASUS, GIGABYTE, Sapphire, PowerColor, and more. Early adopters will enjoy the benefits of the new AI-powered FSR 4 in 30+ games on day one, with over 75 more titles adding support throughout 2025.

During an RDNA 4 pre-brief, AMD discussed all of FSR 4's advancements, from the new model being trained on cutting-edge AMD Instinct hardware to how its hybrid FP8 model was explicitly designed to take a lower-resolution image and recreate that at a much higher resolution with image clarity on par with native rendering.

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One example we were shown (this was a stream, so AMD used screenshots and zooms to showcase differences) was Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, running in 4K on the new Radeon RX 9070 XT. Using the 'Performance' preset, which means running the game at an internal resolution of 1080p before upscaling to 4K, AMD specifically showcased background image detail and the quality of things like foliage to demonstrate how it not only looks superior to the non-AI FSR 3.1 but superior to native rendering.

This is a bold claim as it would put image quality on par with NVIDIA's new DLSS 4 - and that would be a pretty incredible turn of events for FSR. It would go from being the upscaling solution with the most hardware support and the most impact on image fidelity to the upscaling solution with the least hardware support (FSR 4 requires an RDNA 4 GPU) and the least impact on image fidelity.