We're accustomed to seeing driver updates that increase GPU performance through game optimizations made at the driver level. This has been especially true with Intel's Arc discrete GPUs, where the company has gained gobs of performance from its latest DX9 and DX11 driver enhancements — allowing GPUs like the Arc A750 to sit in our list of Best GPUs currently.
Update: Intel released the following statement to us and others: "In a recent driver update, we changed the reported graphics clock of the A380. Actual performance and frequency were not affected and we are working on an update to revert the change in a future driver update." The following text has been updated to account for the new information.
Intel's latest driver release (version 31.0.101.4644) changed the reported base clock for the Arc A380. According to a Neowin forum post by Eternal Tempest, the new driver update is bundled with a hidden firmware update for the Arc A380 that boosts GPU clock speeds by 150MHz, going from a flat 2000MHz clock speed by default to 2150MHz with the firmware update. However, it doesn't appear that there was actually any firmware change from what Intel is now saying.
A 150MHz clock speed upgrade is no joke and would be a substantial jump from a mere firmware update. In the world of modern GPU overclocking, getting a stable 150MHz core offset would be a decent result on any of Nvidia's recent GPUs. Most Nvidia GPUs usually top out anywhere between 100MHz to 200MHz on the overclock front, depending on GPU temperatures and silicon quality. Getting a similar increase while remaining within spec would be excellent. But there's plenty of room for questioning what's going on.
We're not sure what prompted Intel to make the 150MHz clock speed change, possibly just an inadvertent modification of the code. Intel has already said that it plans to revert the change in a future driver. But the Intel "Game Clocks" aren't even that meaningful to begin with. The base clock is what Intel guarantees the GPU to run at as a minimum, while the "Game Clock" is a typical (conservative) estimate of where the GPU will land.
The Arc A380 officially launched with a 2000 MHz base clock, with a 2050 MHz Game clock. The boost clock (maximum clock) meanwhile is 2400 MHz. The Gunnir Arc A380 card we used for testing bumps all of those by 50 MHz higher, thanks to a factory overclock — 2050 MHz base, 2100 MHz game clock, 2450 MHz boost clock. Here our the results of our updated testing, showing average clocks under 15 games at three different test settings:
Across the fifteen tested games, virtually every game at every setting ended up pegging the GPU at the 2450 MHz maximum boost clock. The lowest average GPU clock for any test run was 2445 MHz, meaning there were periodic dips from the maximum clock, but not anything you'd really notice in actual gaming.
So, it would be nice to get a free performance upgrade on an existing GPU, no matter where it comes from. But while Intel may have inadvertently changed the reported base clock and game clock for the A380, the actual real-world clocks remain the same. The cards will generally run at their rated maximum boost clock in our experience — and that applies to all Arc cards right now.
Besides the A380 clock speed update, the new driver update also adds game highlights for Madden NFL 24 and Wayfinder. The update also fixes three bugs surrounding a crashing problem in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (DX12), a system hang when waking up from sleep mode, and another application crash in Blender 3.6.
