PS5 Pro PSSR Upgrade: How AMD FSR 4 Shaped Sony’s AI Upscaling
Sony is preparing a major AI-driven graphics upgrade for the PlayStation 5 Pro, with technology developed through its collaboration with AMD under Project Amethyst. The goal is to bring an upscaling algorithm comparable to AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) to the PS5 Pro as the next evolution of Sony’s proprietary PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).
In a March 2025 interview with Digital Foundry, PlayStation lead architect Mark Cerny explained that Sony was targeting an upgraded PSSR for games arriving in 2026. The new technology would draw on the neural network and training methods developed jointly by Sony and AMD, with the aim of improving image clarity while preserving the performance characteristics expected from a console.
It is important to distinguish this plan from simply installing the PC version of FSR 4 on a PlayStation console. Cerny described the target as something very similar to FSR 4’s upscaler, adapted as the next generation of PSSR for PS5 Pro.
That distinction matters because console hardware, software integration, and game-development workflows differ from those of desktop PCs. Sony needs an implementation that fits the PS5 Pro’s existing architecture while delivering consistent image quality and frame pacing across supported games.
🧠 Project Amethyst: Sony and AMD’s AI Graphics Collaboration #
The foundation of the upgrade is Project Amethyst, a collaboration between Sony and AMD that began in earnest in late 2023.
The project combines Sony’s experience in console hardware and game development with AMD’s graphics architecture and GPU software expertise. Its objectives extend beyond a single upscaling feature, focusing on neural network architectures, training strategies, and more efficient hardware for AI-assisted graphics.
FSR 4 is one of the first visible outcomes of this cooperation. Its neural network and training recipe represent the initial results of the joint engineering effort.
Cerny described the results positively, noting that the new approach can deliver greater image crispness than the original PSSR implementation.
FSR 4 and the evolution of image reconstruction #
AMD’s FSR technology has evolved considerably since its introduction. Earlier generations relied primarily on spatial and temporal reconstruction techniques, while FSR 4 introduced machine-learning-based upscaling designed to improve image quality and stability.
The use of neural networks changes how the upscaler reconstructs a higher-resolution image from a lower-resolution game render. Rather than relying exclusively on manually designed reconstruction algorithms, the model uses learned patterns to estimate image details.
The potential benefits include:
- Sharper reconstruction of fine image details.
- Improved stability around moving objects and complex geometry.
- Better handling of edges, textures, and visual elements that are difficult to reconstruct.
- More flexibility when balancing internal rendering resolution, image quality, and frame rate.
For AMD’s RDNA 4 graphics cards, FSR 4 uses dedicated AI acceleration hardware to execute its machine-learning workload.
Sony’s objective is to bring the benefits of this approach to the PS5 Pro through an upgraded PSSR implementation. For more background on AMD’s graphics direction, see KAD’s coverage of AMD RDNA 4 and its AI-driven FSR 4 technology.
A shared algorithm does not mean identical implementations #
Although FSR 4 and the upgraded PSSR are closely related through Project Amethyst, they should not automatically be treated as identical software packages.
The two platforms have different hardware configurations, development environments, and software integration requirements. Sony’s approach is to adapt the jointly developed neural technology to the PS5 Pro and its game-development ecosystem.
This allows developers to work with a console-specific graphics feature while benefiting from research and engineering shared between the two companies.
⚙️ PS5 Pro’s 300 TOPS Machine-Learning Hardware #
One of the most important questions surrounding the upgrade is whether the existing PS5 Pro hardware can handle the new neural network.
According to Mark Cerny, the PS5 Pro’s custom machine-learning hardware offers peak performance of 300 8-bit TOPS without sparsity.
TOPS stands for trillions of operations per second. In this context, the figure describes the theoretical processing capacity of the console’s machine-learning hardware for supported operations and numerical formats.
Cerny explained that Sony believes this capacity is sufficient for the FSR 4-derived upscaling approach. The company does not expect sparsity to be necessary for this particular algorithm.
This is significant because it suggests that the planned PSSR evolution can run on existing PS5 Pro hardware rather than requiring a new console revision.
However, TOPS figures should not be compared directly across unrelated GPU architectures as though they represented equivalent real-world performance. Actual upscaling throughput depends on the neural network, supported operations, memory behavior, and software implementation.
Hardware capability versus software optimization #
Having sufficient theoretical processing capacity does not make implementation automatic.
Cerny described bringing the new neural network to the PS5 Pro as an ambitious and time-consuming engineering task. Sony had already started implementing the technology on the console, but the company still needed to refine its software and integrate it into the development pipeline.
This work involves more than executing a neural network. The graphics pipeline must coordinate rendering, reconstruction, motion information, and other frame data while maintaining predictable frame times.
For a console, this consistency is particularly important. A feature that produces a sharper image but introduces unstable frame pacing would undermine the overall gaming experience.
🎮 Why Console Optimization Differs From PC Gaming #
Sony’s approach to the upgraded PSSR reflects the different priorities of console and PC gaming.
