Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Intel claims up to 268% gaming boost with latest Arc graphics drivers

The Arc A770 graphics card running in a PC.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Intel has released a new graphics driver update for its Arc lineup of GPUs. It is the company’s first major update this year, primarily supporting new game titles like Enshrouded, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, and Palworld. As always, the new Game On drivers (31.0.101.5186) also ensure a substantial performance boost to many existing DirectX11 and DirectX12 games.

Recommended Videos

As per Intel, gamers can expect a massive increase of up to 268% average fps (frame per second) uplift in Just Cause 4 at 1080p with very high settings and about 160% average fps uplift in Just Cause 3 with similar settings. Popular titles like Tekken 8 (DX12) also witness up to 15% average fps uplift at 4K with ultra settings and up to 8% average fps uplift in The Last of Us Part 1 at 1080p with ultra settings.

Here’s the entire list of game performance improvements that one can expect if they are using an Intel Arc A-series GPU with the latest driver update:

  • Albion Online (DX11) – Up to 11% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Anno 1800 (DX11) – Up to 33% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra High settings
  • Apex Legends (DX11) – Up to 26% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (DX11) – Up to 13% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra High settings
  • Black Desert Online (DX11) – Up to 18% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Elder Scrolls Online (DX11) – Up to 10% average fps uplift at 4K with Ultra settings
  • Elex II (DX11) – Up to 101% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Humankind (DX11) – Up to 11% average fps uplift at 1080p with Fantastic settings
  • Hunt: Showdown (DX11) – Up to 27% average fps uplift at 1080p with High settings
  • Just Cause 3 (DX11) – Up to 160% average fps uplift at 1080p with Very High settings
  • Just Cause 4 (DX11) – Up to 268% average fps uplift at 1080p with Very High settings
  • New World (DX11) – Up to 13% average fps uplift at 1080p with Very High settings
  • Returnal (DX12) – Up to 8% average fps uplift at 1080p with Epic settings
  • Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (DX11) – Up to 32% average fps uplift at 1080p with High settings
  • Sons of the Forest (DX11) – Up to 15% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Space Engineers (DX11) – Up to 69% average fps uplift at 1080p with Extreme settings
  • Star Citizen (DX11) – Up to 9% average fps uplift at 1080p with Very High settings
  • Star Wars Squadrons (DX11) – Up to 6% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Stellaris (DX11) – Up to 5% average fps uplift at 1080p with High settings
  • Tekken 8 (DX12) – Up to 15% average fps uplift at 4K with Ultra settings
  • The Last of Us Part 1 (DX12) – Up to 8% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Warframe (DX11) – Up to 20% average fps uplift at 1080p with High settings
  • Watch Dogs: Legion (DX11) – Up to 16% average fps uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • XCOM 2 (DX11) – Up to 4% average fps uplift at 1080p with Maximum settings

A new driver update (31.0.101.5234) is also being rolled out for Intel’s Arc mobile graphics integrated with the latest Intel Core Ultra CPUs. This update brings support for three games, including Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, and Palworld, as well as certain performance boosts in the following games:

  • Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (DX12) – Up to 25% average fps uplift at 1080p with High settings
  • Returnal (DX12) – Up to 6% average fps uplift at 1080p with Low settings
  • The Last of Us Part 1 (DX12) – Up to 6% average fps uplift at 1080p with Very Low settings

This isn’t the first time Intel has impressed us with its efforts to improve the performance of its well-priced Arc series GPUs. In October, Intel released a major graphics driver update, which introduced double-digit gains in terms of performance, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution gaining a 119% uplift.

Kunal Khullar
Kunal Khullar is a computing writer at Digital Trends who contributes to various topics, including CPUs, GPUs, monitors, and…
Intel Arc B580 vs. Nvidia RTX 4060: a one-sided showdown
The back of the Intel Arc B580 graphics card.

Intel is back with one of the best graphics cards you can buy -- the Arc B580. As you can read in my Intel Arc B580 review, it's a graphics card that has no business being as powerful as it is given how inexpensive it is. And when comparing it to its main competitor, Nvidia's RTX 4060, Intel mops the floor with its rival.

I've been testing Intel's latest GPU over the last couple of weeks, and I decided to put it head-to-head with Nvidia's budget RTX 4060, which is currently the second-most-popular GPU on Steam. Given the performance I've seen, Intel's GPU deserves to start climbing up the rankings in those same charts.
Specs and pricing

Read more
Prices for Intel’s Arc B580 are already shooting through the roof
The Intel logo on the Arc B580 graphics card.

Intel just launched its new $249 Arc B580 graphics card, and as you can read in our Intel Arc B580 review, it's one of the best graphics cards you can buy. It seems PC gamers have gotten the memo, as most models of the card are sold out online. If you want to get one now, you'll have to spend close to double the list price.

Looking at online retailers, it looks like Newegg has the most models listed for sale, though almost all of them are sold out. The only models available come from Gunnir, and they're both very expensive. The , while the . Both are sold by third-party sellers -- they aren't sold and shipped by Newegg -- so I wouldn't recommend spending up for one of these cards.

Read more
Intel Arrow Lake gets a surprise 33% gaming boost — with one caveat
The Core Ultra 9 285K socketed into a motherboard.

Intel Arrow Lake has struggled to compete against some of the best processors from both AMD and Intel itself, but improvements are on the way. In fact, a completely unexpected update just gave the CPUs a major boost. Unfortunately, there's a caveat: That boost only applies to one game.

The update in question was just announced by CDProjektRed, which has dropped a surprise patch for Cyberpunk 2077. The game studio now promises to improve in-game performance on Arrow Lake CPUs by up to 33%, which is a tune-up that gamers badly need, considering that the CPUs generally failed to impress in gaming scenarios.

Read more