20 hours Ago
Intel is boosting frame rates in popular games with a new driver Intel is delivering a driver update which should see laptop owners and handheld gamers get a significant boost in graphics performance. The update is specifically for the Intel Core Ultra 2ooV processors, codenamed Lunar Lake. These are something of an oddity in the Intel line-up, being the only processors to have memory integrated into the processor package, and the only ones to contain the Intel Arc 130V and 140V graphics chips.
Although those graphic chips are about as good as you get from integrated Intel GPUs, they’re very much at the lower end of gaming performance. Indeed, Intel says the benefits of the new drivers will be primarily felt under the common default power level of 17W, which means they’re not really competing with dedicated Nvidia or AMD graphics chips. Nevertheless, a free performance boost is always welcome, with Intel claiming that the new driver will, on average, deliver around 10% more frames per second than its predecessor.
What does this actually mean in practice? Intel has benchmarked the new driver on a series of well-known games, although not using a laptop where these chips are normally found, but with the MSI Claw 8 AI+ handheld gaming console. At the bottom end of the scale, average frame rates in Black Myth: Wukong’s benchmarking tool improved from 36fps to 41fps, helping to make the demanding game smoother and more playable, although not exactly lifting it into the flawless performance category. Cyberpunk 2077 improved from 49fps to 52 fps.
The biggest improvements were seen in Payday 3, where average frame rates jumped from 79fps to 89fps, and DOTA 2 , which leapt from 81fps to 94fps. Fortnite also saw a sizeable jump from 89fps to 105fps. The slightly disappointing news for gamers with the Intel Core Ultra 2ooV in their laptops or handhelds is they’ll probably have to wait a while longer for the new drivers to arrive.
The update is available now for the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ handhelds, but others will have to wait for validation with the hardware manufacturers. The update will be available from the Intel website ..
