Intel just released its XeSS 2 SDK for game developers, including improvements to its existing Super Resolution upscaling technology alongside in-house answers to frame generation and low latency technology already championed by AMD FSR 4 and NVIDIA DLSS 4.
Publishing a separate Xe Super Sampling 2 developer guide, Intel has uploaded its XeSS 2 SDK to GitHub for developers of all abilities to integrate the game performance-boosting technology into their projects.
To speed things along for indie developers and established studios alike, Intel now provides ready-made XeSS 2 plugins for industry-leading Unreal Engine and the more lightweight Unity engine.
Intel still encourages manual implementation of Xe Super Sampling Super Resolution (XeSS-SR) to help developers understand how its API works, followed by Xe Super Sampling Frame Generation (XeSS-FG) and Xe Low Latency (XeLL) to help increase FPS (frames per second) performance in their games.
What is Intel XeSS?
Intel develops its Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) technology to help boost framerates in PC games by utilizing a combination of AI-powered upscaling methods and, now with XeSS 2, an introduction of in-between frame generation and input latency reduction.
While it advertises itself as running “most efficiently on Intel Arc A- and B-series GPUs and on Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 2) with built-in Intel Arc 100V and 100T series GPUs,” XeSS is compatible with various discrete and integrated graphics hardware from AMD and NVIDIA alongside previous-generation Intel iGPU options (except for Frame Generation on the latter.)
“Super Resolution” refers to resolution scaling, a well-established rendering option seen in various iterations of AMD’s FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) and NVIDIA’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling.)
Essentially, this visual trick allows your PC game to render at a size lower than your screen’s native display and upscales the image with various anti-aliasing and sharpening techniques to help smooth jagged edges and keep text legible in the UI.
XeSS-FG + XeLL = The killer difference
While it’s great to see Intel iterate on its Super Resolution technology, something that already boosts performance in visually demanding PC games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and Forza Horizon 5, the addition of Frame Generation and Low Latency excites me more.
It might be a divisive topic for some PC gamers, as the concept of generating “fake frames” can introduce issues with graphical artifacts on fast-moving sequences and often around complex objects like foliage and real-time shadows.
However, the benefits will appeal to players running low-to-mid-range hardware, like the budget-friendly Intel Arc “Battlemage” B570 and B580 desktop graphics cards and equivalents from AMD’s Radeon and NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX GPU ranges.
Besides, visual oddities are generally ironed out over time with graphics driver updates, and the XeSS 2 suite includes an “Inspector for XeSS” app to help developers pre-emptively identify these bugs before adding the tech to their games.
If your desktop, gaming laptop, or PC gaming handheld can manage to run a modern game at around the 30 FPS mark with a reduced internal resolution, XeSS 2 will be able to increase the visual fidelity to meet your display’s native setting and increase the perceived frame rate, offsetting introduced input latency with XeSS-LL.
Great news for PC gaming handhelds
A broad range of PC gaming hardware will benefit from XeSS 2 integration, but handheld users stand to gain the most significant improvements. It should be an easy selling point for the new MSI Claw AI+ handhelds, but they still haven’t seen broad availability in the US. Still, the technology is totally compatible with AMD-powered alternatives like our favorite, the ASUS ROG Ally X.
Nevertheless, I’m experiencing a particularly personal grievance that Intel Core Ultra Series 2 chips haven’t seen saturation in the PC handheld market outside of the encumbered MSI Claw, but it’s great to see XeSS 2 make its way to developers in an open, platform-agnostic manner.
I’m a huge advocate for Intel Arc as an underappreciated underdog in the GPU space, and I want consumers to have more avenues to try it as a third option against the ultra-expensive options from NVIDIA and mid-range champs at AMD.
If XeSS 2 proves its worth and further demonstrates Core Ultra mobile chips as a power-efficient option for PC handhelds, we might see more options from other OEMs — Razer and Alienware; I’m still looking at you.
For now, PC gamers will have to wait while developers integrate Intel’s answer to Frame Generation and Low Latency tech with XeSS 2, but the Unreal Engine and Unity plugins will undoubtedly help the process along. Whenever I get the chance to test the XeSS 2 upgrades on real-world hardware, you’ll soon hear about my findings.
