Intel’s XeSS 3 upscaling is now compatible with MSI Claw handhelds—time to enable it for some impressive Multi-Frame Generation fun!

I’m not too shocked to learn that Intel’s XeSS 3 isn’t limited to just Panther Lake chipsets, especially since support for B580 GPUs has already been confirmed. However, eager fans have already figured out how to enable multi-Frame generation on a wider range of devices ahead of time, which could significantly enhance my ongoing quest to maximize fps with the best gaming handhelds available.

A user on r/IntelArc, known as Aggressive-Camel8166, shared a brief clip showcasing Multi-Frame Generation in Cyberpunk 2077 running on a B580 GPU. Another user, onehoon, chimed in to explain that to get XeSS 3 up and running, you simply need to extract two DLL files from the latest driver update and then reinstall using the extracted folder. This means that tools previously reserved for Nvidia’s top graphics cards can now be utilized on Arc GPUs and even the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and other Intel-based handhelds.

The handheld gaming scene has a quirky relationship with AI upscaling tools, as even the powerful ROG Ally X is missing out on the same features available to the latest GPUs. While it can leverage AMD’s FSR 3 and driver-level “Fluid Motion Frames” technology, which does provide a nice performance boost in many situations, having access to specific Multi-Frame Generation through XeSS 3 could elevate performance beyond what is natively achievable or what AMD’s current methods can offer.

I don’t currently have an Intel Arc GPU or an MSI handheld on hand, so I’ll need to follow up on whether XeSS 3 truly makes a significant impact. I’m particularly interested to see if enabling Multi-Frame Generation can help the Claw 8 AI+ surpass the Xbox Ally X without issues like latency, artifacts, or visual glitches.

There’s definitely a discussion to be had about whether technologies like DLSS, FSR, and now XeSS are relying on “fake frames” to enhance performance, with companies like Nvidia pushing for AI upscaling to become standard. However, since handhelds stand to benefit the most from tools like Multi-Frame Generation due to their lower specs, Intel is poised to be the only company actively leveraging this technology for portable PCs, even if fans are getting a bit ahead of themselves with mods.