- AMD FSR 4 supposedly replaces FSR 3.1
- In theory, this means that all FSR 3.1 games should support the latest technology.
- This is just a rumor, although it is consistent with hints that AMD has already dropped.
AMD could offer a whole bunch of games right off the bat to support FSR 4, its frame rate boosting technology exclusive to incoming RDNA 4 graphics cards (one of which will be Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, shown above). ).
So far, there’s been something of a guessing game as to how FSR 4 support might be shaken – especially since Nvidia has many PC games planned for rival DLSS 4 from launch – But this is the best news Team Red fans could have hoped for.
The theory is – and this is just a rumor, started on X by regular hardware leaker Kepler – that AMD will simply replace the existing FSR 3.1 DLL file with the new FSR 4 file.
This means, as a drop-in replacement, that FSR 4 will be compatible with all existing FSR 3.1 games, without game developers needing to do anything. In other words, it will “just work” with existing titles covered by FSR 3.1 support.
Or rather, it “should” be the case, as Kepler puts it, so we should note that they are not entirely sure. As always with rumors, we have to be cautious about them, but in this case AMD has already hinted that FSR 3.1 games will get FSR 4 in marketing materials (during the FSR 4 reveal at CES 2025) .
As VideoCardz, who noticed the post above, points out, there are over 50 games that currently support FSR 3.1, so it should be good to use FSR 4.
If you’re wondering why this support is based on FSR 3.1 rather than FSR 3, it’s because AMD made the decision to include frame generation with the former, hence upgrading from the latter to FSR 4 would require a lot more work than just dropping in a new DLL file.
Analysis: Good news, but with this capture of RDNA 4
So this is apparently good news for those considering purchasing an RX 9070 graphics card, which will be the first card to use FSR 4 when these next-gen GPUs are released in March. Indeed, AMD has already stated that the reason it’s taking a little longer with these RDNA 4 graphics cards is to prepare them for launch, perfect the graphics drivers as well as enable more FSR 4 games.
This seems like a smart move to me, especially considering the rumors surrounding Nvidia’s RTX 5000 lineup, which currently make it seem like there’s no big rush to get the RX 9070 on sale. I’d like to see all of these next-gen GPUs go on sale as soon as possible, ideally, but if I have to wait for a good product, so be it.
AMD’s FSR 4 seems like a huge step forward for Team Red’s frame rate boost, but the problem, of course, is that it’s exclusive to RDNA 4. This goes against the grain. of FSR as the technology was previously open in nature and available for Nvidia RTX GPUs, as well as previous generation AMD graphics cards (back to the RX 5000 series, technically, but not with frame generation).
So it’s a real shame to lose this aspect, but that’s apparently the price Team Red had to pay for FSR 4 to offer better quality upscaling (and frame generation). Given the constant chatter from gamers about how AMD supports DLSS in this regard, I’m hardly surprised that Team Red took this call, but as we’ve discussed in the past, it’s a compromise which some PC gamers might have a hard time accepting.
