How to use FSR 4.1 on an RX 6000 card

AMD's Radeon Software Adrenalin 26.10.1 WHQL driver is out now and brings FSR 4.1 to Radeon RX 6000 cards, which AMD had earlier promised for early 2027, according to Tom's Hardware.
In Tom's Hardware's quick test on an RX 6900 XT in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K in Balanced mode, FSR 4 cost about 13% in performance.
AMD says image quality should beat FSR 3 on these cards, but no broad comparisons against RX 9000 cards or Nvidia's DLSS exist yet.
Xbox Series X|S and Ryzen Z2 handheld owners can't use FSR 4.1 yet because they depend on OEM driver updates.

AMD has announced FSR 4.1 for Radeon RX 6000 cards and released new Radeon Software Adrenalin 26.10.1 WHQL drivers alongside it. According to Tom’s Hardware, AMD had earlier promised FSR 4 for these cards in early 2027, so the RDNA 2 crowd got it sooner than expected.

If you own anything from an RX 6600 to an RX 6900 XT, the useful questions are how to get it running, what it costs in frame rate, and which quality mode to pick. Some of that has answers. Some of it doesn’t yet.

How do I get FSR 4.1 on an RX 6000 card?

Install the Radeon Software Adrenalin 26.10.1 WHQL driver. It’s available now through the Adrenalin app or AMD’s website. That’s the one confirmed step. The same release also covers new-game support for Final Fantasy Resonance, Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

What happens after the install is murkier. Whether a game needs its own FSR 4.1 integration or whether a driver-level override works hasn’t been reported yet, and neither has a list of games that support FSR 4.1 today. I’d install the driver, then check each game’s graphics menu for an FSR option before assuming anything.

One data point on game support: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide already has FSR Ray Regeneration, which AMD demonstrated, and AMD says more games are coming.

What does FSR 4.1 cost in frame rate?

Tom’s Hardware measured a cost of about 13% in a quick test with an RX 6900 XT in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K in FSR Balanced mode. That’s one outlet, one card, one game and one setting. Treat it as a ballpark, not a promise for your RX 6600.

The cost makes sense once you see how AMD got there. RX 9000 cards run FSR 4’s neural network on higher-precision FP8 matrix acceleration. RDNA 2 cards don’t have that hardware, so AMD changed the FSR 4.1 model to use INT8 shader hardware instead. Shader hardware is shared with everything else the GPU is drawing, which is a plausible reason the cost shows up in frame rate.

The payoff, per AMD, is that with everything else equal, games on these GPUs and APUs should look better than they do with FSR 3. That’s AMD’s claim. Independent image-quality comparisons on INT8 hardware haven’t been published.

Balanced or Performance?

Start with Balanced, check your frame rate, and only step down to Performance if you’re short. That’s my suggestion, not a tested result, because no one has published broad numbers across RDNA 2 cards yet.

Tom’s Hardware floated the idea that FSR 4.1 might let players move from Balanced to Performance mode and win back the lost frames. That’s speculation, and it only works if Performance mode looks good enough to you. Judge it by eye in the games you play. The step down helps most on the lower end of the range, where a 13% hit hurts more.

A practical routine: pick one demanding game, run the same scene in Balanced and Performance, and compare both frame rate and image. If you’re already holding a locked frame rate at your target, there’s no reason to touch the mode.

Frame generation, Ray Regeneration and Vulkan

AMD says FSR Frame Generation now has better frame pacing, which addresses a long-standing complaint about uneven delivery. If frame generation felt choppy to you before, it’s worth another try on this driver. No outside testing has confirmed the improvement.

Vulkan support for FSR 4.1 is planned, but AMD gave no date beyond saying it will come at some point. Tom’s Hardware says it would help some games and console emulators. Whether it will cover Linux is not yet reported. If your favorite games run on Vulkan, don’t count on FSR 4.1 there yet.

