Along with the release of Battlemage GPUs, Intel introduced second-generation XeSS technology, which includes a frame generation function (XeSS FG). This technology is supported, among other things, by the latest generation of integrated Intel graphics. At CES 2025, experts tested XeSS2 in the game F1 24 with high graphics quality settings on an MSI Prestige laptop with a Core Ultra 9 285H chip (Arrow Lake) with integrated Xe-LPG+ graphics.
Image source: hothardware.com
Unlike scaling, frame generation is not available for all Intel graphics products – it requires a specialized Intel Arc GPU. The graphics engine in the Core Ultra 200H processors is fundamentally similar to the engine in the Core Ultra 100H processors, codenamed Meteor Lake. It has the same number of Xe cores and is built on the same Alchemist architecture. However, upgrading the XMX cores to Xe-LPG+ provided improved levels of performance under AI workloads, including XeSS.
Experts claim that XeSS FG technology, combined with the Core Ultra 9 285H processor, showed a “significant performance increase” – from 57 FPS to over 100 FPS in the F1 24 game. Putting the system into low power mode limited the chipset to 15 watts, while the laptop thanks to XeSS, FG was able to maintain frame rates above 60 FPS compared to the base 30 FPS with it disabled frame generation.
Personnel generation, like almost any technology, has both real advantages and real limitations. According to experts, “This is a great way to push a game that’s running at 50 or 60 FPS to 100+ FPS for improved visual fluidity, and is a real benefit of the new Intel Core Ultra processors.”