Intel has signalled that it will drop support for 16x MSAA with its upcoming Xe3 "Celestial" graphics architecture. The architecture will support MSAA, but at 2x, 4x, and 8x. MSAA x16 support will be reserved for certain models of Xe3 GPUs, presumably the higher end discrete GPUs, however the lower-end chips and iGPU solutions are set to lose it. Intel Graphics engineer Kenneth Grauke made a commit to Intel's Iris Gallium3D and ANV Vulkan driver, and announced in his note: "16x MSAA isn't supported at all on certain Xe3 variants, and on its way out on the rest. Most vendors choose not to support it, and many apps offer more modern multisampling and upscaling techniques these days. Only 2/4/8x are supported going forward."

Intel's rationale behind retiring MSAA checks out, as nearly every modern game supports TAA, and most games support at least one upscaling technology, such as DLSS, FSR, or Intel's own XeSS. Intel has a growing collection of games that have implemented XeSS and the newer XeSS 2 technology, which features an AI ML-based upscaling model. Upscaler super-sampling methods tend to do a good job at antialiasing, with whatever minimal performance cost made up for with upscaling. Even native-resolution modes, such as DLAA see negligible performance costs compared to MSAA. GPU manufacturers would still want to retain MSAA for its utility in older gaming titles and 3D productivity apps.

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