Tech

Nintendo Switch will start using AMD FSR, and this could improve its life cycle

The documentation for the Nintendo Switch Sports game contains a direct reference to AMD’s FSR technology, specifically to a license for it that is included in the user license. Unfortunately, this reference does not leave any explanation of a technical naturewhich means that it does not specify exactly how that technology will be used.

Despite the lack of technical information, we know what AMD FSR is, how it works, and what technical requirements it has, and therefore we can deduce what value it would bring to Nintendo Switch, and if indeed said console meets all the necessary requirements for it to work. Let’s see all the keys:

  • AMD FSR is a technology of spatial rescaling which uses, to improve the final sharpness, a highlight layer customizable by the user, and by the developers.
  • Its implementation does not entail any costso Nintendo could use it for free.
  • AMD FSR does not require specialized hardware to use, but support for this technology is limited to a few specific GPUs: Radeon RX 400 series or better, GeForce GTX 900 series or better.

Nintendo Switch will start using AMD FSR

Does Nintendo Switch meet the requirements to use AMD FSR? What value would you offer?

Answering the first question, yes, Nintendo Switch meets the minimum requirementsthat is, your Tegra SoC has a compatible GPU because it is based on the second-generation Maxwell architecture, the same that is present in the NVIDIA GTX 900, although limited to 256 shaders. For comparison purposes, I remind you that a GTX 950 has 768 shaders.

Regarding the value that FSR applied to Nintendo Switch could offer, it must be taken into account that the performance improvement achieved by a rescaling technique normally gradually reduces with resolutionthat is, the performance improvement is usually greater when we start with 1440p or higher resolutions, unless we find ourselves with a very high graphic load (ray tracing, for example).

I have explained this to you because it makes one thing clear, and that is that it does not make much sense to apply the FSR when the Nintendo Switch works in portable mode (720p resolution), except in very specific cases of especially demanding games. With this I do not mean that it will not have any value in that case, but that We will see the best of this technology if it is applied to the dock mode, which uses 1080p resolution.

If you wonder why the Nintendo Switch does not use DLSS technology, the answer is very simple, because this needs tensor cores to work, and the GPU of said console lacks them. The launch of Nintendo Switch Sports will take place on April 29, so there is less left for us to see what is offered by what will be, in theory, the first game for the big N console to have AMD FSR.

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