Evidence mounts for AMD FSR 4 on non-RDNA 4 hardware as driver tips AMD Zen 6 iGPU to stick with RDNA 3.5

AMD has previously stated that the RDNA 4 GPU architecture it used to build the rather impressive Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT GPUs would not make it to mobile discrete GPUs, but it now seems as though RDNA 4 will forever be relegated to desktop discrete cards exclusively, with even Zen 6 iGPUs not getting an RDNA 4 refresh. 

A recent update to AMD's GPUOpen driver code on GitHub, spotted by @Kepler_L2 on X, indicates that RDNA 4 is designated as "dGPU only." This effectively confirms previous rumours that RDNA 4 will not be featured in future iGPUs for the upcoming Zen 6 Medusa Halo or Medusa Point APUs. Instead, it looks like those future Ryzen APUs will rely on RDNA 3.5, as indicated by our previous coverage. In spite of this  reliance on what will then be decidedly last-gen hardware, the Medusa Halo iGPU is rumoured to bring an up to 50% performance boost over the Strix Point 8060S iGPU in the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU, which has already been an impressively powerful iGPU. 

While this may be disappointing enough news in itself, it has larger implications for anyone gaming on current- or future-generation AMD iGPUs. Zen 6 iGPUs remaining on an older GPU architecture adds to the mounting evidence that, despite AMD's claims to the contrary, it will eventually port its new FSR 4. A recent Digital Foundry interview with Eurogamer claimed that some version of FSR 4 could be run on the PS5 Pro, which uses RDNA 2 GPU hardware, meaning it should be possible to run FSR 4 on regular consumer-grade PC hardware as far back as RDNA 2, as well. 

This could mean that, perhaps after some optimisations, FSR 4 may be ported onto devices going as far back as the Valve Steam Deck and the original AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme found in the likes of the Asus ROG Ally X (curr. $799.99 at Best Buy).