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Ticket Cerny: FSR 4 for PS5 Pro is the “next evolution of PSSR”

FSR 4 for PS5 Pro: The Next Leap Forward in Gaming Technology

By on March 10, 2025 0 46 Views

The RDNA 4 upscaling technology is the initial outcome of AMD/Sony’s Mission Amethyst partnership.

Last week, AMD unveiled its latest lineup of graphics cards, constructed on the new RDNA 4 framework. Machine learning capabilities have been significantly enhanced, paving the way for FSR 4 – a brand-new ML-driven upscaler that provides exceptional quality, comparable to Nvidia’s DLSS. Shortly after launch, AMD disclosed that this technology was co-developed with Sony as part of the Mission Amethyst project. In an interview with Digital Foundry, PlayStation’s lead system architect, Mark Cerny, stated that “our aim is to have a feature very similar to FSR 4’s upscaler available on PS5 Pro for games released in 2026 as the next step in PSSR.”

“The neural network (and training methodology) in FSR 4’s upscaler are the initial outputs of the Amethyst collaboration,” Cerny informed us. “The results are outstanding, utilizing a more sophisticated method that can surpass the clarity of PSSR. I’m immensely proud of the collaborative effort of our teams!”

You can also evaluate the quality of FSR 4 yourself by viewing the embedded video below, where Digital Foundry compares the new upscaler against the non-ML FSR 3.1, along with DLSS 3.7 and DLSS 4.0. While we have more detailed coverage to provide, our initial assessment of the new technology is that it represents a significant improvement over FSR 3.1, achieving quality gains over DLSS 3.7. Although there are areas where the new transformer-based DLSS 4 model excels, we were pleased to see that FSR 4 competes surprisingly well against Nvidia’s latest offerings.

However, it will take some time to witness the new technology transition to PlayStation 5 Pro. “Our priority for 2025 is collaborating with developers to integrate PSSR into their titles; concurrently, we have already begun to deploy the new neural network on PS5 Pro. Our goal is to have something closely resembling FSR 4’s upscaler ready for PS5 Pro for the 2026 games as the next evolution of PSSR; it should accept the same inputs and yield virtually identical outputs. Executing this implementation is quite ambitious and time-intensive, which is why you haven’t yet witnessed this new upscaler on PS5 Pro.”

Digital Foundry’s Alex Battaglia shares his initial impressions of AMD’s new FSR 4 upscaling technology.Watch on YouTube

The raw specifications of the new RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT are significantly superior to that of PS5 Pro – we’re discussing higher mid-range hardware here, situated in a market featuring GPUs that range from $200 to $2000. Meanwhile, our evaluations highlighted that FSR 4 does entail a considerable computational demand; nevertheless, Cerny is confident that PS5 Pro’s ML hardware is equipped for running FSR 4 without extensive re-engineering.

“That is our aim, and we are optimistic about achieving it,” he states. “The peak performance capability for PS5 Pro stands at 300 8-bit TOPS without sparsity, which compares very favorably to the recently launched AMD graphics cards. We don’t think sparsity is advantageous for this specific upscaling algorithm.”

Sparsity is a characteristic of ML hardware that is not supported in Pro, yet is available in RDNA 4. It refers to a strategy where a substantial portion of the data or computations in a neural network are deliberately reduced or omitted to enhance efficiency. Our understanding is that Nvidia employed sparsity to boost DLSS performance in the RTX 30-series ‘Ampere’ generation.

“RDNA 4 and the hardware in PS5 Pro are entirely distinct designs, which is why I refer to ‘reimplementation’ on PS5 Pro when discussing the new upscaling network utilized in FSR 4. I am genuinely excited about a future with co-developed hardware features for machine learning that will greatly improve interoperability.”

The Digital Foundry team shares their thoughts on the latest Amethyst revelations in this clip from the latest edition of DF Report Weekly.Watch on YouTube

According to earlier interviews, the Amethyst project is considered an extensive endeavor – one likely to extend beyond the lifespan of PS5 Pro, possibly into the subsequent generation of consoles. It seems likely that we may also see greater convergence in design, as opposed to the Pro’s proprietary ML solution, crafted by Sony itself.

“There are indeed two objectives, one short-term and one long-term,” Cerny clarifies. “The short-term goal is to co-design neural network architectures and training techniques for game graphics. We are stronger together than apart, so it makes a lot of sense to merge some of our resources when addressing these challenges. Since we initiated this collaboration earnestly in late 2023 (when the PSSR design was concluding), I am pleased to report that we have already seen results.

“The long-term objective is to work together to create a more optimal hardware architecture for machine learning, one capable of processing the neural networks necessary for game graphics at high speed. PS5 Pro provided a valuable learning experience for us at SIE, and of course, AMD has a wealth of knowledge from its multi-generational RDNA roadmap. Once again, it is beneficial to unite those areas of expertise.

“Let it be known, this technology extends beyond PlayStation, aiming to support significant advancements in machine learning across diverse devices – the greatest achievement occurs when developers…

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