Community patch brings real Intel XeSS upscaling to SteamOS and Proton on Linux

[Cass_9]

A volunteer project has beaten Intel to a feature Linux gamers have wanted for a while. PC Gamer reports that an unofficial GitHub patch called xess-xmx-linux runs XeSS upscaling and frame generation on Intel's XMX matrix units under Linux

Stock Wine and Proton only use the slower DP4a fallback version of XeSS, which does not take advantage of the dedicated hardware. This patch lets games use the faster path

It was tested on a OneXPlayer 3 handheld with Intel's G3 Extreme chip, which is also found in the MSI Claw and Acer Predator Atlas 8, and on an Arc B580 graphics card. The developer's own figures show Cyberpunk running about 29 percent faster with upscaling and about 145 percent faster with frame generation, while Forza Horizon 6 gained about 16 percent

There are limits. It needs the native Steam client rather than the Flatpak version, the gains have not been independently verified, and Intel has promised official Proton support of its own

Community projects like this are what make Linux gaming so lively. Handheld owners with Intel chips stand to benefit most, since every frame counts on battery power. Hopefully Intel's official support arrives soon, but in the meantime this is a great showcase of what enthusiasts can do

Have you tried gaming on Linux with an Intel GPU? And should hardware makers do more to support Linux gamers directly?

The best iGPUs around now have proper hardware upscaling support in Linuxwww.pcgamer.com