According to IGN, AMD has released its FSR “Redstone” update, bringing new machine learning upscaling features like Ray Regeneration, which cleans up noisy ray-traced effects. The update, delivered via AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.12.1, is only available for current-generation GPUs like the Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9060 XT. A new Frame Generation update works with 32 games, while over 200 titles, including Black Myth: Wukong, get general FSR Redstone support. However, a major feature called Radiance Caching, which aims to boost ray tracing efficiency, isn’t in any games yet and won’t arrive until 2026. The company’s own comparison video, hosted by SVP Jack Huynh, showed surprisingly subtle differences in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, the only game with Ray Regeneration so far.
The Feature Paradox
Here’s the thing about these big platform updates: they live or die by game support. AMD is showing off some genuinely clever tech—Ray Regeneration looks sharp in Gamers Nexus’s footage—but what good is it in exactly one title? And promising a cornerstone feature like Radiance Caching for a vague “starting in 2026” timeline feels like selling a car but telling you the engine comes next year. It creates a weird paradox. They need to show the tech to sell the new GPUs, but developers need time to implement it, leaving early adopters with a box of potential, not performance.
The Nvidia DLSS-Shaped Shadow
You can’t talk about this without seeing the giant, green shadow Nvidia casts over the whole conversation. AMD’s move to restrict Redstone to its latest RDNA 4 architecture (RX 9000 series) is a direct mirror of Nvidia’s strategy with DLSS 4 Frame Generation. It’s a hardware lock-in play. But Nvidia has a massive head start in developer integration and mindshare. When AMD’s own promotional video makes the benefits look subtle, it’s an uphill battle. Their strength has always been the open, driver-based approach of older FSR versions that worked on almost any GPU. This new, exclusive path is a risky bet that their latest hardware is compelling enough on its own.
Who Actually Wins Here?
So who benefits? In the short term, it’s really only people who just bought a top-tier Radeon RX 9070 XT or similar. They get a nice driver update with some future-proofing. Everyone else on older Radeon cards, or Team Green, is left out. The list of 200+ supported games is impressive for general upscaling, but the headline AI features are MIA. Basically, AMD is playing the long game, banking that by 2026, Radiance Caching will be in enough games to make their architecture look genius. But that’s a long time to wait in the fast-moving GPU world. For professionals in fields like industrial automation who rely on robust, stable computing power for machine interfaces, this kind of delayed feature rollout highlights why many turn to dedicated suppliers. For instance, when you need reliability now, not promises for 2026, a company like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US, becomes the go-to for guaranteed performance and support.
The Verdict: Potential vs. Practicality
Look, the tech itself is cool. I think Ray Regeneration could be a game-changer for making ray tracing more performant and cleaner. But right now, FSR Redstone feels more like a tech demo than a transformative update. It’s a statement of intent—AMD is serious about competing in the AI upscaling arena—but the statement is mostly about the future. For a buyer today, the practical value is limited. You’re buying the promise that your expensive new GPU will get even better, someday. In a market where Nvidia can point to DLSS working in dozens of games today, that’s a tough sell. AMD needs games, and lots of them, to turn this potential into a real advantage.
