Automatic Super Resolution Preview Comes to the ROG Xbox Ally X for Docked Play - DirectX Developer Blog

We previously introduced Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) on select Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs, to make games look sharper and play smoother. Today, we’re excited to give Xbox Insiders the opportunity to help us test and refine this feature on the ROG Xbox Ally X for docked play, where balancing framerate (FPS) and image quality can be especially challenging.
Imagine this… You’ve just had a great gaming session on your ROG Xbox Ally X on the go. Everything looks incredibly sharp and plays smoothly on your 7-inch screen. You dock it, lean back, and look up at your TV to keep playing, but now, stretching across a much larger screen, the image looks softer. You push the resolution and graphics settings higher to bring back detail, and FPS drops. You dial it back to keep things smooth, but you lose detail again. You’re left choosing between visuals and FPS, but you want both!
That’s where Auto SR comes in. By upscaling frames rendered at lower resolutions, Auto SR can help deliver smooth gameplay without losing sharpness. On the ROG Xbox Ally X, that means 1440p-like visuals and higher FPS on larger screens, where this balance matters most.
Take a look at Auto SR in action. Below are two frames from Forza Horizon 5: one rendered natively at 1440p, and the other enhanced with Auto SR. Look closely — can you tell the difference?
Not easy, right? Auto SR is the frame on the right, delivering 1440p-like visuals with more than a 30% FPS boost. What matters most: with Auto SR you get both.
Docked play means larger screens and higher resolutions, where drops in image quality are more noticeable or where some games struggle to maintain smooth FPS. That’s exactly the problem Auto SR was designed to solve, so we’re starting the preview with docked mode where we expect players will see the most value.
Super resolution works by rendering at a lower resolution to boost FPS, then upscales the frames to restore detail. It is often a core part of how many modern games render, and players expect it.
Previously, super resolution came in two forms:
For super resolution to deliver the most value, it needs to provide both high image quality and FPS gains at once. Game-integrated super resolution does an excellent job delivering that balance, but gaps remain, most notably on gaming handhelds like the ROG Xbox Ally X.
Windows integration expands high-quality super resolution coverage: Not every game ships with game-integrated super resolution. Because Auto SR is built into Windows, it can broadly apply high-quality super resolution to existing games, especially those without game-integrated super resolution.
Larger super resolution models avoid memory bandwidth bottlenecks that can limit FPS: Super resolution means fewer pixels for the GPU to render, which traditionally means higher FPS. But game-integrated super resolution still relies on the game to produce more detailed surface textures than a lower resolution render would normally need. Otherwise, the upscaled image looks soft, like zooming in on a low-quality photo. All that texture data must move through memory every frame. On handheld PCs, where memory bandwidth is constrained, this directly limits the FPS gains super resolution is designed to deliver. Until now, the only option has been reducing texture quality at the cost of visual quality. Auto SR takes a different approach to super resolution, and uses larger models that can reconstruct texture detail rather than relying on the game to provide it, avoiding the bandwidth demands that limit FPS on these devices.
NPU enables higher quality and higher FPS super resolution: The longer it takes to render a frame, the lower your FPS. When super resolution runs on the GPU, it counts towards frame time. To avoid impacting FPS, models are limited to a minuscule 1–2ms, constraining their size and quality. Game-integrated super resolution fits in this window and still delivers quality by relying on the game to provide more detailed texture data. Auto SR sidesteps this limit by running larger models on the NPU in parallel with the GPU. This gives Auto SR an entire extra frame of time to run the model — critical for devices like the ROG Xbox Ally X, that couldn’t otherwise run these models without significantly impacting FPS. This also lets the GPU move straight to the next frame, so there is essentially no frame time overhead, giving Auto SR the potential to deliver high-quality super resolution at the theoretical maximum FPS in exchange for a frame of latency. GPU-based super resolution can’t do this.
What does this add up to? Texture-heavy games at higher resolutions and graphics settings are where super resolution is needed the most, but on gaming handhelds, that’s also where super resolution is hardest to deliver. Game-integrated super resolution remains the preferred choice. Auto SR steps in where game-integrated super resolution isn’t available or when hardware constraints prevent it from simultaneously delivering quality and FPS.
Alongside Auto SR, the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor also supports AMD FSR Upscaling, RSR, AMD FSR Frame Generation, and AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF). Here’s a quick guide developed in collaboration with AMD to help you choose the best option based on your play goals.
Both Auto SR and AMD FSR Upscaling deliver substantial gains across a wide range of games. Choose the upscaling that best fits your image quality and FPS needs.
If neither is available, use RSR.
Disable other super resolution and frame generation options when using this combination.
Now, let’s see some more examples! Forza Horizon 5 runs smoothly on the ROG Xbox Ally X’s internal screen, hitting 60 FPS at 1080p using “High” settings. Dock to a larger screen, Auto SR helps deliver higher visual detail by enabling the game’s “Ultra” settings with a 30% FPS boost over native 1440p at similar visual quality.
Automatic Super Resolution Preview Comes to the ROG Xbox Ally X for Docked Play
When compared to 720p, the vis