Intel Arc GPUs have been successfully modified to allow for AMD's FSR 4.1.2 Lite upscaling technology to be used. This is a neat development because it allows PC gamers with Intel graphics cards to take advantage of a faster upscaling alternative that is a direct competitor to Intel's built-in XeSS upscaling solution. For frame-rate-focused Arc hardware buyers, it's a new alternative to consider that matches competitor solutions while presumably bringing better image quality.
Modders port AMD upscaler to Intel Arc XMX cores for faster gaming
AMD's FSR 4.1.2 Lite technology has been ported to Intel Arc's B580 and A770 GPUs in a manner that leverages the XMX AI-cores in the GPUs to perform upscaling operations. This way, a bit of a hack has been accomplished to take AMD's software and bring it over to the hardware accelerated solution of Intel's upscaling technology by essentially re-tasking the AI cores for FSR operations. This involves an OptiScaler update to help integrate the Lite version into the system.
Based on benchmarks of the upscaling solution that have been shared on Reddit, AMD's FSR 4.1.2 Lite only takes 0.59ms for render time on an Arc B580. This is very similar to Intel's XeSS requiring 0.58ms on the same hardware. By comparison, AMD's FSR 4.1.2 full (non-Lite) requires 0.85ms to process.
The Lite version of FSR 4.1.2 is 70% faster in terms of execution time. The older FSR 4.0.2, for example, required 0.87ms. This Lite version shows a marked improvement in terms of efficiency.
Actual gaming tests for the FSR Lite version of the upscaling technology show good metrics for in-game performance. For example, a test using The Witcher 3 on an Arc A770 showed an average of 101.5 FPS for FSR 4.1.2 Lite vs 101.1 FPS for XeSS. There's also a number of user reports saying that the image quality for FSR 4.1.2 Lite is better than XeSS when processed on the XMX cores. It's unclear if users will be able to manually switch upscaling modes for the Lite version.
This follows the release of FSR 4.1.2 Lite on supported Ryzen APU and RX 6000 series GPUs. We had some of the same balancing and stability topics covered in the last FSR 4.1.2 Lite update as well. What's cool about this new accomplishment is that this optimized upscaling technology is now made available for a new hardware ecosystem without having to depend on AMD or Intel for official drivers.
Source: TweakTown




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