AMD FSR Redstone on Radeon RX 9000: What to Know
FSR Redstone brings machine-learning upscaling, frame gen, and ray regeneration to Radeon RX 9000 cards, but game support and hardware limits shape what you get.
FSR Redstone is AMD's biggest leap yet, a machine-learning suite that finally puts Radeon on the same technological footing as DLSS. The catch is that owning an RX 9000 card is necessary but not sufficient; game support decides what you can actually turn on.
Quick answer
FSR Redstone is a suite of ML-powered technologies for RDNA 4 GPUs (Radeon RX 9000 Series) including ML upscaling, frame generation, ray regeneration, and radiance caching. It delivers sharper visuals and smoother performance than earlier FSR, but you need both an RX 9000 card and a game that supports the specific Redstone feature. ML upscaling has the widest support today; ray regeneration and radiance caching are still rolling out.
Key takeaways
- Redstone is RDNA 4 (RX 9000) territory, using ML models trained on AMD Instinct GPUs.
- It bundles four technologies: ML upscaling, frame generation, ray regeneration, and radiance caching.
- ML upscaling has the widest game support in early 2026; the other pieces are expanding per driver.
- Frame generation predicts intermediate frames using optical flow and motion vectors for smoother output.
- Game support is the real gate, not just owning the hardware.
What is inside FSR Redstone
Redstone is not a single feature, it is a rendering suite delivered through AMD's FSR SDK. Each piece targets a different bottleneck.
| Technology | What it does | Availability in early 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| ML upscaling | Reconstructs a higher-res image with a trained model | Widest game support |
| Frame generation | Inserts predicted intermediate frames | Expanding per driver update |
| Ray regeneration | Cleans up and denoises ray-traced output | Growing, fewer titles |
| Radiance caching | Reuses lighting data to cut RT cost | Limited; more games later in 2026 |
The frame generation piece uses ML algorithms trained on AMD Instinct GPUs to predict and insert new frames between rendered ones, relying on optical flow estimation and motion vectors. That is the same broad approach DLSS Frame Generation takes, which is why the visual results are now competitive.
Testing on the RX 9070 XT
AMD demonstrated Redstone on the Radeon RX 9070 XT, targeting 4K with ray tracing enabled, using an internal Adrenalin driver build. Redstone is available across the Radeon RX 9000 Series, so RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT owners are the primary audience. Early testing shows a meaningful jump over prior FSR versions in both sharpness and stability, particularly in ray-traced scenes where ray regeneration cleans up noise that older denoisers left behind.
If you already run FSR 4, our guide on the FSR 4.1 RDNA rollout covers how the earlier generation reached more cards, which helps set expectations for how Redstone support will spread.
The support caveat
Here is the honest limitation: having an RX 9000 card gives you access, but each Redstone feature only works in games that integrate it. Developers received the SDK and are integrating features now, but broad adoption of the newer pieces, especially radiance caching, arrives across 2026 rather than all at once.
So your experience depends on two things: the card and the specific game. In an unsupported title you fall back to older FSR or none at all. In a fully supported title you get the whole suite.
| Your situation | What you get |
|---|---|
| RX 9000 + fully Redstone game | Full suite: ML upscaling, frame gen, ray regen |
| RX 9000 + partial support | Whatever features that game integrated |
| RX 9000 + no Redstone support | Older FSR or native rendering |
| Older Radeon (pre-RDNA 4) | No Redstone; earlier FSR only |
How Redstone compares to the competition
If you are choosing between vendors, upscaling quality is now close enough that game support and raw performance matter more than the upscaler name. Our DLSS vs FSR vs XeSS comparison breaks down where each still leads, and if you are cross-shopping a 1440p card, the RTX 5070 vs RX 9070 XT comparison puts the hardware head to head.
What to do right now
- Confirm you own an RDNA 4 card (Radeon RX 9000 Series); Redstone requires it.
- Update to the latest Adrenalin driver to get the newest Redstone features.
- Check whether your specific games list Redstone or FSR ML support in their settings.
- Enable ML upscaling first, since it has the widest support and the biggest immediate payoff.
- Turn on frame generation only where your base frame rate is already comfortable.
- Watch driver release notes through 2026 for expanding ray regeneration and radiance caching support.
Frequently asked questions
Which GPUs support FSR Redstone?
Redstone targets RDNA 4 hardware, meaning the Radeon RX 9000 Series such as the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT. Older Radeon cards use earlier FSR versions instead.
Is FSR Redstone as good as DLSS 4?
The ML approach closes much of the historical gap, especially in ray-traced scenes with ray regeneration. Real-world results depend on the specific game's integration, but Redstone is far more competitive than earlier FSR.
Does every game support Redstone features?
No. Developers integrate each feature individually, and ML upscaling has the widest support in early 2026 while ray regeneration and radiance caching are still expanding. Owning the hardware is necessary but not sufficient.
How is Redstone frame generation different from older FSR frame gen?
It uses ML models trained on AMD Instinct GPUs with optical flow and motion vectors to predict intermediate frames, producing cleaner, more stable interpolation than the earlier heuristic-based approach.
