Coming Soon: Intel XeSS Unveils its Advanced Frame Generation Technology, ExtraSS

Intel continues to improve its Intel XeSS scaling technology, with the latest enhancement being a frame generator called ExtraSS. This was demonstrated by Intel during SIGGRAPH Asia 2023 and is similar to technologies like NVIDIA’s Frame Generation integrated into NVIDIA DLSS and AMD’s counterpart integrated into AMD FSR.

Another notable aspect of Intel XeSS technology is its open-source nature, allowing the scaling technology to be used with any GPU. However, it will perform optimally in Intel Arc GPUs. Like NVIDIA, these GPUs include dedicated hardware to accelerate AI and provide improved final output. This could also mean that competitors’ gaming systems could benefit from the new ExtraSS technology, simplifying tasks such as adoption by game developers.

Intel XeSS is the latest scaling technology on the market and is the closest to offering the quality found in NVIDIA DLSS. However, it lacked a frame generator that inserts an AI-generated frame between two GPU-generated frames, significantly improving game performance and fluidity.

Now, with Intel XeSS ExtraSS technology, Intel seems to be following the footsteps of competitors with far more experience in the dedicated GPU industry.

Introducing ExtraSS, an innovative framework that combines spatial supersampling and frame extrapolation to improve real-time rendering performance. By integrating these techniques, the approach achieves a balance between performance and quality, producing high-resolution, temporally stable, and high-quality results.

Using lightweight warping modules and ExtraSSNet for refinement, the framework exploits spatiotemporal information, enhances rendering sharpness, accurately handles moving shadows, and generates temporally stable results. Computational costs are significantly reduced compared to traditional rendering methods, allowing for higher frame rates and high-resolution results without aliasing effects.

Evaluation with Unreal Engine demonstrates the advantages of this framework over conventional spatial or temporal supersampling methods, improving rendering speed and visual quality. Capable of generating high-quality, temporally stable results, the framework enables new possibilities for real-time rendering applications, pushing the limits of performance and photorealistic rendering in various domains.

These are the first images related to the technology:

One of the first images we have related to the visual aspect of the Intel XeSS ExtraSS frame generation technique reveals that Intel will be the only company using “frame extrapolation” for frame generation. Both AMD and NVIDIA use “frame interpolation.” Although interpolation and extrapolation methods are almost identical, the main difference lies in how the generated frame is produced.

Interpolation uses multiple samples to produce an approximation of the frame to be inserted. In contrast, extrapolation uses information beyond the input sample limits to produce an approximation of the frame. While extrapolation may produce less reliable results and add more artifacts, with some adjustments and optimizations, Intel XeSS ExtraSS could provide high visual quality and a high frame rate.

Furthermore, interpolation used by competitors adds higher latency for frame generation. As a result, both AMD and NVIDIA have been forced to develop technology that reduces latency – ergo, Anti-Lag and Reflex, which counteract the increased latency.

Visual comparison tests were conducted using an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU along with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090.

In summary, Intel XeSS will soon introduce its frame generator technology, ExtraSS, that promises to strike a balance between rendering performance and quality by leveraging frame extrapolation, creating high-resolution, temporally stable, and high-quality results.