Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

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

Intel’s new Arc driver can boost your performance by up to 119%

Kunal Khullar
By
Intel Arc A770 GPU installed in a test bench.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Intel has announced the rollout of a new driver update for its Arc graphics cards that promises a huge performance boost in various gaming titles. The new Game On driver with version 31.0.101.4885 primarily offers optimal performance for Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Forza Motorsport. Additionally, the company claims up to double-digit gains in terms of performance with Deus Ex: Human Revolution gaining a 119% uplift with GPUs like the Arc A770 and A750.

The new driver update also brings improvement of up to 27% in Resident Evil 4 at 1080p with High ray tracing settings, and 12% in The Last of Us Part 1 at 1080p with Ultra settings. This makes the GPU even more competitive with Nvidia’s latest RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti GPUs.

Recommended Videos

Notably, the driver update does not have a WHQL certification. What that means is that it may require further testing and likely has not passed the Windows Hardware Lab Kit testing. That doesn’t usually mean much. You’re unlikely to face major issues, but you may spot a few strange bugs.

Related

Here is a list of all the games that receive a performance boost thanks to the latest driver update:

  • Forza Motorsport (DX12) – Up to 19% uplift at 1440p with High settings
  • Resident Evil 4 (DX12) – Up to 27% uplift at 1080p with High Ray Tracing settings
  • The Last of Us Part 1 (DX12) – Up to 12% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • War Thunder (DX11) – Up to 9% uplift at 1080p with Maximum settings
  • Payday 3 (DX11) – Up to 37% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Naraka: Bladepoint (DX11) – Up to 5% uplift at 1080p with Highest settings
  • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (DX11) – Up to 32% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Final Fantasy XIV Online (DX11) – Up to 7% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition (DX11) – Up to 42% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (DX11) – Up to 88% uplift at 1080p with High settings
  • Total War: Warhammer 2 (DX11) – Up to 10% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Tomb Raider (DX11) – Up to 10% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Mad Max (DX11) – Up to 6% uplift at 1080p with Very High settings
  • Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (DX11) – Up to 14% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (DX11) – Up to 90% uplift at 1080p with Extra settings
  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX11) – Up to 119% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (DX11) – Up to 8% uplift at 1080p with Very High settings
  • BeamNG.drive (DX11) – Up to 10% uplift at 1080p with High settings
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance (DX11) – Up to 22% uplift at 1080p with Ultra High settings
  • Divinity: Original Sin – Enhanced Edition (DX11) – Up to 9% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings

The driver update also brings a number of bug fixes and optimizations for a number of games like Starfield, EA Sports FC 24, Unchartered: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Dying Light 2, and Fortnite. You can get additional information about the driver from the official release notes here.

Intel seems to have excelled in optimizing code for recently released games, all the while persistently refining performance for older titles. Consequently, graphics cards such as the Arc A770 and A750 have seen significant speed improvements compared to their initial launch a year ago. The last driver update, which was launched in August, introduced performance gains of up to 77% in games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Skyrim. Overall, the GPUs were claimed to be 19% faster in DX11 games on average, with 20% smoother 99th-percentile fps.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kunal Khullar
Kunal Khullar
Computing Writer
A PC hardware enthusiast and casual gamer, Kunal has been in the tech industry for almost a decade contributing to names like…
Intel claims up to 268% gaming boost with latest Arc graphics drivers
Two intel Arc graphics cards on a pink background.

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.

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.

Read more
Intel may already be conceding its fight against Nvidia
Two intel Arc graphics cards on a pink background.

Nvidia continues to own the top-of-the-line GPU space, and the competition just hasn't been able to, well, compete. The announcement of the impressive-sounding RTX 40 Super cards cements the lead even further.

As a result, AMD is said to be giving up on the high-end graphics card market with its next-gen GPUs. And now, a new rumor tells us that Intel might be doing the same with Arc Battlemage, its anticipated upcoming graphics cards that are supposed to launch later this year. While this is bad news, it's not surprising at all.
Arc Battlemage leaks
First, let's talk about what's new. Intel kept quiet about Arc Battlemage during CES 2024, but Tom Petersen, Intel fellow, later revealed in an interview that it's alive and well. The cards might even be coming out this year, although given Intel's track record for not meeting GPU deadlines, 2025 seems like a safer bet. But what kind of performance can we expect out of these new graphics cards? This is where YouTuber RedGamingTech weighs in.

Read more
Intel’s forgotten GPUs are still happening
Intel Arc A580 graphics card on a pink background.

Intel's Arc Alchemist lineup is ill-prepared to compete against some of the best graphics cards out right now, but things might get better once the next-gen Battlemage cards are released. However, Intel kept quiet about the GPUs during its CES 2024 keynote, focusing on processors. It seems that Project Battlemage is still alive and well, though, and a new interview tells us a little more about the future of Intel's graphics cards.

The fact that Intel chose not to mention its discrete GPUs during CES 2024 felt pretty weird, but the silence speaks volumes. The lack of an official statement tells us that the GPUs may be quite far off, and PCWorld's interview with Intel fellow Tom Petersen only serves to confirm that suspicion.

Read more