AMD’s FSR 3.1 announcement made a practical architectural change: game developers could integrate AMD frame generation independently of FSR upscaling, allowing it to work alongside another upscaler. That capability requires developer integration and motion-vector and depth data; it is not a setting players can turn on in every game.
What does it mean to decouple frame generation from upscaling?
Upscaling reconstructs a higher-resolution image from a lower-resolution render. Frame generation creates additional frames between traditionally rendered frames. In FSR 3.0, AMD’s frame-generation path relied on motion-vector and depth information already processed by FSR upscaling, tying the two features together.
FSR 3.1 added a Frame Generation Prepare function that gathers the needed motion-vector and depth scene data before upscaling. AMD says this lets its frame generation operate with any upscaler, including third-party solutions. As AMD put it in its July 9, 2024 GPUOpen release, “Frame Generation is now separate from upscaling.”
In practical terms, a developer could use one technology to upscale the image and AMD’s frame generation to create additional frames. The game still has to implement and expose that combination, and provide the necessary inputs. The announcement describes a developer capability, not universal compatibility or a player-facing switch.
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What changed in FSR 3.1 upscaling?
AMD described several image-quality improvements to the upscaler. These are vendor claims, not independently measured results in the release: AMD did not publish controlled comparative image-quality tests or a quantitative FSR 3.1 performance figure in that announcement.
- Detail preservation: AMD said FSR 3.1 better preserves detail.
- Temporal stability: AMD said it reduces temporal instability, such as visual changes across successive frames.
- Letterboxing: AMD added direct support for letterboxed content.
- Reactive-mask cases: AMD said results improve for some content whose objects are excluded from reactive-mask inputs.
These improvements concern upscaling and its handling of image data. The release does not establish that FSR 3.1 universally looks better than other upscalers, or that a particular upscaler-and-frame-generation pairing will be superior in every game.
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What did the release mean for game developers?
Alongside the decoupled frame-generation path, AMD released FSR 3.1 through its FidelityFX API and added Vulkan support. AMD also updated its Unreal Engine plugin to version 3.1, with support for Unreal Engine 5.4. Implementation details vary by graphics API, including between Vulkan and DirectX 12.
AMD said the API was intended to make future version updates less disruptive. Previously, changes between versions could require substantial pipeline code changes or a game rebuild. AMD also supplied prebuilt signed releases for an updateable DLL route, but whether a game can use that route depends on the developer’s release and distribution choices. The API does not guarantee that every released game can be updated in the same way.
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Which graphics cards did AMD list as supported?
For its original FSR 3/3.1 guidance, AMD listed Radeon RX 5000 Series and newer and GeForce RTX 20 Series and newer as supported. It recommended Radeon RX 6000 Series and newer and GeForce RTX 30 Series and newer. AMD cautioned that frame-generation results depend on the graphics card’s capability and advised against using frame generation below its recommendations, where it may offer little improvement.
FSR 3.1 did not require machine-learning hardware, and AMD’s release-era support list included Nvidia GeForce cards. Those series-level recommendations are not a guarantee of performance in a particular game; the game, graphics card, and baseline frame rate matter.
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How does the 2024 announcement relate to current FSR versions?
FSR 3.1 is the July 2024 release discussed here, not a synonym for every later FSR technology. AMD’s current FSR SDK listing, checked October 4, 2026, includes FSR 3.1.5 upscaling and frame-generation versions 3.1.6 and 3.1.7, alongside later FSR Redstone technologies. These are later revisions and products; their requirements should not be read back as requirements for every original FSR 3.1 integration.
AMD’s supported-games list is the place to check whether a particular title currently supports an FSR feature. AMD’s current guidance says driver-based upgrades for qualifying games require FSR 3.1 integration for upscaling, or FSR Frame Generation 3.1.4 or newer for frame-generation upgrades. The documented frame-generation upgrade route specifies DirectX 12 and Windows 11; hardware conditions depend on the later technology. These conditions apply to that later upgrade route, not automatically to original FSR 3.1 support. Compatibility can change, so confirm the exact game and feature on AMD’s live list.
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