AMD Launches FSR Redstone and 25.12.1 WHQL Driver, Delivering Major Performance Boosts for RX 9000 Series

AMD has officially announced its next-generation image enhancement technology, "FSR Redstone," specifically for the Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards. This launch signals a significant step forward for the company into the realm of AI and machine learning for gaming graphics. Coinciding with this release, AMD has also rolled out its latest WHQL-certified driver for Windows, version 25.12.1, which promises notable performance improvements over previous versions.

The new driver not only enables FSR Redstone for RX 9000 series users but also includes references in its release notes to the new AMD Radeon AI PRO R9600D and AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700S. A key change with this release is the branding strategy. Instead of continuing with version numbers, "Redstone" will now serve as the umbrella term for AMD's complete suite of AI-powered technologies, including upscaling, frame generation, and ray reconstruction.

FSR Redstone

This move positions AMD to compete more fiercely with rivals like Nvidia, which introduced DLSS in 2018, and Intel, which launched its AI-based XeSS in 2020. FSR Redstone is presented as a complete technological evolution beyond the earlier FSR 4, with AMD claiming it can deliver exceptional performance while maintaining visual fidelity, and in some cases, even achieving image quality that "surpasses native resolution."

FSR Redstone

The Redstone suite introduces a more advanced AI processing architecture for frame generation, replacing the previous non-AI interpolation method. AMD showcased a significant improvement in frame generation quality using *F1 25* as an example. Furthermore, FSR Redstone includes a new "Ray Reconstruction" feature, a direct competitor to Nvidia's DLSS Ray Reconstruction. This technology enhances detail and improves noise handling in demanding ray-tracing and path-tracing scenarios, with a demonstration in *Call of Duty: Black Ops 7* receiving positive feedback.

FSR Redstone

In terms of performance, AMD's internal benchmarks show that enabling Redstone technology can boost 4K performance by 2x to as high as 370% compared to native rendering. On the quality front, using a screenshot from *Mafia: Homeland*, AMD demonstrated that Redstone renders fine details, like the ropes on a ship's mast, more clearly than both native resolution and FSR 3.1.

The Redstone suite also includes a new "Radiance Caching" technology designed to accelerate path tracing and ray tracing workflows. It functions similarly to other caching mechanisms, reusing lighting information generated by ray tracing to improve performance. AMD emphasized that over 200 games have already adopted FSR technology, with more titles expected to integrate these new features soon, including upcoming support for Radiance Caching in games like *Warhammer 40,000: Darktide*.

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