DLSS4 vs FSR4: The battle for AI generated frames heats up

How do AMD’s RX9070 and 9070XT stack up against Nvidia’s RTX 5000 series

Dedicated GPU cards have continued to remain viable with most card manufacturers imbuing them with capabilities for handling gen-AI related computation tasks. With Nvidia retaining its market leadership and trying to set the benchmark with the new creator-centric workloads that we are beginning to dabble with (Open AI’s Sora or Stable Diffusion), it has become essential for us to examine what exactly do the GPUs from 2025 offer gamers beyond the promise of gen-AI? Nvidia has bet heavily on path tracing technology (its evolution of ray-tracing from early RTX days) as it relies on predictive analytics to generate and insert virtual frames between actual frames.

Most tech experts and gamers who have tested the RTX 5090 and 5080 have observed how the gen AI frames often lack both consistency and the necessary attention to detail of in-game frames. Secondly, when the DLSS 4 magic is cranked up, the higher number of frames don’t necessarily convey the expected smoothness due to the lack of visual consistency. It is also important to note that when DLSS tech is turned off, most testers have observed very little difference between the new Blackwell cards (RTX 50 series) and the ones on the Ada Lovelace architecture (RTX 40 series). Thus, it becomes essential to ask how is the RTX 5070 Ti expected to deliver the claimed “better or same level of performance as the RTX 4090.”

---

Enter AMD

AMD remains in the pursuit of Nvidia with its own technology, the “FidelityFX™ Super Resolution” (FSR), that is also currently (coincidentally?) in its 4 th iteration. While originally pitched as upscaling tech, FSR 4.0 today promises similar AI-magic to Nvidia with “boosted framerates and hi-res images.” However, the latest iteration of AMD cards – the just launched RX 9070 and 9070 XT are priced to compete not against the RTYX 5080 and 5090 but the RTX 5070 Ti. Priced at USD 549 and 599, these cards are being positioned as budget-friendly for gamers and as upgrades for players with RX 6800XTs, RTX 3080s and 3090s.

A sensible strategy, but at what cost?

The strategy makes sense from AMD’s standpoint as it allows them to continue working on RDNA 4 tech (and possibly RDNA5) and refining the just released AMD Strix Halo-powered form factor. If AMD is to continue down this path, it will benefit the GPUs on the next generation of consoles as power efficiency and better visual fidelity at lower prices and better yield rates will entice Sony and Microsoft (if Microsoft chooses to compete).

However, the monopoly for Nvidia at the top-tier will remain difficult to compete against as it will allow team green to set the agenda for the next-gen of GPUs and immersive technologies. It has already achieved this earlier by setting photorealism as the standard and forcing raytracing onto the rest of the industry. Letting it get away once again with a similar move can be counterproductive for the gaming and animation industries.