Intel releases new Arc drivers optimized for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, several DX11 games

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Performance improvements and bugfixes are in store for Intel graphics users

Intel Arc
(Image credit: Intel)

Intel released a new non-WHQL driver containing a surprising number of updates. While the 31.0.101.5074 driver for Arc and Iris Xe provides performance improvements for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (which sees an 8% average FPS uplit at 1080p Ultra), there are a plethora of optimizations for DX11 games. 

It's nice to see Intel working to optimize older games that are still played and appreciated, like Dishonored 2, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, and Phasmophobia. 

The following are the DX11 games that are optimized with respective settings:

  • Battlefield V (DX11): Up to 23% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Crossout (DX11): Up to 5% average FPS uplift at 1080p with High settings
  • Dishonored 2 (DX11): Up to 16% average FPS uplift at 4K with Ultra settings
  • Dying Light 2 Stay Human (DX11): Up to 31% average FPS uplift at 1080p with High settings
  • Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition (DX11): Up to 12% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Highest settings
  • For Honor (DX11): Up to 14% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Extreme settings
  • Phasmophobia (DX11): Up to 5% average FPS uplift at 1440p with High settings
  • Train Sim World 3 (DX11): Up to 34% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings

Naturally, these optimization boosts largely depend on your Intel GPU and your system specs. This update has been rolled out for Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems.

Fixed and Known Issues

There were some issues that this BETA driver addressed, such as an issue with Counter-Strike 2 in DX11 mode, which would exhibit random flickering pixels when multisampling is set to 4x MSAA. Intel also fixes a crash issue with Alan Wake, Ghostrunner 2, and Far Cry 3 when starting a game. Cyberpunk 2077 is the only DX12 game on the list; Intel addresses colorful pixel corruption.

But Intel is still working on a Fortnite DX12 corruption issue with anti-aliasing settings and Dead by Daylight DX11 mode's crash during gameplay. Those who use Topaz Video AI with Arc series may face errors when using video enhancement. Iris Xe and Iris Xe Max-based notebooks may have trouble completing the installation process just like the last time. 

It also inherits some of the long-running known issues with Intel Arc control, such as its studio capture mode creating multiple video files when used and when the display detects a DisplayPort connection when an HDMI output is used. 

The Intel Arc Control has some known issues that have persisted for some time. One of these annoyances creates multiple video files when using the Studio Capture mode via the Arc Control. Another problem is when the display detects a DisplayPort connection when the HDMI output is used. 

You can read more in Intel's release notes, and remember that these are non-WHQL drivers. Keeping that in mind, you can download the 31.0.101.5074 BETA driver from here.

Roshan Ashraf Shaikh
Roshan Ashraf Shaikh
Contributing Writer

Roshan Ashraf Shaikh has been in the Indian PC hardware community since the early 2000s and has been building PCs, contributing to many Indian tech forums, & blogs. He operated Hardware BBQ for 11 years and wrote news for eTeknix & TweakTown before joining Tom's Hardware team. Besides tech, he is interested in fighting games, movies, anime, and mechanical watches.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • why_wolf
    duplication.

    "
    It also inherits some of the long-running known issues with Intel Arc control, such as its studio capture mode creating multiple video files when used and when the display detects a DisplayPort connection when an HDMI output is used.

    The Intel Arc Control has some known issues that have persisted for some time. One of these annoyances creates multiple video files when using the Studio Capture mode via the Arc Control. Another problem is when the display detects a DisplayPort connection when the HDMI output is used.
    "
    Reply
  • rluker5
    This is good news for Meteor Lake.

    What else is good news for that iGPU is that Arc's primary weakness of higher framerates will be mitigated by the diminutive and constrained nature of iGPUs. Meteor Lake might win most of the time at 30 fps. Which isn't an unrealistic framerate for an iGPU.
    Reply
  • Sleepy_Hollowed
    Not a huge fan of them, but I hope these cards get traction, especially considering that the nvidia eye candy tax has been shown to be mostly not used on most new games with exception of one or two features that barely make a difference.

    I almost picked one up but I have no justification besides playing around with it, my 580 and 6900 work just fine.
    Reply
  • Pollopesca
    Now if they can just get idle power consumption under control, I’ll be a happy camper. My A750 is still pulling 40-50w sitting idle on the desktop…
    Reply
  • abufrejoval
    I got a desktop A770 some time ago, when its price was very hard to resist and I needed to replace the dGPU in my 24x7 workstation, that sees some occasional gaming but mostly is designed to run at low power, yet decent peak.

    My main issue at the time was that it just wouldn't work with my (DP) KVM, the only way to get a video output was a direct connect on HDMI, even direct DP would only sometimes appear once Windows was fully booted.

    So I returned it and got an RTX 4070 dual slot and dual fan from PNY instead, because the case is also quite cramped with a RAID6 HDD array, a SATA SSD array and other stuff: plenty of cables and the ARC A770 was nicely compact.

    Idle power would have been a real issue, if it hadn't failed the first round already.

    I got a little weak again some months later, when the Serpent Canyon NUC12 fell below €700, because that got you both an AD i7-12700H and a 16GB A700(mobile) very near the price of such a NUC without the dGPU.

    At that price I felt I couldn't really go wrong, because I could always use it my many other NUCs, which server as µ-servers: the 16GB ARC770 dGPU option was for free!

    I also have a Phantom Lake NUC11 with an RTX 2060m in it, which was also dirt cheap (€450) by the time I got it, basically also the same price as a NUC without a dGPU and that machine turned out to be quite good for THD gaming while being very quiet.

    That's where the NUC12 can't quite match the NUC11 as it uses twice the amount of power in gaming and needs to spin its fans to cool that off.

    But in terms of gaming performance it seemd to do rather well at 3k, sometimes even exceeding 60FPS.

    ARC Survival Evolved has been a terrible game for my dGPUs, but the one I loved to play most with my kids. On my 42" 4k main screen only an RTX 4090 was finally able to get me to near 60FPs. It's based on a rather old Unreal 4 release and only pure rasterizing super powers will get you the eye candy and responsiveness I love so much.

    And on the NUC12's A770m it was surprising good as well, at 1440p, obviously, not 4k.

    But with the new release, ARC Survival Ascend, that changed dramatically. Based on Unreal 5 it can take advantage of DLSS 3.5 on the RTX 4090 so that stays pretty much the same performance (but mich nicer graphics) than the "Evolved" variant.

    But on the A770 it just bombs, even with 1080p and "medium" graphics it is barely playable. There is no XeSS support yet and if you need to rely on rasterization power alone, Unreal 5 has upped the ante far beyond what that dGPU can do.

    Of course, mine is the mobile variant, but I'd estimate the regression versus the full power desktop at perhaps only 30%.

    I'm afraid that DLSS and Unreal are pushing the state of the art upwards much faster than Intel can optimize and push XeSS and their drivers.

    But since I got it "for free", I'm not complaining.

    As a better console I'd still recommend it to those who are not afraid to manage a PC.
    Reply