Intel has been working on its own gaming GPUs for some time now. The CPU maker is planning to enter the lucrative and competitive GPU market next year. As we get closer to the reveal and eventual release of Intel’s answer to Nvidia and AMD’s graphics card offerings, the company has shown off its Intel XeSS software.
Intel XeSS stands for Intel Xe Super Sampling. It is Intel’s version of Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR which both improve the performance output of GPUs through software. Although DLSS and FSR aren’t exactly the same, essentially they are software that improves what your graphics card is capable of. They enable gamers to play at higher framerates and resolutions than they otherwise would be able to.
As Intel enters the dedicated GPU market, it is going to need its own version of this software in order to compete with Nvidia and AMD. Intel XeSS is that software. During Intel’s InnovatiON 2021 event, the company has shown the XeSS software in action for the first time. Using Hitman 3 and The Riftbreaker, Intel showed the improvements that the software provides. Intel demoed how XeSS can upscale the games from 1080p to 4k with side-by-side comparisons of the games before and after XeSS is added.
As a first example of what Intel XeSS is capable of, the videos are certainly impressive. Software-based improvements like DLSS and FSR have been game-changers for PC gaming. Gamers have seen huge improvements each time one of the two has been added to a game. If Intel is serious about entering the dedicated gaming GPU market, their software solution is going to need to be impressive. Based on these first examples, it certainly does seem to have the chops to go head to head with Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR. Now, we just need to see what the hardware is like.