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AMD FSR Upscaling 4.1 arrives for RX 9000 GPUs with sharper reconstruction and Ray Regeneration 1.1

AMD FSR Upscaling 4.1 launched for RX 9000 GPUs with sharper reconstruction, less ghosting and better temporal stability. Here is how it differs from Ray Regeneration 1.1, how to enable it, and why FPS gains are not guaranteed.
Length7 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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AMD released FSR Upscaling 4.1 on March 19, 2026, through AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.3.1. The launch targets Radeon RX 9000-series graphics cards and focuses primarily on image reconstruction: AMD says the update reduces ghosting, preserves particles and fine detail more effectively, improves temporal stability, and handles Dynamic Resolution Scaling more smoothly.

The same Redstone software release also introduced FSR Ray Regeneration 1.1, but that is a separate ray-tracing denoiser—not a component of the upscaler. FSR 4.1 can improve the quality/performance balance, but there is no universal FPS increase for every game.

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What AMD released

AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.3.1 added FSR Upscaling 4.1 support for Radeon RX 9000-series GPUs on March 19, 2026. AMD’s release notes identify it as new technology support for the RX 9000 family: AMD’s 26.3.1 release notes.

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The technology was part of AMD’s Redstone SDK 2.2, whose components included:

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  • FSR Upscaling 4.1
  • FSR Frame Generation 4.0.0
  • FSR Ray Regeneration 1.1.0
  • FSR Radiance Caching 0.9, listed as a technical preview

Crimson Desert was the first game AMD said shipped with both FSR Upscaling 4.1 and Ray Regeneration 1.1 on launch day. That does not mean every game with FSR automatically receives both features.

The version picture has since changed. AMD GPUOpen’s SDK 2.3 page lists FSR Upscaling 4.1.1, FSR Frame Generation 4.0.1, and FSR Ray Regeneration 1.2.0. It also extends FSR Upscaling support to additional hardware, including RX 7000-series cards in the later SDK context. Therefore, “RX 9000-only” accurately describes the original March driver launch, not necessarily every later Redstone SDK implementation: AMD FSR SDK.

What FSR Upscaling 4.1 changes

FSR Upscaling reconstructs a higher-resolution image from a lower-resolution rendered frame. Version 4.1 is an ML-based upscaler designed to improve the reconstruction process rather than function as a conventional raster-performance driver patch.

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According to AMD’s technical material, the update targets:

  • Sharper reconstructed imagery: fine geometry and distant detail should retain more definition.
  • Reduced ghosting: moving objects should leave fewer trails or temporal artifacts.
  • Better particle preservation: effects such as smoke, sparks and debris should be less likely to disappear or smear.
  • Improved temporal stability: foliage, thin geometry and other detail-heavy objects should shimmer less during movement.
  • Improved Dynamic Resolution Scaling: the system is intended to adjust internal resolution more smoothly when a game targets a frame-time or frame-rate goal.

These are AMD’s stated improvements, not a guarantee that every supported title will show the same result. Motion-vector quality, transparency handling, UI composition, sharpening, anti-aliasing and the game’s individual integration all affect the final image. AMD describes the technology in its Redstone technical overview and FSR Upscaling documentation.

Ray Regeneration 1.1 is a separate feature

Ray Regeneration is an ML-powered real-time denoiser for ray-traced rendering. Ray tracing often begins with noisy samples, particularly for reflections, indirect lighting and global illumination. A denoiser processes that output to produce a cleaner and more coherent result.

AMD says Ray Regeneration 1.1 brings quality and memory improvements along with new debug-view modes. It can complement FSR Upscaling in a demanding ray-traced game, but the two technologies perform different jobs:

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Technology Purpose
FSR Upscaling Reconstructs an output image from a lower-resolution rendered frame.
FSR Frame Generation Creates synthetic intermediate frames between rendered frames.
FSR Ray Regeneration Denoises ray-traced data such as reflections and indirect lighting.
FSR Radiance Caching A separate lighting technology listed as a technical preview in Redstone SDK 2.2.

Ray Regeneration requires integration by the game or engine. Installing a driver cannot add it universally to every ray-traced title. Developers can use AMD’s FidelityFX SDK and its supported delivery path; the official SDK information is available through GPUOpen.

Will FSR 4.1 increase FPS?

It can improve the performance-to-image-quality trade-off, but AMD has not established a universal FPS gain for every game. Upscaling lowers the internal render resolution, which can reduce the cost of producing each frame. However, FSR 4.1 also has its own processing cost, and the result depends on the game.

AMD reports an approximate FSR upscaling cost of 1.3 milliseconds in 4K Performance mode on an RX 9070 XT. That figure is a specific AMD measurement, not a prediction for all resolutions, GPUs or games.

