Here’s how Microsoft uses AI in its Nvidia DLSS rival

CSI enhance.

Microsoft is working on an alternative to Nvidia’s and AMD’s upscaling solutions powered by upcoming AI-ready CPUs. The idea is to use the NPU’s capabilities to improve game image quality and frame rates without developer intervention.

This new feature is dubbed Automatic Super Resolution – Auto SR for short – and will be available on Windows 11 PCs housing NPUs. Auto SR, not to be confused with Direct SR, functions like AMD’s Radeon Super Resolution (RSR) and Nvidia’s Image Scaling (NIS) as it lowers the game rendering resolution to improve frame rate, then employs an algorithm or AI to upscale the image to a higher/more detailed resolution. This way, you end up with better image quality and smoother gameplay.

While Microsoft has explicitly expressed compatibility with Snapdragon X series processors on Copilot+ PCs, most machines that include an NPU should be able to take advantage of this OS-level technology. Also, unlike AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), Nvidia Deep Learning Super Resolution (DLSS), and Intel Xe Super Resolution (XeSS) technologies, Auto SR doesn’t need any game integration to work.

However, as you can guess, the resulting image quality is unlikely to beat proper game integrations that have access to more data, such as movement vectors. So, expect a quality similar to RSR and NIS. These limitations will be especially noticeable on game HUDs and UIs since this technology doesn’t distinguish between the game world and a health bar, for example. Worth it or not? This question can only be answered by the user. What is sure is that Microsoft’s approach doesn’t favour a GPU brand over another and should work on all PCs, as long as they have an NPU.

Microsoft Auto SR vs 1440p image quality.

Although this seems like free performance, Microsoft does note one caveat. While Auto SR does improve frame rates and image quality, offloading the task to the NPU instead of the GPU introduces around one frame of latency. In other words, 16.6ms on a game running at 60fps, 8.3ms at 120fps, etc.

To make sure everything works fine, Microsoft validated a handful of games that will automatically enable Auto SR when played. These are BeamNG, Borderlands 3, Control, Dark Souls III, God of War, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, and The Witcher 3. You can enable this feature on other games too, but the results may vary. On the other hand, if you don’t like it, you can simply disable it.

Fahd Temsamani
Fahd Temsamani
Senior Writer at Club386, his love for computers began with an IBM running MS-DOS, and he’s been pushing the limits of technology ever since. Known for his overclocking prowess, Fahd once unlocked an extra 1.1GHz from a humble Pentium E5300 - a feat that cemented his reputation as a master tinkerer. Fluent in English, Arabic, and French, his motto when building a new rig is ‘il ne faut rien laisser au hasard.’
SourceMicrosoft

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