Modders have brought AMD's latest upscaler, FSR 4.1.2, to Intel Arc graphics cards by using their dedicated XMX AI cores. Early community tests suggest the optimised version delivers visibly better image quality than Intel's XeSS Super Resolution, at a very similar upscaling cost.
The mod modifies the FSR 4 INT8 DLLs originally built for AMD GPUs. Arc cards are not officially supported by FSR 4, which could already run on unsupported hardware through OptiScaler. The gain comes from XMX, Intel's AI acceleration hardware, which makes execution far more efficient than conventional shader-based paths such as DP4a.
Benchmarks shared by the community look strong. On an Arc B580 at 1080p with the Balanced preset in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the Lite version of FSR 4.1.2 needs about 0.59 ms for upscaling, against 0.58 ms for XeSS SR. The full FSR 4.1.2 model takes about 0.85 ms. On an Arc A770 at 1080p with the Quality preset, FSR 4.1.2 Lite reaches 101.5 FPS against 101.1 FPS for XeSS SR, with upscaling times of 0.75 ms versus 0.84 ms. The full model still performs respectably at 98.6 FPS and 1.11 ms.
Another user testing the mod on an Intel-based handheld reported practically identical framerates between FSR 4.1.2 Lite and XeSS SR, but considerably better image quality with AMD's solution.
The news follows AMD's official extension of FSR 4.1 to Radeon RX 6000 graphics and high-end APUs, announced with the Adrenalin 26.10.1 driver. AMD has presented the Lite version as aimed at less powerful devices such as handhelds and APUs. The Arc path, however, is not covered by any AMD commitment and is the work of modders.
The mod remains experimental. Compatibility varies between games, and some users report crashes in certain titles. The XMX-optimised implementation currently relies on a DirectX 12 path, with support for other APIs more limited. The claimed quality gains still need controlled comparisons across more games, resolutions and presets.
No comments yet. Be the first!