Intel's DLSS competitor works on Nvidia and AMD GPUs, too, and will be open-source

[Daniel Sims]

Why it matters: Intel shed light on some more details about its upcoming high-end gaming graphics cards as part of its Architecture Day 2021 presentation, including its AI-powered super sampling solution which it calls Xe Super Sampling (XeSS). XeSS will have two modes, a presumably more effective solution for Intel's own hardware and another one that will run on AMD and Nvidia cards as well as integrated graphics.

The way Intel's presentation describes XeSS makes it sound much more similar to Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) than AMD's recently unveiled FidelityFx Super Resolution (FSR). Like DLSS, XeSS is a temporal solution that will use information from previous frames in order to upscale a game to higher resolutions while saving on performance.

The presentation included a demonstration of XeSS upscaling a real-time demo Intel made from 1080p to 4K. Though it wasn't a demo of a real game and didn't show any framerate counter, the upscaled image looked extremely similar to the native 4K image. Intel says the frame time while upscaling from 1080p will be slower than just running a game at 1080p, but still a lot faster than native 4K.

That demo used a hardware-accelerated super sampling mode Intel calls XMX which will work exclusively on its recently unveiled Arc graphics cards, using their Xe Matrix Extension (XMX) cores. The other version of XeSS should run on any hardware with DP4a instruction, which includes Nvidia GPUs, AMD GPUs, and integrated graphics chips. Intel didn't go into detail on how well the DP4a version will work, but called it "a smart quality-performance trade-off."

Intel confirmed developers will be able to get their hands on the SDK for the XMX version of XeSS this month, with the DP4a version coming later this year. Intel plans to make the tools and SDK open-source later on as XeSS matures.

Intel also said Unreal Engine 5 is already running on Arc cards, and that they'll support both DirectX ray tracing and Vulkan ray tracing.

This was all part of a much bigger presentation in which Intel covered the future of its CPUs, data centers, and more.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/90865-intel-dlss-competitor-works-nvidia-amd-gpus-open.html

 

[Irata]

A list of supported GPU would be nice. Right now it seems Pascal and newer for nVidia and RDNA2 for AMD.

 

[itgerald]

Yes, Let the GPU competition heat up

 

[Lew Zealand]

Considering they claim it works for iGPUs, you could assume that it works on any DX12 capable GPU. However, who knows how well it will work or if it's supported on anything older like DX11 only.

 

[Shadowboxer]

Intel and AMD are only making their solutions open to all hardware because if they don’t, games developers won’t implement their solution.

It isn’t because any of these companies are decent, or care about you in any shape or fashion. They are all as scummy as each other.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Intel....Open Source....Has hell frozen over?

 

[Stingy McDuck]

After seeing TAAU work on Crash Bandicoot 4 on PC (upscaling from 50% 4K to something very near to native 4K), done "simply" with shaders and not bringing your performance down in the process, I kinda think that nVidia overengineered with their DLSS solution.

 

[paul1122]

The title should read Nvidia is the only one NOT making a solution that will work on all GPUs.

 

[Dimitrios]

Intel....Open Source....Has hell frozen over?

I was going to say the same exact thing lol!

 

[Nobina]

I'm very interested to see Intel vs. Nvidia. Two giants. Will Nvidia outdo Intel as the number one scumbag anti-consumer company?

 

[punctualturn]

XeSS will have two modes, a presumably more effective solution for Intel's own hardware and another one that will run on AMD and Nvidia cards as well as integrated graphics.

Of course they would do such thing.

Instead of using and expanding FSR, they have to pull this cr@p.

You can be that it will run like hot garbage on the other GPU's, given how they pulled similar things with compilers when an AMD CPU ran the same code.

 

[punctualturn]

After seeing TAAU work on Crash Bandicoot 4 on PC (upscaling from 50% 4K to something very near to native 4K), done "simply" with shaders and not bringing your performance down in the process, I kinda think that nVidia overengineered with their DLSS solution.

