Subj : Windows 11s AI-powered feature to make games run more smoothly is To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Thu May 23 2024 16:45:05 Windows 11s AI-powered feature to make games run more smoothly is for Copilot+ PCs only, were afraid Date: Thu, 23 May 2024 15:30:58 +0000 Description: Were you excited about Microsofts upscaling solution for Windows 11? Well, prepare for some disappointment FULL STORY ====================================================================== Windows 11 is getting a trick to help the best PC games run more smoothly, although this previously rumored feature comes with a catch namely that it will only be available to those who have a Copilot+ PC with a Snapdragon X Elite processor. The feature in question, which was leaked in preview builds of Windows 11 earlier this year, is called Auto Super Resolution (or Auto SR), and the idea is that it automatically upscales the resolution of a game (or indeed app) in real-time. An upscaling feature like this effectively means the game and it seems gaming is very much the focus (well come back to that) is run at a certain (lower) resolution, with the image upscaled to a higher resolution. This means that something running at, say, 720p, can be upscaled to 1080p or Full HD resolution, and look nearly as good as native 1080p but it can be rendered faster (because its really still 720p). If this sounds familiar, its because there are similar solutions already out there, such as Nvidia DLSS , AMD FSR, and Intel XeSS to name a few. As outlined by Microsoft in its fresh details about Copilot+ PCs (highlighted by VideoCardz ), the catch is that Auto SR is exclusive to these laptops . In fact, you need to be running the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, so the lesser Plus version of this CPU is ruled out (for now anyway). The other caveat to bear in mind here is that to begin with this is just for a curated set of games, so itll have a rather limited scope initially. Analysis: The start of a long upscaling journey When it was just a leak, there was some debate about whether Auto SR might be a feature for upscaling anything games or apps but Microsoft specifically talks about PC games here, and so thats the intended use in the main. We also expected it to be some kind of all-encompassing tech in terms of game support, and that clearly isnt the case. Eventually, though, wed think Auto SR will have a much broader rollout, and maybe thatll happen before too long. After all, AI is being pushed heavily as helping gamers too as a kind of gaming Copilot so this is another string to that bow, and an important one we can imagine Microsoft working hard on. Of course, the real fly in the ointment is the requirement for a Snapdragon X Elite chip, which rules out most PCs, of course. This is likely due to the demanding nature of the task, and the feature being built around the presence of a beefy NPU ( Neural Processing Unit ) to accelerate the AI workloads involved. Only Qualcomms new Snapdragon X has a peppy enough NPU to deal with this, or thats what we can assume but this wont be the case for long. Newer laptop chips from Intel, such as Lunar Lake (and Arrow Lake) , and AMDs Strix Point are inbound for later this year, and will deliver the goods in terms of the NPU and qualifying as the engine for a Copilot+ PC and therefore being able to run Auto SR. Naturally, we still need to see how well Microsoft implements this feature, and how upscaling games leveraging a powerful NPU works out. But as mentioned, the company has so much riding on AI, and the gaming side of the equation appears to be important enough, that wed expect Microsoft will be trying its best to impress. You might also like... What is an NPU: the new AI chips explained Microsoft to lay out its ambitious vision for AI in Windows 11 - here's what to expect Dont make these 5 big mistakes when using Windows 11 ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/windows-11s-ai-powered-feature-to- make-games-run-more-smoothly-is-for-copilot-pcs-only-were-afraid --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .