Digital Foundry has offered strong early impressions of Sony’s upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution technology, describing the new version of PSSR as a major improvement over the original implementation introduced with the PS5 Pro.
When Sony launched the PS5 Pro in 2024, the company emphasized the system’s larger GPU and improved ray tracing acceleration. While those hardware upgrades generally delivered expected gains, the console’s proprietary upscaling solution, PSSR, drew mixed reactions during its first year. In many early implementations, the technology struggled to clearly outperform alternatives such as FSR2, FSR3, or Unreal Engine’s TSR, often producing unstable reconstruction and visual noise in certain games.
The newly upgraded version of PSSR appears to address many of those issues. According to Digital Foundry’s analysis, the updated algorithm significantly improves image stability, reduces flickering artifacts, and delivers noticeably cleaner detail across a variety of titles.
One of the most striking improvements can be seen in Silent Hill f. The earlier version of PSSR in that game produced visible pulsing artifacts in ray-traced global illumination and unstable foliage reconstruction, particularly in areas with dense vegetation. Digital Foundry notes that these issues are now largely resolved. Vegetation appears far more stable, pulsing artifacts in lighting have been eliminated, and overall image clarity is significantly improved.
The updated technology also reduces sub-pixel flicker that previously caused small environmental details to shimmer during movement. Patterns on surfaces and architectural details now remain more stable in motion, while edges appear smoother without introducing excessive blur. Internal rendering resolution in Silent Hill f remains roughly 1440p, meaning the improvement comes entirely from the new reconstruction algorithm rather than increased rendering resolution.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth also benefits from the changes. The original PSSR implementation in the game was considered one of the stronger examples of the technology, though it still produced a subtle noise pattern that resembled film grain. With the upgraded PSSR, Digital Foundry reports that these artifacts are largely eliminated, resulting in cleaner edges and more stable environmental detail.
Other titles demonstrate improvements as well. Dragon Age: The Veilguard shows cleaner foliage rendering and reduced visual noise, although some dithering patterns remain in certain textures. Monster Hunter Wilds also appears sharper, with reduced aliasing along distant objects and more stable reflections rendered through screen space techniques.
Performance testing suggests the upgraded algorithm introduces almost no additional performance cost. Frame rates in uncapped modes remain nearly identical to the previous implementation, often differing by only one or two frames per second. Earlier estimates suggested the original PSSR required roughly two milliseconds to upscale a 4K image, and the updated version appears to operate within a similar performance budget.
The improved reconstruction technology may have broader implications for the PS5 Pro moving forward. With stronger image reconstruction available, developers have greater flexibility when balancing rendering features, internal resolutions, and frame rate targets. This could allow studios to allocate more GPU resources toward features such as ray tracing while still maintaining strong visual clarity.
Although the upgraded PSSR still lacks certain advanced capabilities found in high-end PC solutions, such as ray reconstruction or machine learning driven frame generation, Digital Foundry suggests the improvements represent a meaningful step forward for console upscaling technology. By addressing one of the most widely criticized aspects of the PS5 Pro at launch, the updated system could significantly strengthen the console’s visual presentation in future titles.