A handheld gaming PC held by a player, one of the device types waiting on FSR 4.1 driver updates — Photo: No machine-readable author provided. ToastieIL assumed (based on copyright claims). via Openverse, CC BY-SA

Xbox and handheld owners have to wait

FSR 4.1 is also headed to Xbox Series X and S and to Ryzen handhelds, but not on this driver. Tom’s Hardware says Xbox and Ryzen Z2-series handhelds depend on OEM-specific drivers, so owners must wait for their device makers.

Engadget describes the Xbox rollout as still coming soon, with no firm timeline, covering the Series X/S and the Ally, Ally S, Ally X and Ally X20 handhelds. A video cited by Engadget suggests the ROG Xbox Ally X could get it before year-end, but Microsoft hasn’t confirmed that, and Engadget was waiting on a reply. Engadget also expects weaker hardware, like the Xbox Series S, to gain the most, though that’s an expectation, not a result.

“We’ve worked very closely with AMD to optimize this technology, giving developers another powerful tool for great performance and visual quality for players”

Xbox CTO Scott Van Vilet (name spelled as reported), via Engadget

Coverage also differs on which chips are covered. Tom’s Hardware names Ryzen AI Max, Ryzen AI 9 and Z2 chips. Engadget mentions Ryzen AI 9 laptops and the Ally family but not Ryzen AI Max. Check your device maker before expecting a driver.

Why this matters if you own an RX 6000 card

It could extend the useful life of a card you already own. FSR 4 was exclusive to RX 9000 cards until earlier this year, when AMD brought it to RX 7000, and Engadget says FSR 4.1 is already available on 7000-series cards. RX 6000 owners were next in line, and now they’re in.

For a 6900 XT owner at 4K, a cost of about 13% is a trade you can weigh: better image quality than FSR 3 against some lost frames. For a lower-end RDNA 2 card, the trade may be tighter, and it’s worth testing before you commit. Since AMD hasn’t shown how it looks next to Nvidia’s DLSS, I’d hold off on upgrade decisions based on this. If a game already runs well on your card, you lose nothing by trying it.

One side note for the Sony camp: PS5 owners have their own upscaler. Sony’s Quick Spectral Super Resolution has started appearing in select games on the standard PS5, and Engadget says it behaves much like the PS5 Pro’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution.

What nobody has tested yet

Most of the useful numbers are missing. The 13% figure is the only published cost so far, and it comes from a quick test. Costs on lower-end RDNA 2 cards, at other resolutions and in other games, haven’t been reported.

Frequently asked questions

Does FSR 4.1 work on Radeon RX 6000 series cards?

Yes. AMD announced FSR 4.1 for RX 6000 cards and released the Radeon Software Adrenalin 26.10.1 WHQL driver with it. AMD changed the model to use INT8 shader hardware so it can run on RDNA 2.

How do I download the Radeon 26.10.1 driver?

Get it from the Adrenalin app or from AMD's website. The release also adds support for new games including Final Fantasy Resonance, Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

How much performance does FSR 4.1 cost on RX 6000?

Tom's Hardware measured about 13% in one quick test on an RX 6900 XT in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K in Balanced mode. Results on other cards, games and resolutions haven't been reported.

When is FSR 4.1 coming to Xbox Series X and S?

Engadget says it's coming soon with no firm timeline. Xbox and Ryzen Z2 handhelds need OEM driver updates. A video cited by Engadget suggests the Ally X could get it before year-end, which Microsoft hasn't confirmed.

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Sources

This article was compiled from reporting by the following outlets. Links go to the original reports.

About the author
Sandeep Bandyopadhyay, Aerospace engineer & author

Sandeep Bandyopadhyay is a mechanical and aerospace engineer with more than 20 years in aircraft structures and composites, including work on Boeing's 777-9 wing and GE Aviation nacelle programs. He holds an MBA and a PMP, and is the author of "Aerospace Structures and Composite Materials with Artificial Intelligence" (2025). At TechyCluster he writes about AI, hardware and the technology decisions that affect engineers, businesses and everyday users.

Reported and edited by Sandeep Bandyopadhyay, with AI research tools. Sources are listed below; corrections are welcome at editor@techycluster.com.