Intel is phasing out 16x multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA) with modern upscaling tech like XeSS / FSR / DLSS being superior and more performant plus there being alternative anti-aliasing techniques. Upcoming Xe3 graphics are seeing 16x MSAA support retroactively disabled as the Intel graphics driver moves away from this highest-level MSAA sampling count.
Intel engineer Kenneth Graunke explained in this commit to the Intel driver code for Iris Gallium3D and ANV Vulkan of disabling 16x MSAA support on Xe3:
“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.”
Removing 16x MSAA for Intel Xe3 graphics was done for Mesa 25.3-devel Git but is also marked for back-porting to the current Mesa 25.1 and Mesa 25.2 driver branches.
Xe3 graphics are debuting in the coming months with Panther Lake SoCs.
