Frame Gen For All is a win for gamers

AMD FSR 3 and HYPR-RX are two upcoming technologies that gamers are most looking forward to and with the recent announcements, we have to learn more about them and how they will help not only Radeon but also NVIDIA and Intel GPU owners to boost their capabilities. gaming performance.

AMD FSR 3 and HYPR-RX will be released very soon and will be a huge win for gamers of all camps

AMD FSR 3 and HYPR-RX are two technologies that may look similar to each other because their main goal is to enhance gaming performance but if you look at them closely, they are completely different from each other and we will explain what distinguishes them both on a technical and fundamental level.

AMD FSR 3 – NVIDIA DLSS 3 with wider hardware support

So let’s start with the big issue which is obviously FSR 3. AMD’s FSR 3 is part of the FiedilityFX Supersolution ecosystem that’s been around for years now since it was first announced with RDNA 2 GPUs. FSR technology is integrated into 300 games (current and upcoming) either formally or informally through modification injection. For the next chapter, AMD is introducing FSR 3 technology that extends FSR 1 and 2 with the addition of Fluid Motion Frames or AFMF technology.

AFMF is an enhanced optical streaming technology that combines with temporary game data to deliver a massive boost in gaming performance, more than 2x in some cases. Fluid Motion Frames technology combines Frame Interpolation and Frame Generation to achieve this dramatic performance gain and is something that feels familiar to NVIDIA’s DLSS 3 technology that has been around for a year now.

FSR 3 modes

So, starting with AMD FSR 3 modes, you will get the same quality, balance and performance modes but with FSR 3, AMD also adds a native quality anti-aliasing mode which will enhance the image quality and sharpness with FSR 3 at native resolution so it will not scale up. This is similar to NVIDIA’s DLAA where the image quality is optimized at native resolution:

• FSR3 original – AA/High quality sharpening with original precision
• FSR quality 3 – Better picture quality with upscaling
• FSR 3 Balanced – Balance quality and performance with upgrading
• FSR 3 Performance – Better performance with upgrade

FSR improvements 3

So, with modes out of the way, let’s talk about the improvements that FSR 3 offers over FSR 2. First, FSR 3 will include UI processing as an integral part of the algorithm, allowing for a UI free from in-game objects. The FSR 3 code is also written in HLSL making faster 4K frame generation in less time than competing upscaling technologies. This entire work is done in an asynchronous computational fashion which means that the main game rendering path will not be burdened with frame generation incorporation.

AMD is also aware of the latency spikes associated with frame generation and has its own answer to NVIDIA’s Reflex in the form of Radeon Anti-Lag+ which will lower latency. Anti-Lag+ can be enabled and disabled through the AMD Software: Adrenalin Drivers. AMD Radeon RX 7000 users will have access to Anti-Lag+ while owners of Radeon RX 6000 or lower GPUs can take advantage of the older Anti-Lag technology. Anti-Lag+ also works with AMD RDNA 3 iGPUs on Ryzen 7040 APUs.

But that’s not all, FSR 3 also includes an enhanced version of FSR 2 which is improved and offers better image quality and performance. Additionally, if any application already supports FSR 2, integrating FSR 3 will be much easier. You can also expect an open source license and FSR 3 will soon be added to the FidelityFX SDK.

To summarize FSR 3’s improvements:

• AMD Liquid Motion Frames with Enhanced OFA (AFMF)
• New frame generation techniques and frame interpolation
• UI processing for an artifact-free user interface
• Asynchronous computation for faster frame generation
• Radeon Anti-Lag+ support for lower latency
• It does not use ML/AI hardware
• Up to 3.4 times the performance gain
• Easy to integrate into FSR 2 titles
• MIT Open Source License
• They will be added to the FidelityFX SDK

What games will it support and what devices can it play?

AMD FSR 3 is coming to AAA titles this fall with two titles in the works, Forspoken and Immortals of Aveum. But AMD has more first-party titles that will get FSR 3 support in the future, possibly launching in 2024:

• Pandora’s Avatar Borders
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Warhammer 40K: Space Marine II
• Frostbank 2
• I study
• a team
• Annihilate the starship troopers
• The black legend Wukong
• Crimson desert
• Like the dragon of infinite wealth

The company is also working with several partner studios and game engines such as Unreal Engine 5 for which a plug-in is already on the way. The full list of development partners includes:

• Rookie Studios
• permanent games
• Square Enix
• Mega entertainment
• Ubisoft
• CD Project Red
• Saber Interactive
• Focus for entertainment
• 11-bit studios
• foreign industries
• Science game
• The Pearl of the Abyss
• sega
• Ryu ga Gotoku Studio
• Reflector (Bandai Namco)

In terms of hardware support, FSR 3 Vanilla (minus frame generation) works across Radeon RX 500 GPUs (and above) as well as NVIDIA RTX 10 GPUs (and above). Frame generation is supported by Radeon RX 5000 (and above) and NVIDIA RTX 30 (and above) GPUs. AMD now confirms that FSR 3 does not require ML hardware to run and this makes it accessible to a wider range of hardware.

AMD says it only recommends running FSR 3 in games running at least 60fps for an optimal low-latency experience. The company also states that it does not suggest using FSR 3 on cards below the recommended list because older cards may not provide the optimal gaming experience. Here is the list of support for this:

Supported and recommended hardware for AMD FSR 3 with upgrade and frame generation

Supported and recommended hardware for AMD FSR 3 with upgrade only

NB: AMD has not provided an update on FSR 3 support for RDNA 2 and RDNA 3 iGPUs but they should be supported.

