Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) has received widespread attention because it can significantly improve the performance of wireless networks. The X-duplex is a more flexible duplex mode, which can decrease a small sum rate in exchange for a higher quality-of-service performance. In this article, an IRS transmission scheme based on X-duplex isinvestigated to enhance the flexibility and freedom of communication design. We present the X-duplex IRS with the simultaneous wireless information and power transfer, and establish a power consumption model based on real application scenarios. An alternating optimization algorithm is proposed to maximize the energy efficiency (EE) of a multi-input single-output (MIMO) network assisted by the X-duplex IRS. As for the X-duplex relay, we explore an algorithm based on the golden section to optimize the EE. Simulation results comprehensively evaluate the performance of the two auxiliary transmission methods. The X-duplex IRS has higher EE and weighted sum rate (WSR) than the X-duplex relay when sufficient transmission power is available. However, the IRS cannot entirely replace the traditional relay. The X-duplex relay with self-interference energy harvesting achieves a higher WSR and EE when the access point energy is limited or the transmission distance is short.