Nope, that is owrking as designed.

Everything they release has 2 parts, the actual work done by the tech and the part of keeping you locked into their hardware.

They never do anything for the industry nor the customers, only for their own good.

 

[Watzupken]

Intel....Open Source....Has hell frozen over?

They are many years behind Nvidia in this aspect, so they will certainly have to do something different in order to make it attractive and win developers over.

 

[Watzupken]

After seeing TAAU work on Crash Bandicoot 4 on PC (upscaling from 50% 4K to something very near to native 4K), done "simply" with shaders and not bringing your performance down in the process, I kinda think that nVidia overengineered with their DLSS solution.

I feel there are always pros and cons with each approach. Having said that, I have no doubt that Nvidia release DLSS in order to make people buy their cards (those with Tensor cores). In other words, the bespoke solution is primarily meant for differentiating themselves from competition, and to entice existing Nvidia users on cards with no Tensor cores, to upgrade to one with Tensor cores.

 

[Kosmoz]

Intel and AMD are only making their solutions open to all hardware because if they don’t, games developers won’t implement their solution.

It isn’t because any of these companies are decent, or care about you in any shape or fashion. They are all as scummy as each other.

You try to spin it negatively when in fact it's a very positive thing. It will benefit everyone, not just premium nvidia RTX-tax payers. Simple as that.

Also, by doing this we already knew AMD was, but now Intel proved to be (for the time being and only related to this) just a little bit less scummy than nvidia. Which is great, so Intel gets a +1 from me for this.

Of course they would do such thing.

Instead of using and expanding FSR, they have to pull this cr@p.

You can be that it will run like hot garbage on the other GPU's, given how they pulled similar things with compilers when an AMD CPU ran the same code.

I actually don't think it's a crap move at all.

If it is as good as advertised (and I think it will be), it will have almost if not identical image quality of DLSS 2.0 (maybe 2.2 will still have an insignificant advantage) and the open source easiness to implement of FSR.
Intel absolutely needed to have a big positive hit like this to actually disrupt the GPU market. The hardware alone is not enough, so software is the key here.

I see this as a great thing, now we will have 2 solutions to use and chose while ignoring DLSS. XeSS will have best of both worlds: will be FSR open source-like and working on many GPUs and advanced AI tech to make it look better IQ wise.

Also, I believe the rumors are true about FSR. They already have an internal version (2.0?) that is better than 1.0 and working and also the fact that RDNA3, like Intel Arc, will have some kind of hardware acceleration for FSR 2.0. So AMD will do the same, actually.

This is a big win for us gamers. The 3 way fight hardware and software wise, we were expecting and the one we really need, is coming.

 

[Shadowboxer]

You try to spin it negatively when in fact it's a very positive thing. It will benefit everyone, not just premium nvidia RTX-tax payers. Simple as that.

Anyone who believes that AMD or Intel wouldn’t make it an exclusive if they had the market share to get away with it is incredibly naive. AMD, Intel, Nvidia are all as bad as each other. Deluded fanboys are the only people who claim one company is more “ethical” than another.

 

[Kosmoz]

Anyone who believes that AMD or Intel wouldn’t make it an exclusive if they had the market share to get away with it is incredibly naive. AMD, Intel, Nvidia are all as bad as each other. Deluded fanboys are the only people who claim one company is more “ethical” than another.

There is no delusion when we take facts, real facts into consideration.

Would AMD be as bad as nvidia and intel if they were the monopoly/majority dominant force in CPU/GPU market? Who knows, maybe...
There is always that possibility, BUT guess what so far AMD is not in that position and so far (as in soo many years now) both Intel and nvidia did far more worse and a lot more worse things than AMD did... Facts. Period.

So spin it as you want, but you are talking about wishful thinking and supposition of possibilities and wishful ill dreaming, while I'm talking about proven facts and reality = nvidia and intel are more scummy than AMD. So who'se delusional now?

