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RDNA2 FSR4 Performance vs FSR3 Quality
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this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
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Yes, it's the INT8, not FP8 version.
Why would FSR had anything to do with input lag? The only reason why input lag would increase is due to FSR4 being more difficult to run on RDNA2 which would be due to lower FPS as FPS is also directly tied to input lag.
But we are talking about 120FPS vs 150FPS here when comparing Quality Presets so I doubt you could even tell. And even if you can, just lower the preset, it will still look better and get you to the same performance.
From multiple games I've tested so far my conclusion is that I am almost always CPU limited in most games even with 5800X3D (in CP2077, Hogwards Legacy, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2), most areas are CPU heavy due to a lot of NPCs and FPS drops in those areas enough where my GPU is bored, the only benefit of FSR in those areas is that FSR4 looks better but wont yield any performance benefits.
Input lag is caused by frame interpolation, right? Or nah?
It's because game logic is calculated on real frames and these things lower the real frame rate even though they give you more rendered frames. If you were getting 40 real FPS, and then you go to 30 real fps, you will feel a significant amount of lag even if you are getting 60 fps in fake frames. Basically the game loop is running slower and stuff like input polling is happening slower even if you have a higher frame rate.
Frame generation shouldn't be a bottleneck on the CPU though, should it? That stuff is happening on the GPU. I know I saw a video about this stuff but I can't remember the real reason input lag increases with frame generation/interpolation.
it’s not. The whole point of FG was to take advantage of high refresh rate monitors as most games can’t render 500FPS even on the fastest CPU… alas, here we are with games requiring FG to get you to 60FPS on most systems looks at Borderlands 4 and Monster Hunter Wilds
Right, but FG shouldn't be touching the CPU in any way, should it? It should be a local thing on the GPU transparent to the CPU, unless I'm misunderstanding how it works.
It's not using CPU
Then I don't understand how it would affect the game loop negatively. I'll look into it though, will do some research.
It's kinda the same thing. You get input lag based on the real framerate. Since interpolation requires some extra performance the base framerate will likely be a bit lower than the framerate without interpolation which will case an increase in input lag while providing smoother image.
It seems that the input lag is more perceived, rather than actually experienced, from what I understand. Like if you go from 30 to 120 fps, you expect the input lag to decrease, but since it stays the same (or slightly worse), you perceive it to be much more severe.
The frame rate isnt going from 30 to 120 FPS. It's actually going from 30 to like 20. The rendered frames are different then the CPU frames which handles the game loops, (physics, input, simulation, etc)
Not sure we have the same definition of frames here.
Generated frames are created using a neural network, they have nothing to do with the actual game scripts and game loop and input polling and stuff. FSR does generate frames to interpolate between real frames but things like physics and input are not being generated as well. It's only visual. I guess maybe you have to have some basic knowledge about how a computer program and game engine works to understand this.
Basically the CPU steps through the simulation in steps. When you use frame gen, if it lowers the actual frame rate, then the CPU is making less loops per second over everything, like the physics updates, input polling(capturing key presses and mouse events), and other stuff like this.
Oh yeah, now I remember why there's more input lag with frame interpolation turned on. Taking a shot right now and now it pops into my head.
Anyway, it's because while the frame interpolation adds more frames per second, the "I-frames"—or real frames—you're seeing are lagging behind one I-frame. This is because it can't start showing you interpolated frames until it has two frames it can interpolate between.
So you won't start seeing I-frame N-1 until I-frame N (the latest I-frame) has been generated, thus creating extra input lag.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, I'm supposed to be asleep...
yes, that’s why FPS in this case is not a good measure of performance
Very much so. The very reason why we want more fps is to have less input lag, that's my personal take anyway. That's the only reason why I have a beefy computer, so the game can respond quicker (and give me feedback quicker as well).