AMD FSR 3.1 has been added to Spider-Man: Remastered and 4 different PlayStation titles, which in itself looks as if fairly tame information, however for Steam Deck house owners, it’s extremely thrilling. Not solely does the addition of this function imply the video games run higher on larger graphical settings, but it surely might see the Steam Deck stay related for much longer than we imagined.
As the most effective handheld gaming PC, the Steam Deck is usually used because the measuring stick for all different gadgets. The most recent firmware replace, SteamOS 3.6, brings improved assist for AMD FSR 3.1, which has massive implications for the Steam Deck’s life cycle.
AMD FSR 3.1, which might supply each FidelityFX Tremendous Decision upscaling and Body Technology, can take a satisfactory sport on Valve’s transportable and significantly increase efficiency. The rationale I highlighted Spider-Man: Remastered earlier is as a result of I’ve seen examples of gamers pushing this sport into its Very Excessive graphical settings with FSR 3.1 enabled, and nonetheless attaining easily playable body charges within the 60-70fps vary, with simply occasional drops all the way down to the 40s.
There’s all the time the danger that enabling these two applied sciences will create enter lag or visible artifacts. Nonetheless, my early testing on Ghost of Tsushima and Horizon Forbidden West means that the efficiency increase is appreciable, and the graphical downsides are remarkably small.
Actually, I might put it to Valve that it could even be price reassessing Horizon Forbidden West and its Steam Deck score. It’s presently marked as Unsupported as a result of its demanding graphics, but when Nixess had been to create a Steam Deck graphical preset, with AMD FSR 3.1 enabled, there’s no purpose why it shouldn’t be marked as ‘Playable’ at the least.
Extra importantly, AMD FSR 3.1 can have a huge effect in video games outdoors of the 5 PlayStation titles to which it was just lately added. Because the Steam Deck {hardware} begins to point out its age, and extra highly effective handhelds flood the market, FSR 3.1 provides a real approach to make sure the Deck nonetheless performs in new releases, and it could even take off the stress in the case of releasing the extremely anticipated Steam Deck 2.
Time will inform whether or not this may be the beginning of a safe future for large triple-A video games on Valve’s handheld, however even when a number of the finest Steam Deck video games simply run higher, it’s a optimistic change that each Deck proprietor needs to be enthusiastic about.