You should really drop this, because you can't warp facts and reality based on wishes and X possibilities of the future...

If AMD becomes the bigger eveil in the years to come, I won't be the one simping for them, I'm not a blind fanboy, but I always chose the lesser evil. That lesser evil now is AMD, still.

 

[Shadowboxer]

There is no delusion when we take facts, real facts into consideration.

Would AMD be as bad as nvidia and intel if they were the monopoly/majority dominant force in CPU/GPU market? Who knows, maybe...
There is always that possibility, BUT guess what so far AMD is not in that position and so far (as in soo many years now) both Intel and nvidia did far more worse and a lot more worse things than AMD did... Facts. Period.

So spin it as you want, but you are talking about wishful thinking and supposition of possibilities and wishful ill dreaming, while I'm talking about proven facts and reality = nvidia and intel are more scummy than AMD. So who'se delusional now?

You should really drop this, because you can't warp facts and reality based on wishes and X possibilities of the future...

If AMD becomes the bigger eveil in the years to come, I won't be the one simping for them, I'm not a blind fanboy, but I always chose the lesser evil. That lesser evil now is AMD, still.

If you feel AMD is less scummy than Intel or Nvidia than you absolutely are a delusional fanboy and I have no time for you. I’ve clicked “ignore” on your profile as I do my best to avoid the lowest common denominators in these forums.

 

[defaultluser]

You try to spin it negatively when in fact it's a very positive thing. It will benefit everyone, not just premium nvidia RTX-tax payers. Simple as that.

Also, by doing this we already knew AMD was, but now Intel proved to be (for the time being and only related to this) just a little bit less scummy than nvidia. Which is great, so Intel gets a +1 from me for this.

I actually don't think it's a crap move at all.

If it is as good as advertised (and I think it will be), it will have almost if not identical image quality of DLSS 2.0 (maybe 2.2 will still have an insignificant advantage) and the open source easiness to implement of FSR.
Intel absolutely needed to have a big positive hit like this to actually disrupt the GPU market. The hardware alone is not enough, so software is the key here.

I see this as a great thing, now we will have 2 solutions to use and chose while ignoring DLSS. XeSS will have best of both worlds: will be FSR open source-like and working on many GPUs and advanced AI tech to make it look better IQ wise.

Also, I believe the rumors are true about FSR. They already have an internal version (2.0?) that is better than 1.0 and working and also the fact that RDNA3, like Intel Arc, will have some kind of hardware acceleration for FSR 2.0. So AMD will do the same, actually.

This is a big win for us gamers. The 3 way fight hardware and software wise, we were expecting and the one we really need, is coming.

Says the man who has no clue how shitty Intel has been at promoting / supporting new post-processing algorithms, over the years?

Remember this boring thing that didn't even look like it was altering the scene at-all?

Game Development

Access tools, tutorials libraries, and code samples from Intel to optimize your games.

software.intel.com

it took them an additional 5 years to take it up t version 2.0!

https://software.intel.com/content/...servative-morphological-anti-aliasing-20.html

And in that time-frame, can you show me any games (besides the one they developed it for) running this shitty algo? This new hot **** will be as stillborn as Larrabee

 

[punctualturn]

I actually don't think it's a crap move at all.

If it is as good as advertised (and I think it will be), it will have almost if not identical image quality of DLSS 2.0 (maybe 2.2 will still have an insignificant advantage) and the open source easiness to implement of FSR.
Intel absolutely needed to have a big positive hit like this to actually disrupt the GPU market. The hardware alone is not enough, so software is the key here.

I see this as a great thing, now we will have 2 solutions to use and chose while ignoring DLSS. XeSS will have best of both worlds: will be FSR open source-like and working on many GPUs and advanced AI tech to make it look better IQ wise.

Also, I believe the rumors are true about FSR. They already have an internal version (2.0?) that is better than 1.0 and working and also the fact that RDNA3, like Intel Arc, will have some kind of hardware acceleration for FSR 2.0. So AMD will do the same, actually.