This definitely comes as a huge win for owners of older NVIDIA machines and even AMD’s Radeon users who haven’t had access to frame generation features that were previously only supported by NVIDIA’s RTX 40 GPUs until now.

AMD HYPR-RX – Radeon HD + Fluid Frames in All DX12/DX11 Games

The second technology to boost performance is HYPR-RX which is basically a piece of software that is part of AMD’s software: Adrenaline Drivers. With HYPR-RX, AMD promises a one-stop-switch to boost performance in virtually any game that relies on DX12 or DX11 APIs. HYPR-RX has 3 main features:

• AMD Radeon Boost
• AMD Radeon Anti-Lag+ Processor
• AMD Radeon Super Resolution (RSR)

AMD Radeon Supersolution technology has slightly lower image quality than what FSR 3 will offer but gives a greater performance boost that in some cases can reach nearly 4 times the native resolution. In addition to that the feature also supports Radeon Boost. But what’s interesting is that the HYPR-RX will support AMD Fluid Motion Frames technology which is basically frame generation minus FSR 3 image quality. This will be the biggest performance boost of the three since you get an extra frame inserted into the rendering path that doubles the frame rate. automatically.

And to keep frame generation consistent, Anti-Lag+ technology will make sure that response times are kept under control and gaming experiences remain smooth and consistent. As for hardware support, since HYPR-RX technology requires Anti-Lag+ to be enabled, it is only supported by AMD RDNA 3 GPUs such as the Radeon RX 7000 series. There is no information on HYPR-RX support for AMD RDNA 3 iGPUs. However, since Anti-Lag+ is supported by the aforementioned iGPUs, you should expect HYPR-RX support as well. The program also will not work with NVIDIA or Intel GPUs.

To sum it up, HYPR-RX offers:

• AMD Liquid Motion Frame technology
• Radeon HD (No FSR mode)
• Up to 2.4x performance boost in games
• Supports all DX12 and DX11 addresses
• It is enabled by adrenaline drivers using switch
• Requires Anti-Lag+ GPUs (RDNA 3 and above)
• Launching September 6 (driver support)
• Anti-Lag+ support for Q1 2024

Regarding technology support:

• FSR 3 (Frame Generation) – AMD RX 5000 and up / NVIDIA RTX 20 and up
• FSR 3 (Vanilla) – AMD RX 500 and above / NVIDIA RTX 10 and above
• HYPR-RX (Anti Lag+) – Radeon RX 7000 and above / Radeon 700M iGPUs
• anti lag (vanilla)- AMD RX 5000 and above
• RSR – All AMD, NVIDIA and Intel GPUs

The demos and performance numbers for the AMD FSR 3 and HYPR-RX from the Red Team are quite impressive

AMD used multiple performance demos to showcase the enhanced performance that comes with the use of FSR 3 and HYPR-RX technologies.

Starting with FSR 3 Performance used Forspoken which showed 36fps in 4K Ultra with the High RT preset at native resolution and 122fps with the same settings but running the FSR 3 “Performance” preset. This represents a 3.4x performance increase.

AMD also showed off a new FSR 3 Native AA mode at 1440p using Ultra settings and the High RT preset. Without FSR, the game managed 64 FPS and with FSR 3 enabled, the game saw a boost to 106 FPS. This represents a 65% increase in performance.

For the HYPR-RX demo, I used AMD Lies of P tested at native 4K. The game delivers 73 FPS native and 178 FPS with HYPR-RX enabled (using AFMF). This represents a performance increase of 2.4 times.

You can also notice how latency drops when you run the HYPR-RX at native resolution since you get the benefit of Anti-Lag+ technology.

Impressions of AMD FSR 3 and HYPR-RX from Gamescom attendees

Well, the technologies themselves and the associated performance delivered by the Red Team are simply amazing but we’d also like to mention some early impressions from the folks who were in the Gamescom showroom and got to see this stuff in action. Digital Foundry Richard Leadbeater along with Alexandre Battaglia And John Lineman, they say they are impressed with what they saw at AMD’s presentation. I’ll just quote them on this:

So what does FSR 3 look like? At Gamescom, we demoed both games running the new technology active on Radeon 7900 XTX running at 4K. Both were running with v-sync turned on, which is what AMD recommends for frame rate purposes.

In the very small demo of Forspoken we saw, the game ran at 120fps and looked exactly as a simultaneous 120fps should look. The game was running in FSR 2 quality mode which provides a special boost to the frame rate, then Frame-gen takes you to the limit. In terms of smoothness and clarity, FSR 3 looked identical to DLSS 3 – an opinion shared by Alex, Rich and John, who were all present to watch the demos in person. Great start for FSR 3.

Digital Foundry

The FSR 3 demo was said to be able to “match” DLSS 3 and another cool aspect was how the technology handled the UI elements which looked really good. But since these were not working demos, there is still some waiting for a better comparison between DLSS 3 and FSR 3 but for now, FSR 3 is a big win for gamers especially consumers who are using older GPU equipment. FSR 3 will breathe new life into GTX 1060s, 2060s, 5700 XT cards, and even some of our favorite Polaris cards from years ago.

We also recommend checking out the following video from Daniel Owen which gives a comprehensive look at everything you can expect from FSR 3:

News sources: GPUOpen, AMD