Auto SR NPU image upscaling shines on ROG Xbox Ally X, looks set to supercharge handheld consoles in general
While image upscaling techniques like AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) and Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) are great, they are still handicapped by developer adoption. Developers have to manually bake FSR and DLSS support in each game to ensure the best image quality and performance. Naturally, many older titles don’t have FSR and/or DLSS. Microsoft is working to change this through Auto Super Resolution (Auto SR).
Auto SR is an under-development, OS-wide image upscaling feature that is set to land in the future for the general public. Auto SR theoretically works for every game and doesn’t require any developer input. It also runs on the NPU, ensuring that the GPU is free to handle other workloads. So, in theory, Auto SR can provide an image quality boost to any game without affecting GPU performance.
Currently, Auto SR is only available as a preview to Xbox Insiders and can be used on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X powered by the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme. ETA Prime has done exactly that, giving us a proper look at the potential of Auto SR. We highly recommend checking out the full video linked below, as we’ll only talk about the image quality and performance of Auto SR here.
Auto SR performance in different AAA games
Starting with Cyberpunk 2077, ETA Prime reports that the ROG Xbox Ally X can run the game at above 60 FPS using Auto SR to upscale 720p native resolution with the Steam Deck graphics preset to 1080p. Auto SR does have an FPS penalty, as Cyberpunk 2077 ran better without it. However, this penalty resulted in image quality that competes with 1080p native resolution.
Auto SR’s performance penalty also raises an interesting point: If Auto SR runs completely on the NPU, the game should theoretically run better or at the same level and not worse.
ETA Prime shows that, without Auto SR, NPU does no work. This means that it doesn’t require any power from the available power budget. With Auto SR, the NPU needs some energy, which takes away from the total TDP available to the CPU and the iGPU. This results in reduced clock frequencies on both the iGPU and the CPU on the Ryzen Z2 Extreme operating at a 35 W TDP.
Moving on to image quality, ETA Prime’s video places Auto SR between the native 720p and 1080p outputs. The Auto SR Cyberpunk 2077 image quality is much better than 720p native. It is in the ballpark of the native 1080p output with 12.5% better performance at 56 vs 63 FPS.
At the “Ultra” graphics preset, the gap between 1080p native performance in Cyberpunk 2077 and 720p Auto SR increases to 30.6%. This shows that Auto SR is a good way to offset the performance hit of elevated graphics settings.
In God of War Ragnarok with “Balanced” graphics, Auto SR enables a 57 FPS average while upscaling 720p to 1080p. By contrast, the Ryzen Z2 Extreme inside the ROG Xbox Ally X can only run the game at 40 FPS at 1080p native.
Finally, in Black Myth: Wukong, the ROG Xbox Ally X can manage 66 FPS on average using Auto SR to upscale 720p to 1080p, with “Low” graphics settings. In the same scenario, a native 1080p output takes the average FPS down to 51 FPS. So, Auto SR increases the performance by 29.4%. A similar performance delta was seen in Red Dead Redemption 2.
All in all, Auto SR seems to be a pretty good way to increase the image quality/performance of games. The fact that it aims to work for every DirectX 11/12 game is a big deal and should help handheld gaming consoles tremendously, including the rumored Project Helix Xbox handheld console.
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