Again in December, we reported on a brand new graphics driver (opens in new tab) that went a good distance towards fixing Intel Arc’s DX9 efficiency points. Now comes information {that a} new bottleneck has been recognized and a repair for that’s incoming, too.
In line with PC Video games {Hardware} (opens in new tab) (through Videocardz (opens in new tab)), its sources say Intel has noticed one other challenge holding again the efficiency of Intel Arc GPUs, together with the Intel Arc A770, that may be fastened with a driver replace.
If that is the excellent news, albeit for now fully uncorroborated, sadly there is no data on what precisely the issue is and the way lengthy earlier than we would see a repair.
Nonetheless, there are some things we will say for positive. First, by most analyses Intel’s Arc GPU {hardware} is a strong effort. Second, its real-world efficiency has lagged behind cheap expectations derived from the {hardware} spec. Third, Intel has already launched at the least one driver that delivered a serious increase.
On the third level, in CS:GO that December driver dump boosted 1080p common body charges by 80% from 177fps to 318fps. Even higher, the 99th percentile efficiency jumped by 130%.
All of which suggests, we will confidently say that Intel’s Arc GPUs left loads of out there efficiency on the desk at launch, a few of which has since been unlocked. So, it is cheap to suppose there could also be extra vital efficiency features to unlock.
Extra broadly, it is also cheap to suppose the work Intel is doing now within the first era of Arc graphics, codenamed Alchemist, must also apply to a rumoured Alchemist+ replace and the second era GPUs, generally known as Battlemage and which may arrive as quickly as the start of 2024.
If that’s the case, Battlemage has a a lot better likelihood of being a very aggressive different to AMD and Nvidia graphics playing cards. And goodness is aware of one other participant within the GPU market could be welcome. If something will assist push costs again in the direction of one thing approaching sanity, a three-way struggle for players’ consideration may nicely be it.