- AMDS FSR 4 -performance is slightly weaker than FSR 3, based on New Fidelityfx SDK 2.0 Demo Test
- The benefit difference is only 5%, which is not significant but may be at much lower image speeds or weaker GPUs
- FSR 4 can still be the best choice for RDNA 4 GPU users
AMDS FSR SCALLING TECCHNOLOGY has come a long way in providing excellent performance and visual quality, with the jump from FSR 3 to FSR 4, which serves as proof of it, especially on one of the best GPUs on the market – but there is a catch.
New FIDELIDELFX SDK 2.0 Tests from tech enthusiast Osvaldo Pinali (Opinali on x) Showcase FSR 4’s Tax on Performance In Games Compared to FSR 3. Using Radeon RX 9070 XT in an FSR Demo, FSR 3.1.5 gives 290 FPS, while FSR 4.0.2 achieves 276 FPS.
The new SDK (Software Development Set) is expanding FSR 4 -Support with increased developer access to game integration, which also briefly saw FSR 4 go Full open source before AMD removed it from GitHub-AS points to Team Red’s efforts to Porting FSR 4 back to older GPUs.
Without going out of the point, Pinali essentially discovered that FSR 4 has 37% higher GPU use, probably due to its machine learning (ml) -based AI functionality. However, the image speed difference between FSR 3 and FSR 4 in FidelityFx SDK 2.0 is only 5%, which is simply not significant enough to prevent performance in play.
FSR 4S improvements of visual quality over FSR 3 are arguably night and day; It is not as good as NVIDIA’s DLS 4 offering, but it is a good alternative and has already surpassed DLSS 3 with regard to its super solution quality.
Where the 5% difference can have a slightly greater influence, with weaker RDNA is 4 GPUs or in games that require running, which has much lower average image speeds.
In the test I can choose the FSR version. With FG from, Vsync Off: 9070 XT, FSR 3.1.5: 290FPS9070 XT, FSR 4.0.2: 276FPSSRX 5080, FSR 3.1.5: 356FPSUPSCALE TIME IS FSR3.1 = 0.51MS, FSR4 = 0.70ms. FSR4 costs +37% GPU; Still a small fraction of the total frame, even for this simple demo.🔚August 23, 2025
Analysis: If AMD can Backport FSR 4 For older GPUs, it could be a stronger NVIDIA DLSS 4 alternative
There does not deny that Nvidia is at the forefront of both the GPU market and the scaling technology. DLSS 4 is available on all RTX GPUs and does a great job of ensuring that the image quality is large even when using its benefit conditions.
While FSR 4 is doing a similar thing that comes from FSR 3, the problem is that it is not enough to directly challenge DLSS 4, and FSR 4 is exclusive for RDNA 4 GPUs. This comes down to ML-based technology and advanced AI-hardware in RDNA 4, but if it becomes available on older hardware, Team Red Red itself in a better position against Nvidia when it comes to scaling.
I use an NVIDIA GPU so this doesn’t quite affect me, but it will be interesting to see how a potential backport of FSR 4 will affect RDNA 3.5 IGPUs on handheld games -PCs.