On PC, users can choose from a wide range of graphics settings, resolutions, refresh rates, and performance targets. Some players prioritize maximum frame rates, while others prefer higher image quality or more advanced visual effects.
Console developers generally work within a narrower set of hardware configurations. They can optimize a game for a known system and target specific performance modes, such as 30 FPS or 60 FPS.
A stable frame rate is often more important than achieving the highest possible average frame rate. Frame-time consistency, visual quality, and responsiveness all contribute to the experience.
Sony therefore needs to optimize the new PSSR around the PS5 Pro’s fixed hardware and the performance profiles selected by developers.
The importance of developer integration #
During 2025, Sony’s immediate priority remained encouraging game studios to integrate the original PSSR into their titles.
At the same time, the company was working on the newer neural network intended for the next generation of PSSR.
Cerny’s stated objective was for the upgraded technology to accept essentially the same inputs and produce essentially the same outputs as FSR 4’s upscaler. This would help preserve a familiar integration model for developers while improving the underlying reconstruction technology.
The approach could reduce the amount of game-specific work required when studios adopt the upgraded implementation, although actual integration effort will depend on each title’s rendering pipeline.
🌟 Beyond Upscaling: Project Amethyst and Ray Tracing #
Project Amethyst is broader than an upscaling project. Its longer-term goals include developing more suitable hardware architectures for machine-learning workloads used in graphics.
That work could influence several areas of real-time rendering, including image reconstruction, denoising, and other AI-assisted graphics techniques.
Ray tracing is another area of interest in the next generation of graphics hardware. The PS5 Pro already features a revised ray-tracing architecture designed to improve performance over the standard PS5.
However, it is important not to conflate these capabilities. An upgraded PSSR can improve the appearance of a lower-resolution rendered image, but it does not automatically increase the hardware’s ray-tracing throughput.
AI-assisted denoising and reconstruction may help developers make better use of a limited rendering budget, potentially allowing more resources to be allocated to advanced lighting effects. Any substantial ray-tracing performance improvement would still depend on the underlying hardware and the specific rendering techniques used.
The longer-term Project Amethyst collaboration could therefore have implications beyond the immediate PSSR upgrade, but the March 2025 announcement did not establish a specific ray-tracing upgrade for the PS5 Pro.
📅 2026 Update: Upgraded PSSR Arrives on PS5 Pro #
Sony’s original 2025 roadmap targeted an FSR 4-like evolution of PSSR for games arriving in 2026. That target subsequently became a shipping feature.
On February 27, 2026, Sony announced that an upgraded version of PSSR would begin rolling out globally to PS5 Pro players. Resident Evil Requiem was the first title to use the new implementation.
Sony described the upgraded PSSR as a substantially improved approach to both the neural network and the overall algorithm. The company also confirmed that the technology was developed through Project Amethyst with AMD.
On March 16, 2026, Sony announced broader support through a PS5 system software update. Games including Silent Hill f, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth were among the titles adopting the improved upscaler. The update also introduced an optional system setting that allows players to try enhanced PSSR in other supported games.
Sony highlighted several improvements:
- More precise image reconstruction.
- Better stability during motion.
- Improved clarity in fine details.
- Greater flexibility for developers balancing image quality and performance.
The company also clarified that the upgraded algorithm and neural network stem from Project Amethyst, describing the release as the latest result of its joint development with AMD.
For the original announcements, see Sony’s February 2026 announcement of upgraded PSSR and the March 2026 system update covering wider game support.
The subsequent release confirms the central direction of Cerny’s March 2025 comments: Sony used technology developed with AMD to deliver a more advanced PSSR implementation on existing PS5 Pro hardware. It is more accurate to describe the result as a co-developed, FSR 4-related technology than as the unmodified PC version of FSR 4 being installed on the console.
🏁 Conclusion: Project Amethyst Delivers a New Generation of PSSR #
Sony’s planned PSSR upgrade represents an important step in the evolution of console graphics. Through Project Amethyst, Sony and AMD have combined their experience in graphics hardware, machine learning, and game development to create a more advanced image-reconstruction approach.
The PS5 Pro’s reported 300 8-bit TOPS machine-learning capability provided the hardware foundation for this work. Rather than requiring a new console, Sony targeted an upgraded algorithm that could operate on the existing system while improving image quality and maintaining stable performance.
The original 2025 plan also demonstrated why close cooperation between hardware vendors and console manufacturers matters. Adapting an AI upscaler for a fixed gaming platform requires careful attention to frame times, rendering pipelines, and developer workflows—not simply transplanting a PC feature.
By February and March 2026, Sony had begun delivering the upgraded PSSR to PS5 Pro games. This marked a tangible result of Project Amethyst and established a foundation for further collaboration between Sony and AMD.
The broader significance extends beyond one console update. As machine learning becomes increasingly integrated into real-time rendering, AI-assisted upscaling, denoising, and reconstruction are likely to play a growing role in how future gaming hardware balances image quality, performance, and power consumption.
