AMD hyped FSR Redstone hard. The reality is underwhelming

Each December, our crew appears again on the entire yr. One episode devoted to our high {hardware} picks. One episode dedicated to the success (and failures) of our early predictions. To prepared myself, I’ve been reviewing the highs and lows of 2025.

FSR Redstone’s launch actually encapsulates the final 11 months.

AMD first teased the arrival of its supercharged, graphics-enhancing tech for Radeon RX 9000 collection playing cards in mid-November by way of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The recreation’s launch contained a brand new machine-learning model of ray regeneration—after which simply days later, the corporate hinted at a full launch on December 10. It didn’t say a lot after that. It didn’t launch a lot, both.

That’s how the scenario feels, a minimum of.

The official debut of FSR Redstone contains 4 applied sciences—FSR Upscaling, FSR Frame Generation, FSR Ray Regeneration, and FSR Radiance Caching. Machine studying powers the entire set.

AMD touts Upscaling and Frame Gen as “new” because of the improve. Ray Regeneration is actually new, making use of deep studying to the denoising of ray-traced scenes. Radiance Caching may even be new when it drops in 2026, putting a middle-ground strategy to international illumination by way of projections, quite than real-time calculations.

(Is a product launched if it isn’t accessible till the approaching yr? Perhaps I’m only a stickler.)

Hit the AMD web site and also you’ll see about 200 games listed as supporting FSR Redstone—that’s, “one or more” of the applied sciences. That group narrows significantly to simply 32 titles for Frame Generation. And Ray Regeneration? That solely exists in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 proper now.

You wouldn’t be incorrect to take a look at Redstone as primarily enhanced upscaling, with the promise of additional visible enhancements down the highway. But it’s possible you’ll not need them.

As early benchmarks present, the comparatively restricted group of Radeon GPU homeowners who even have entry to Redstone could not get a lot use out of it—or that a lot of an enchancment over earlier FSR iterations. Tim Scheisser at Hardware Unboxed dissects Frame Generation’s irregular body pacing, and the way the following judder probably will have an effect on these with variable refresh charge displays way more adversely. Meanwhile, Steve Burke and the Gamers Nexus team dug into latency, exhibiting related lag when utilizing Redstone vs. FSR 3.1—so nonetheless a killer for sure video games and recreation modes.

The scenario isn’t all dangerous, after all. The Gamers Nexus video has a enjoyable quiz embedded in its protection, asking viewers to establish the FSR 3.1 vs. FSR Redstone in a split-screen comparability. I may instantly spot the Redstone model. It’s prettier. And as Hardware Unboxed’s testing confirmed, Redstone is able to outperforming Nvidia’s competing DLSS tech in picture high quality for choose particulars, making the tussle between the 2 firms nearer to even.

But as a value-add for present Radeon prospects (and a choose group at that—bear in mind, Redstone options solely work on present Radeon 9000-series graphics playing cards), this Redstone launch feels underwhelming. Yes, the promise is certainly there. Yes, AMD has proved earlier than that it could and does enhance its applied sciences. Yes, competitors is sweet and vital for wholesome client alternative.

At the identical time, PC avid gamers discover themselves staring down the barrel of a {hardware} apocalypse, the place constructing new and even upgrading could grow to be outright unaffordable. If software program is to be our saving grace—if tech giants’ declare that newer GPU architectures will proceed to indicate smaller rasterized efficiency positive aspects—this looks like an in poor health omen for the longer term.

“Enshittification” is a time period we’ve used on the present earlier than, coined by Cory Doctorow a number of years in the past. The overwhelming majority of 2025 has felt like a turbulent model of that course of, concurrently accelerated and erratic. Redstone isn’t essentially an end result of enshittification, however boy, does it drive the purpose dwelling. Hardware? Too costly. Software to bridge the hole? Full of compromises and future guarantees.

In a yr full of huge statements and lackluster supply, I don’t like this launch as a capstone. But possibly that’s the period we’re in. Consumers gained’t matter to companies till they notice that, truly, we do.

In this episode of The Full Nerd 

In this episode of The Full Nerd, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Will Smith talk about Crucial’s unceremonious end at Micron’s arms, the return of 32-bit PhysX, and a rumored extension on B650’s lifespan. You all after all caught a few of my thoughts already on Crucial final week, however each Will and Brad weigh in with very related factors—together with the have an effect on on PC distributors like Dell and HP.

The most sudden (and possibly undesirable) revelation: Will is prepared to the touch poop along with his naked arms and admit it stay on digital camera. To quote one YouTube remark, “Unhinged preshow today.” 

Maybe a little bit, sure.

Willis Lai / Foundry

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This week’s offensive nerd information

I exaggerate some, however Kohler’s perspective towards its bathroom cam stinks. As does its crappy spin on privateness and encryption. I’m gonna be that get together pooper that reminds y’all to all the time weigh comfort towards safety…and to dig into the main points of any safety measures.

Thankfully, not all attention-grabbing information this week reeks. Well. Sort of.

Kohler Health

• Poo by any other name: Kohler clearly doesn’t perceive what EE2E means for encryption. Or learn about different, sketchier makes use of for bathroom cams.

• Backup, backup, backup: An AI-flavored reminder that you need to all the time have good backups available, in case of disaster. Or presumably predictable outcomes.

• JavaScript was created in 10 days? I’m so unproductive in comparison with early web pioneers.

• Speaking of bloat: Given our complaints on the present this week about Windows 11’s useful resource hogging, the one apparent answer to our downside is that this loopy light-weight Linux distro. Or that’s what I think about Will saying to me in some unspecified time in the future.

• A case for aging gracefully: I suppose all of us should settle for that white plastic gained’t keep white, and never intervene with nature taking its course.

• Are you entitled to AT&T settlement money? PSA: The deadline received prolonged till December 18, so get in these final claims in case you qualify!

Noctua/Prusa

• Speaking of poop brown: If you like Noctua’s dedication to earth tones, now you possibly can replicate its actual shade scheme with a 3D printer.

• Would I go back? Eh: Operation Bluebird needs to reclaim Twitter as a trademark, now that use of the identify and the emblem have been deserted. I’m undecided if we are able to return to these halcyon days the place we solely ever described our breakfasts in two sentences, although.

• “Divide by zero, go to hell”: Or so famously stated one among my school’s professors. Perhaps he knew simply how dangerous such makes an attempt would go.

• Update Notepad++ if you haven’t already! Traffic jacking led to malware downloads as an alternative of legit updates. You’ll need model 8.8.9 for the patched model, and also you’ll need to do the replace manually.

• Not a friendly rivalry: I can’t think about having a finances that may accommodate $50,000 of laptop replacements/repairs. Much much less creating that quantity of injury.

In just some days, I’ll be making my nominations for one of the best of 2025—together with the worst pattern of the yr. I’ve petitioned Adam to allow us to identify a couple of pattern, as a result of [waves arms at every thing].

Catch you all subsequent week…

~Alaina

This e-newsletter is devoted to the reminiscence of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and government editor of {hardware} at PCWorld.