Skip to main content

AMD is surprise-launching FSR 2.0 this week

While the highlight of today was certainly AMD’s RX 6000 refresh, the company has also announced its plans to launch FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 (or FSR 2.0) on May 12. The newest version of AMD’s upscaler will debut on Deathloop, a critically acclaimed first-person shooter which released last year. With FSR 2.0, AMD is hoping to catch up to Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (or DLSS) upscaling solution.

AMD had made it clear for some time that Deathloop was going to be one of the first games to feature FSR 2.0, but we expected it would come this summer. In fact, the news about FSR 2.0 was buried in a PR article that mostly focused on the new RX 6000 series refresh. AMD also announced all the other games that will receive FSR 2.0 support “in the coming months,” which means Deathloop will likely be the only FSR 2.0-capable game for some time.

A comparison of AMD FSR in Deathloop.

AMD announced several other games that will receive FSR 2.0 support. Here’s the full list:

  • Asterigos
  • Delysium
  • EVE Online
  • Farming Simulator 22
  • Forspoken
  • Grounded
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator
  • NiShuiHan
  • Perfect World Remake
  • Swordsman Remake
  • Unknown 9: Awakening

It’s crucial for AMD to close the gap with Nvidia on upscaling technology. Nvidia launched DLSS in late 2018 alongside its RTX 20-series GPUs, and AMD didn’t get the first version of FSR out until mid-2021. AMD in particular has needed good upscaling technology since its GPUs struggle more than Nvidia’s in ray tracing.

Although FSR 1.0 was a step in the right direction, it wasn’t enough to bring AMD to parity with Nvidia. FSR 2.0 could change that, however. One of the major improvements the 2.0 update brings is temporal or time-based data. Combined with better anti-aliasing, it could deliver image quality similar to DLSS.

Nvidia’s DLSS is based on machine learning, and while that can have a positive effect on image quality, it severely limits support. Only RTX 20- and 30-series Nvidia GPUs can use DLSS. By contrast, FSR can run on most GPUs made since 2017 (and even some from 2015 like the GTX 1070). AMD is hoping its more open source and more supported solution will be more appealing to gamers and developers, even if FSR 2.0 can’t match DLSS’s image quality.

Editors' Recommendations

Matthew Connatser
Matthew Connatser is a freelance writer who works on writing and updating PC guides at Digital Trends. He first got into PCs…
Why playing Marvel’s Spider-Man on an AMD GPU is such a disappointment
why playing marvel spider man on amd gpu disappoints respec featured

I've been singing the praises of AMD's FSR 2.0 (FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0) since I first saw it in Deathloop. It's a great performance-boosting tool, and going into testing of Marvel's Spider-Man PC port, I was expecting to see it close the gap between playing the game on an AMD GPU versus Nvidia.

But Marvel's Spider-Man PC port shows a different side of gaming on AMD -- and unfortunately, it's one that doesn't look nearly as impressive by comparison.
A litmus test for FSR 2.0

Read more
Nvidia DLSS isn’t magic, and this FSR hack proves it
nvidia dlss isnt magic and this fsr hack proves it respec

Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) has been an undeniable selling point for RTX GPUs since its launch, and AMD's attempts to fight back haven't exactly been home runs.

But what if FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) could grant the huge performance gains of DLSS without all the restrictions imposed by Nvidia? If that sounds too good to be true, I wouldn't blame you. After all, Nvidia's special sauce of machine learning wasn't supposed to be easily replicated.

Read more
Next-gen AMD and Nvidia GPUs just moved one step closer to launch
A graphics card in neon lights.

The upcoming next-gen Nvidia and AMD graphics cards have just been registered at the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), bringing them one step closer to launch.

Although this doesn't mean that all of the listed GPUs will launch this year (or at all), it does give us some insight into the exact models that AMD and Nvidia may be readying for their new lineups. There's also a hidden surprise that shows Nvidia may not be quite done with the RTX 30-series GPUs just yet.

Read more