Intel has released another major driver update for its Arc A-series GPUs that adds additional performance enhancements for twenty new and old DX12 and DX 11 titles. Some of the performance improvements are minor, but many of the titles have received massive performance uplifts, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, in particular, garnering a whopping 119% performance uplift.
Intel's list of driver improvements includes the following: 19% performance uplift in Forza Motorsport (1440p High), 27% uplift in Resident Evil 4 (1080p High RT), 12% uplift in The Last Of Us Part 1 (1080p Ultra). 9% uplift in War Thunder (1080p Max), 37% uplift in Payday 3 (1080p Ultra), 5% uplift in Naraka: Bladepoint (1080p Highest), 32% uplift in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (1080p Ultra), 7% uplift in Final Fantasy XIV Online (1080p Ultra), 42% uplift in Age of Empires 2: Definite Edition (1080p Ultra), 88% uplift in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (1080p Ultra). There's more...
10% uplift in Total War: Warhammer 2 (1080p Ultra), 10% uplift in Tomb Raider (1080p Ultra), 6% uplift in Mad Max (1080p Very High), 14% uplift in Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (1080p Ultra), 90% uplift in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (1080p Extra), 8% uplift in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (1080p Very High), 10% uplift in BeamNG.drive (1080p High), 22% uplift in Kingdom Come: Deliverance (1080p Ultra High), 9% uplift in Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition (1080p Ultra). Then finally Deus Ex: Human Revolution comes in with a 119% performance uplift at 1080p high settings.
Intel's driver improvements this time around are impressive, though these gains aren't universal — if you're not playing one of the 20 listed games, you likely won't see any change from the previous drivers. The work largely builds on Intel's continued DirectX 11 targeted improvements, where games are whitelisted for a new optimized DX11 code path after testing for stability and performance by Intel's drivers team.
The last major update Intel released brought an average 19% performance improvement across 11 titles, with performance improvements ranging anywhere between 5% to 33%. With this latest driver update, Intel has nearly doubled the number of optimized games in a single driver update. This latest update features an average performance improvement of 29% overall, with game-specific performance improvements ranging anywhere between 5% and 119%.
Intel's Arc A-series graphics cards, and in particular the Arc A750, are selling at really competitive prices, with several potentially making our list of the best graphics cards (depending on current prices). Intel's GPUs are particularly impressive in the low-cost market, where the A750 can frequently be found for just $200. The drivers still have room for growth, of course, as evidenced by the continued gains in many older titles, but they're at least mostly viable now.