Average FPS may remain nearly unchanged—or improve only modestly—when:

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  • the game is CPU-limited;
  • the test compares FSR 4.1 and FSR 4.0 at the same internal resolution;
  • the upscaler’s processing cost offsets some of the rendering savings;
  • Dynamic Resolution Scaling changes the internal resolution during the test;
  • Ray Regeneration changes the ray-tracing workload;
  • the game’s implementation supplies poor motion or transparency data.

Frame Generation must also be measured separately. It can increase the number of displayed frames, but generated frames are not the same as additional base-rendered frames and do not provide the same input response. A meaningful benchmark should report base FPS, displayed/generated FPS, frame times and—where possible—latency.

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Hardware and software compatibility

The original 26.3.1 release specified FSR Upscaling 4.1 support for Radeon RX 9000-series GPUs. AMD’s initial FSR 4 launch was built around RX 9000-series/RDNA 4 hardware and its ML acceleration.

Later SDK 2.3 documentation lists FSR Upscaling 4.1.1 for broader hardware, including RX 7000-series support. Do not assume that RX 6000, RX 7000 and RX 9000 cards receive identical performance, ML acceleration or the complete Redstone feature set. Support can differ by component, driver, game and renderer. Exact RX 6000 availability should not be inferred from the broader SDK listing.

AMD says its relevant Unreal Engine plugin supports Unreal Engine versions 5.2 through 5.7. For developers, FSR can be integrated through AMD’s FidelityFX SDK using signed, prebuilt DLLs. For players, compatibility remains title-specific.

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Is FSR 4.1 a driver feature or a game feature?

It is both, depending on how the game implements it. Developers can build a title directly against the relevant FSR SDK. AMD Software can also upgrade some games that already contain a compatible FSR 3.1 integration through a driver-assisted path.

That upgrade is not universal. The game must expose a compatible rendering path, and the driver needs a supported title profile. DirectX 12, Windows version, anti-cheat, mods, DLL replacements and renderer-specific limitations can all affect whether the upgrade works. A driver cannot turn every game that merely mentions FSR into an FSR 4.1 title.

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How to enable FSR Upscaling 4.1

  1. Install a current AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition driver appropriate for your GPU from AMD Support.
  2. Launch a game with FSR 4.x support or a compatible AMD driver-assisted upgrade path.
  3. Open the game’s graphics, display or upscaling settings.
  4. Select the available AMD FSR option and choose a mode such as Quality, Balanced, Performance or Ultra Performance.
  5. If the title supports it, check the AMD Software per-game profile for the FSR upgrade control.
  6. Restart the game if the option or profile does not appear.
  7. Verify the active mode or version in the game’s settings, overlay or diagnostic information. A setting labeled only “FSR” does not by itself prove that FSR 4.1 is active.

Quality modes preserve more internal resolution and generally produce a cleaner image; Performance modes reduce more rendering work but make reconstruction artifacts easier to see. Compare modes at the same output resolution, ray-tracing preset, sharpening level, frame-generation setting and frame-rate cap.

If the FSR 4.1 option is missing

  • Confirm that the GPU is supported by the driver and the specific game path.
  • Update Adrenalin and check the game’s patch notes or AMD’s supported-games information.
  • Confirm that the game is using the required renderer, such as DirectX 12 where applicable.
  • Restart the game after changing its AMD Software profile.
  • Disable conflicting mods, replaced DLLs and other upscaler injectors.
  • On a laptop or OEM system, check the manufacturer’s driver because system-specific features may require it.
  • If the driver installation becomes unstable, use AMD Cleanup Utility before installing an earlier driver.

What this means for RX 9000 owners and buyers

FSR 4.1 is most useful when a supported game is limited by GPU rendering cost and its current upscaling artifacts are visible—particularly ghosting, unstable foliage, particle breakup or fine-detail shimmer. It is less decisive in CPU-limited games or low-settings esports titles, where native raster performance matters more.

For prospective buyers, FSR 4.1 should be treated as one part of the decision, not a guaranteed frame-rate multiplier. Compare the RX 9000 card’s native raster performance, ray-tracing performance, VRAM, power requirements, price and the games you actually play. Native rendering remains the quality baseline when the GPU can sustain it, while FSR 3.1 remains the fallback in games that cannot use FSR 4.x.

The verdict

AMD’s March 2026 release made FSR Upscaling 4.1 official for RX 9000-series GPUs and introduced a more capable Redstone rendering stack. The strongest case for the update is improved reconstruction quality and smoother dynamic-resolution behavior. Ray Regeneration 1.1 adds a separate benefit for supported ray-traced games, but it requires game-level integration.

Enable it in compatible titles, but judge the result by image quality and frame-time behavior rather than assuming a fixed FPS uplift. The later SDK 2.3 revisions also mean that launch-day RX 9000 compatibility should not be confused with the full, evolving hardware picture.

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