Microsoft Windows 11 24H2 To Have Its Own AI Super Resolution Technology, Works Across All PCs With AI NPUs

Microsoft is preparing its own AI-powered Super Resolution technology which will be available in Windows 11 24H2.

According to a post by @PhantomofEarth, it looks like Microsoft will be offering its own AI SR or Super Resolution technology within the upcoming Windows 11 24H2 update. In the description, Automatic Super Resolution will utilize AI to make supported games play more smoothly with enhanced details.

AI super resolution, continued: there are also a few notifications that can show up when you launch a game, here is one of them. https://t.co/ThHC5PI4K6 pic.twitter.com/2H8fEJUaU7

— PhantomOcean3 ???? (@PhantomOfEarth) February 11, 2024

From the screenshot posted, it looks like the Microsoft AI Super Resolution technology would be enabled using a toggle within the graphics settings panel on the new Windows 11 24H2 version. Users will also be able to use the technology on a per-game basis where they can set the graphics preferences to On, Off, or Auto so you can either use the GPU or the NPU onboard your CPU for the AI processing. It is stated that enabling Auto SR in certain apps might cause unexpected results and additionally, there's a toggle to enable optimizations for windowed games.

It is interesting since it looks like almost every game will be supported by this technology & the use of AI means that it will be better than the traditional super-resolution methods. Almost every other Super Resolution or upscaling technology such as DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and XeSS (Xe Super Sampling) is powered by AI while others such as AMD's FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) and Apple MetalFX Super Resolution leverage non-AI hardware to achieve super sample upscaling.

Generally, AI-based upscaling is regarded as the better solution but requires AI-based hardware. With the rising demand for AI TOPS expected in Microsoft's Windows 11 24H2, it looks like AI NPUs will play a major role in achieving higher performance and quality when enabling the Auto SR tech.

Currently, AMD and Intel both offer similar AI NPU TOPS with their latest chips such as Hawk Point and Meteor Lake and they are expected to bring a 3x uplift in performance later this year with the Strix Point and Lunar Lake families. Besides the NPU, the CPU and GPU onboard these chips can also deliver AI compute TOPS but NPUs will be a necessary solution to drive optimal AI compute & next-gen experiences.

For those running a modern-day discrete GPU, you will more or less have enough AI prowess for all the latest AI experiences. It will be interesting to see how the AI Super Resolution in the Windows 11 24H2 version works and how good the support is. AMD and NVIDIA upscaling tech works across a wide range of hardware but there are still several older cards that don't have upscaling support & this could be a huge deal for those gamers. It will also be interesting to compare Microsoft's own AI upscaling tech against the competition.