Welcome back PCWorld fans, glad to have you here as always.
Today I’m going to be expanding on something that hit me while working on the FSR 2.0 video.
If you haven’t seen that one make sure you back up and see why that
update is such a big deal. While testing FSR 2.0 on the Steam Deck was interesting,
it reminded me that FSR is PART of the Steam Deck, something I think many people overlook.
So today, I’m taking a look at it.
I get it, FSR is game dependent right, surely you’re talking about Radeon Super Resolution. To
that I say, nope, I in fact mean Fidelity FX Super Resolution because RSR is basically just scaling
the post rendered scene and trying to clean it up, where as FSR is doing it WHILE the game is being
rendered. The Steam Deck is quite the capable gaming machine despite its modest specs thanks to
it driving only a 1280x800 resolution screen. But sometimes you run into pretty tough to run games,
like the one I’ve been playing the most on my Steam Deck, which is Days Gone. It’s a gorgeous
game but if I run it at High Settings (which I feel is a must because Medium is just so blah)
I’m struggling to get past 35 FPS. Some games that perform similarly, like Horizon Zero Dawn,
have FSR game integration built in which makes for a wonderful performance boosting experience…
But what about when the game DOESN’T support it? Well, that’s where the wonderful
FSR integration IN the Steam Deck comes into play.
So, how does it work? Well, it’s a little different when compared to your normal integration
of FSR. With that the sharpening and upscaling pass is done in the middle of the rendering
pipeline leaving the extra HUD elements untouched. Steam Deck’s integrated FSR applies the tech
to the entire scene because it’s global and not integrated to the game. But take note, if a game
HAS FSR integrated, use that instead. Because of the way Valve and the Steam Deck handle Windows
game emulation through Proton and the Game scope, basically, the FSR is done as the
game is being rendered so it’s applying everything to the lower render resolution.
Okay, so it’s done on the operating system level as the game is being rendered and not
IN the middle of the pipeline, so how good could it even be? I mean, that was my question as well.
Why would I want to add sharpening and upscaling to a total lower resolution image rather than
using an in-game render slider? Well, thankfully I was able to satisfy my curiosity due to Days Gone
having that as well, so I could legitimately compare them.
First and foremost I need to point out the image quality and performance at NATIVE.
Well, it’s Days Gone at 1280x800 and High settings, looks good in all seriousness, but
performance is lacking as I’ve mentioned before. In this scene, we’re sitting pretty solid at
about 35 FPS which is fine if you’re wanting that smoooooooth 30, but we’d really like to get a bit
smoother. We’ve got options at this point, I could lower the settings…but like I said,
in this game and many others it really hurts the look and feel of the game.
The in-game slider then? Sure, but now it’s blurry as all get out and I have to drop to
40% to even get close. That’s a no go if you ask me and is simply unplayable. Now, what about FSR?
To enable it I need to hit the little 3 dot button on the right side of the steam deck’s
face to bring up the menu, then go to the performance tab, and under the
Scaling Filter, I need to set it to FSR. We’re not done yet.
Next, You’ll need to make sure your game is in full-screen mode,
then you’ll need to reduce the actual render resolution from native. Native here again is
1280x800 and to reduce it I went with a lower resolution of 960x540. I know,
I know, 540p is almost laughable. But hear me out. Or rather, check this out.
At 540p and a comfortable gaming distance, resting in your hand that is, it’s almost indiscernible
from native. It’s quite the feat in my opinion. Between the sharpening and the screen size,
the image quality is pulled so close to native that it’s mind-boggling.
Even the text in subtitles and the HUD is restored,
honestly these will be the two biggest clues that it’s not at a true native resolution.
But what about performance? Come on, you didn’t think that this was going to more
than double the FPS to get us over that 60 barrier? Well, it doesn’t,
but what it does do is push us well past that 40FPS mark and that smooths
out the gameplay significantly making aiming and other actions in games like this much easier.
In fact, if you couple FSR along with the new
adjustable refresh rate of 40HZ and lock the framerate to 40FPS
you’re going to get a significantly better experience than if you had just let it roll
with the default settings and didn’t take advantage of the Steam Deck FSR integration.
So is this built-in feature a magic bullet? Not
quite, but it is a very useful feature that I’m quite glad is part of the device. While
it didn’t make Day’s Gone run at a magic 60 FPS it did get me well out of the 30 FPS lifestyle
on that title making for a much more enjoyable experience. And other games
like Sleeping Dogs for instance, yeah it’s going to lock that at a buttery smooth 60 FPS.
If you’ve got a Steam Deck I’d highly urge you to give it a go
if you’re finding the game you’re playing not quite hitting the performance target you’d like.
I know for me, I’ll be using it without hesitation. What about you?
Did you know this FSR integration was a thing? If so do you use it or not? I’d love to hear
your thoughts down in the comment section and while you’re there hit that thumbs up button
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