Radeon Image Sharpening is pretty damn good

[Remij 5,027]

But yea, I agree about it having implications for next gen as well.  All of these things are going to add up to better perceptible image quality, with lower resource cost.  Also, these filters are great for mitigating the by-product of aggressive TAA solutions, among other things.

 

We already have games which dynamically change resolution... next gen, we'll also have Variable Rate Shading, which will have games dynamically shade different elements of the scene at various quality levels based upon detail and contrast.

 

It's simply time to admit that hitting some "native" resolution is no longer, and should no longer be a concern.  Devs have so many tools at their disposal now to intelligently render visuals with no, or very little, perceptible difference in visual fidelity.  

 

I think right now, the sweet spot is 1800p with a slight sharpening filter if the image is soft due to TAA.  With TAA, the image in most games now is sufficiently "jaggy-free".. so using the filter to bring back that sharpness cleans the image up well.  Those extra 20fps or so are much more important.