This is a big win for us gamers. The 3 way fight hardware and software wise, we were expecting and the one we really need, is coming.

I understand your points and I agree that more options is always good.

But coming from Intel, I simply cant believe that it will be with good intentions and as I mentioned, their version will somehow work amazingly well on their hardware and like cr@p onm others.

So far, FSR is as platform agnostic as it can be and I sincerely wish that it does become the standard.

But we know that developers are as scummy as nvidia and intel are and will use whichever tech brings them the more money in the form of sponsorship.

 

[Kosmoz]

Says the man who has no clue how shitty Intel has been at promoting / supporting new post-processing algorithms, over the years?

Remember this boring thing that didn't even look like it was altering the scene at-all?

Game Development

Access tools, tutorials libraries, and code samples from Intel to optimize your games.

software.intel.com

it took them an additional 5 years to take it up t version 2.0!

https://software.intel.com/content/...servative-morphological-anti-aliasing-20.html

And in that time-frame, can you show me any games (besides the one they developed it for) running this shitty algo? This new hot **** will be as stillborn as Larrabee

I just said they are a little less scummy than nvidia regarding this XeSS feature (this one not old things, past events), and also not that they are not scummy at all and somehow they are pure and good. I still don't like Intel, they still need to prove good things to get into my good graces and earn my money again...

Also I could be proven wrong, and they have zero good intentions and I'm just fooled by them, but I guess we'll see, won't we...

I understand your points and I agree that more options is always good.

But coming from Intel, I simply cant believe that it will be with good intentions and as I mentioned, their version will somehow work amazingly well on their hardware and like cr@p onm others.

So far, FSR is as platform agnostic as it can be and I sincerely wish that it does become the standard.

But we know that developers are as scummy as nvidia and intel are and will use whichever tech brings them the more money in the form of sponsorship.

I agree with that.

I would also like AMD to win with FSR vs DLSS/XeSS, but we are talking now about David vs 2 Goliaths on GPU side only (not counting the CPU battle)... so it will be even harder for AMD on the GPU side from now...

 

[punctualturn]

I agree with that.

I would also like AMD to win with FSR vs DLSS/XeSS, but we are talking now about David vs 2 Goliaths on GPU side only (not counting the CPU battle)... so it will be even harder for AMD on the GPU side from now...

Add to their disgrace, the amount of insane fanbois that cannot grasp why blindly supporting the two Goliaths will eventually cost us.

Of course, AMD itself could become a very anti consumer company like nvidia and intel are if they become that big, but besides their track record and the impossibility of that happening, we might not see it.

But, if it does happen, then we simply move to whoever is the underdog with good consumer practices.

 

[Kosmoz]

Add to their disgrace, the amount of insane fanbois that cannot grasp why blindly supporting the two Goliaths will eventually cost us.

Of course, AMD itself could become a very anti consumer company like nvidia and intel are if they become that big, but besides their track record and the impossibility of that happening, we might not see it.

But, if it does happen, then we simply move to whoever is the underdog with good consumer practices.

Exactly. Some Intel and nvidia fanbois think that if we favor AMD now, we would blindly do it even if they become as bad or worse than Intel and nvidia is...

Not everyone is blind and brainwashed. My brand affinity (not loyalty) lasts as much as their products are good enough and their integrity is better than the others. We all know no company is innocent, but we also know some are more scummy than others.

This is the argument I had with that neophyte Shadowboxer above, that facts in the last (at least) 5 years prove than AMD is less scummy than nvidia and Intel, yet he chooses to ignore them and compare them with wishes and "what IFs".

I honestly don't understand blind fanboism... it's like they would sell their soul for +5-10% more performance, no matter what. Forget integrity and principles and rational judgment, who needs that...

 

[DAOWAce]

Continuing to wait for DLSS to be usable on non-tensor GPUs..

..and for the ability to buy a new GPU at a sane price, or even at all.