Testing shows AMD’s FSR 2.0 can even help lowly Intel integrated GPUs

Enlarge (credit: Intel)

There are two things to like about version 2.0 of AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling tech, which finally began appearing in actual games late last week. The most important is that the quality of the upscaled image is dramatically better than in FSR version 1.0. The second is that FSR 2.0 is compatible with all kinds of GPUs, including not just AMD's but older GeForce GPUs that aren't compatible with Nvidia's proprietary deep learning super sampling (DLSS).

New testing from Tom's Hardware has also revealed another unlikely beneficiary: Intel's recent integrated GPUs. Using an Iris Xe laptop GPU in a Core i7-1165G7, FSR 2.0 was able to bump the average frame rates in a 720p version of Deathloop by around 16 percent, nudging it from just under 30 fps to just over 30 fps and helping to offset the low resolution with its built-in anti-aliasing. Not bad for a nearly two-year-old laptop GPU playing a demanding modern game.

There are caveats, some of which apply to all upscaling technologies and some that are specific to Intel's GPUs. FSR 2.0 and DLSS are generally good enough to let you bump up your resolution or quality settings a bit while maintaining a playable frame rate. They can also make borderline-unplayable games playable, and they can help you squeeze a little more life out of your current GPU if you don't want (or can't afford) to spring for an upgrade.