With the introduction of the most recent version of the Intel Arc and Iris Xe Graphics driver, Intel has improved gaming performance for Intel Arc A-series graphics cards and Intel Core Ultra CPUs with Intel Arc Graphics by as much as 268 percent. Along with fixing some previously highlighted flaws, the new driver is also the Game On driver for new games like Enshrouded, Tekken 8, and the oddly popular Palworld, among other new titles.
Initial Testing: Is Arc from Intel Sufficient for Integrated Graphics Gaming?
The release notes state that the new Intel Graphics Driver 01.5234 WHQL supports games on Intel Arc A-series graphics cards, such as Enshrouded, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, and Palworld; additionally, it supports games on Intel Core Ultra with Intel Arc Graphics CPUs, including Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, and Palworld. In addition, it resolves problems with Black Magic Fusion, Call of Duty Modern Warfare III, Alan Wake 2, Sons of the Forest, and Intel Soomth Sync on Intel Arc A-series GPUs. It also resolves problems with Intel Core Ultra with Intel Arc Graphics CPUs.
Even more astonishingly, the updated driver improves performance in several games, from 4 to 268 percent. These comprise games for DirectX 11 and DirectX 12. Intel’s driver team is performing admirably thus far, and the company is undoubtedly focused on enhancing driver performance.
High-end gaming laptops receive all the attention when it comes to PC gaming, but unless you’re a serious gamer, the majority of us use laptops with integrated graphics processors, or “IGPs”—silicon that’s part of the laptop’s primary CPU chip. Historically, these low-end graphics cards have been plenty for browser-based gaming and simple 3D tasks, but not for fully appreciating the latest AAA titles released today.
With its “Meteor Lake” Core Ultra processors, particularly the mobile H-class chips in the new line, Intel hopes to improve upon the current situation. Together with the traditional CPU and the newly added neural processing engine (NPU), these laptop-specific processors also have the enhanced Intel Arc Graphics solution. We put those claims to the test, and although Arc provided a more significant improvement than we anticipated, the results won’t make you forget about specialized GeForce or Radeon graphics hardware.
Arc Graphics from Intel: What’s New?
Regarding integrated Intel Arc Graphics, there are differences throughout the Meteor Lake processors. As stated at the start, the higher-performing Arc-branded graphics hardware is only found in H-class chips, like the Core Ultra 7 155H that we examined for this study. The processor base power (PBP) of the H-class CPUs is rated at either 28 or 45 watts (W). The 15W U-class Core Ultra chips make use of what Intel is confusingly referring it as just “Intel Graphics,” which are based on the same fundamental technology as Arc but have a significantly lower frequency and far fewer computing cores. “Intel HD Graphics” is an early version of the Intel IGP that should not be confused with “Intel Graphics.”
Let’s examine the Meteor Lake H-series Arc silicon in comparison to the U-series Intel Graphics of the same generation. Because the topologies of Intel Arc-based IGPs are so dissimilar, we haven’t included Intel’s Iris Xe solution from prior generations in the comparison, thus none of the specs are comparable.
The improved clock speeds and significant difference in Xe Core count provide the Meteor Lake H-class CPUs a significant advantage over the U-series. The relationship between the processor’s PBP rating and IGP performance is a significant unknown. According to Intel’s specs, it has no impact, but we’ll have to confirm that in a later post and when we test further Meteor Lake systems that are intended for various PBPs in PC Labs.
A crucial point to remember is that the Intel Arc discrete graphics processors (GPUs) for laptops, which were introduced in 2023, are not the same as the integrated Arc IGP found in Intel’s Meteor Lake processors. There hasn’t been much take-up for those specialized Arc chips. Nevertheless, Intel released a range of distinct Arc A-series mobile processors, which followed the same path as its first desktop GPUs and were shown in a few versions of well-known systems such as the MSI Modern and HP Spectre x360 lines.
The current line includes the Arc A350M through the Arc A770M, and they are identified by the term “Arc AxxxM,” where “xxx” is a three-digit number. (The “M” designates that the chip is mobile.) We are referring exclusively to the Arc silicon found in the latest Meteor Lake processors.
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With an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor rated for 28W (six Performance, eight Efficient, and two Low Power Efficient cores, up to 4.8GHz Turbo), our Intel Arc test machine is an ultraportable notebook, the Acer Swift Go 14. 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM operating at 6,400MHz and on-die Intel Arc graphics are features of this device. To gain a deeper understanding of this chip from a CPU standpoint, go to our initial tests on Meteor Lake. and our more thorough assessment of this laptop in general.)
Our “integrated Arc” testing sample for the Acer 2024 Swift Go 14 (Photo courtesy of Joseph Maldonado)
We are conducting the same tests on a Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 that we have available, which has a Core i7-1355U CPU (two Performance and eight Efficient cores, up to 5.0GHz Turbo) and 16GB of 3200MHz memory, to compare the Intel Arc against Intel’s previous-generation Iris Xe IGP. Since the ThinkPad has a 15W U-class CPU, the comparison is apples to oranges, but for the time being, we’re working with what we have in the lab.
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In fairness, the Core i7’s Iris Xe processor has 96 execution units, making it the strongest implementation; the Core i5 chips from the same “Raptor Lake” CPU generation only have 80 execution units. The most crucial criterion is the number of execution units, but ideally, we would have chosen a machine with a Core i7 P- or H-class processor, which has the Iris Xe clocked at 1.5GHz against the 1.3GHz in the U-series. Once more, keep in mind that this is merely a sample of Arc’s performance and not a perfect match.
Lastly, we’ve included the Acer Nitro V15, a low-cost gaming laptop with an entry-level dedicated GPU, for comparison. This will help you understand how much of a difference, even with Intel’s rather large leap, there still is between integrated and dedicated GPUs. An Intel Core i5-13420H CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU—the lightest model in Nvidia’s current lineup—were used in the testing of this laptop.
It’s also crucial to remember that we haven’t yet examined how the 45W Intel Core Ultra processor implementation affects integrated Arc’s graphics performance. With all of this in mind, it’s critical to see these results as extremely preliminary and, of course, take the data with a baseball-sized grain of salt. However, some of these figures are very intriguing.
New Arc drivers significantly improve Intel GPU DX11 performance.
Significant performance gains for a variety of DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games have been made possible by new drivers for Intel’s Arc GPUs, which combine the previously disparate drivers for desktop Arc graphics cards and the Arc GPU built into new Core Ultra laptop processors.
Across a wide range of games, predominantly DX11, the average performance improvement for Intel’s Arc A-series graphics cards is 37.4%; however, for certain games, the gain is significantly higher. With the updated drivers, you ought to experience a 268 percent boost in frames per second when playing Just Cause 4 at 1080p resolution and “Very High” graphics settings.