The presentation of the FSR 3 technology took place just a few days ago and we finally had the opportunity to learn more about it. This technology has raised a lot of expectations, and this is completely understandable, because it is about AMD’s long-awaited answer to NVIDIA’s DLSS 3. However, it has also created many doubts and misunderstandings, which are ultimately the result of misinterpretations, exaggerations and half-truths.

That’s why I wanted to share with you this special article where as a guide I will explain everything you need to know about AMD FSR 3, and I will also help you solve all the doubts and myths that have already started circulating on the Internet. As always, if you have any questions after reading this article or something is not clear to you, you can leave it in the articles and I will help you solve it. Without further ado, let’s get started.

What is AMD FSR 3

In the strict sense of the word, FSR 3 groups a total of three different technologies that complement each other to achieve perfect synergy. On the one hand we have FSR Fidelity Super resolutionwhich is upscaling technology which until now we all know as FSR 2.

This remains the same keys as in the previous version, meaning it uses spatial and temporal elements from previous images to improve the quality of the scaling, that is, it doesn’t just stretch the pixels. It can be configured in four different modes:

• Quality, which offers image quality equal to or better than native. Renders 67% of total pixels.
• balanced, which offers a quality close to what we would get in native resolution. Renders 59% of total pixels.
• Performance, able to offer a quality lower than native, but acceptable depending on the base resolution. Renders 50% of the total number of pixels.
• ultra performance, achieves the greatest performance gain while maintaining limited image quality. Renders 33% of total pixels.

Second, we have Fluid movement, which is NVIDIA’s answer to DLSS 3. This technology is a more advanced version of frame interpolation, although its goal is the same, generate fully independent additional frames on the GPU using intermediate framing information, including time elements and motion vectors.

Motion vectors allow make a guess where the pixels should be in each of these generated images and spatial features also contribute to improve the final result of this estimate. Without this information, the final result would be terrible and we would have a lot of graphical errors and artifacts.

Thirdly, we have Anti-LAG+ technology, which aims to reduce the latency increase that occurs during frame generation. This is AMD’s alternative to NVIDIA Reflex and will be enabled by default in all games that use Fluid Motion for frame-to-frame generation.

How FSR 3 works and what it offers

The three technologies contained in this new AMD solution can work together, and when they do, they complement each other perfectly. Fidelity Super resolution render at a lower resolution than the target and then scale in this resolution using spatial and temporal elements. Depending on the quality level chosen, it can drastically increase performance in games, especially at high resolutions.

However, the more aggressive mode we use, the more the base resolution is reduced, so the quality of the graphics will be lower and the load on the GPU will be reduced, which can lead to CPU bottlenecks. There comes a point where it is no longer worthwhile to reduce the base resolution of upscaling because the loss of image quality is too great and the gain in performance too small.

AMD Fluid Motion technology helps improve fluidity in these scenarios because generates intermediate frames independently and is not affected by the bottleneck that the CPU can create. Those interframes affect the latency and Anti-LAG+ technology comes into play as a compensation, which changes the render queue to reduce lag caused by interpolated frames, thus improving latency.

As we can see, FSR 3 offers a set of complete solutions for improve game performance via two large keys, scaling and image generation. According to AMD, with all enabled technologies, it is possible treplicate frame rate per secondand thanks to Anti-LAG+ technology, we won’t have to worry about latency.

FSR 3 Supported graphics cards and release date

AMD has confirmed that FSR 3 You won’t need any specialized hardware to work, but left a list of supported and recommended graphics cards. This means that although this technology is theoretically compatible with models before those listed, its use is not recommended because according to AMD itself the result would not be optimal.

These are the supported graphics cards use the full version of FSR 3, including Fluid Motion:

Supported graphics cards

• AMD Radeon RX 5700 and higher.
• GeForce RTX 20 and higher.

Recommended graphics cards

• AMD Radeon RX 6000 and higher.
• GeForce RTX 30 and higher.

For use FSR 3 without Fluid Motionso only the new scaling technology, we will need:

Supported graphics cards

• AMD Radeon RX 590 and above.
• GeForce GTX 10 and higher.

Recommended graphics cards

• AMD Radeon RX 5000 and above.
• GeForce RTX 20 and higher.

FSR 3 is expected to debut with Fluid Motion in the fall of this year. The first games to fully support the technology will be Forspoken and Immortals of Aveum, although AMD has confirmed a fairly complete list of titles that will also support the technology in the future, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Lies of P.

Will I be able to use Fluid Motion on lower end graphics cards?

For example, will it be possible to use this technology on Radeon RX 5500 XT or Radeon RX 570? AMD has hinted that it does, saying that it doesn’t recommend it on graphics cards smaller than the Radeon RX 5700. This means that FSR 3 Fluid Motion it will work on lower end graphics cards but the result may be just as bad that it would not be advisable to use it after all.

However, I think Radeon RX 5600 XT should have no problems because after all it is a Radeon RX 5700 with a limited memory bus and 6GB of GDDR6. We will have to wait and see what results we get on more modest and older graphics cards when the first independent tests start to appear, but I recommend control expectations.

AMD also confirmed that this technology will work seamlessly on Xbox Series X and Series S. It’s unclear if it will be supported on the PS5, but there’s basically no reason to think it won’t be, as the said console already used FSR 2 in certain games like Cyberpunk 2077.

Will it be DLSS 3?

I will tell you the same thing that I said when FSR was introduced and we knew that this technology would be open and without special hardware requirements, and that is that most likely not. The reason is very simple, and it is that it is not possible to achieve the same level of quality with AI-supported image generation technology at both the hardware and software levels, as is the case with NVIDIA’s DLSS 3, which is limited to the use of spatial elements and motion vectors without additional hardware or AI support.

This is not to say that FSR 3 will be bad, no one knows that now. I’m just saying that the same level cannot be expected it currently offers NVIDIA frame generation via DLSS 3. Either way, it’s perfect normal and completely logicaland finally, AMD’s solution could compensate for its potential shortcomings in image quality with its high level of compatibility, since it does not require specialized hardware and will work on a wide range of graphics cards.

In addition, we must not forget the FSR 3 Fluid Motion gives a second life to Radeon RX 5700, Radeon RX 5700 XT and Radeon RX 6000 and will improve the value of these graphics cards and the Radeon RX 7000. It will also be interesting to see how this extra fluidity will help these last two generations improve the gaming experience by enabling ray tracing, something that is undoubtedly very noticeable in the GeForce RTX 40, so much so that we can activate the path tracking mode in Cyberpunk 2077 even with mid-range graphics cards.