Intel Arc
Interesting news on the front of Intel Arc video cards, not only as regards the drivers, which as we will soon see have improved performance considerably compared to the launch (at least according to data shared by Intel), but also for GPUs: the Santa Clara company has in fact announced a price cut for the Arc A750, which now goes down to $250; the cut should also arrive for the European market and, even if we don't know the figures, we can expect the same percentage difference (therefore a drop of around 15%). It should also be noted that this will be related to Intel's "Limited Edition" model, the only one for which the company can control the price, while for custom cards, the decision is up to the partners.
After the launch of the GPUs last October, Intel has focused heavily on driver development, releasing three WHQL versions and at least four Betas, the latest of which is identified by the number 4090. according to what was shared, this latest version of the drivers improves quite a lot the performance of Intel Arc cards, like a generational leap. In DirectX 9 titles, on which Intel relies heavily given the games that still use them (first of all CS:GO and League of Legends), average FPS at 1080p increased by 43%, while the 99th percentile rose by 60% . In Quad HD the increase in the average framerate is 35%, while for the 99th percentile we are talking about +52%. Taking a look at the graphs we see how the worst of the games, Stellaris, has gone from 75 FPS to 130 FPS (+75%), while Half Life 2 has gone up from 400 FPS to 600 FPS (+77%); on League of Legends the improvement is more contained but still important and settles on 45%. Beyond the FPS, the increase in the 99th percentile should guarantee a smoother and more consistent gaming experience, with more stable frametimes.
Intel also talked about XeSS , the technology that aims to battle NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR and that there are currently 35 games including Dying Light 2, Call of Duty Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Hi-Fi Rush, as well as relationship with the competition, particularly with reference to the RTX 3060. With the improvements guaranteed by the new driver version and the price cut, the Arc A750 would offer 52% greater value than the entry level NVIDIA.
Of course, it's not all rosy and there are still some issues Intel needs to fix, but it's still always of the first GPUs placed on the market by the company, moreover the support o in terms of driver development it's really impressive and the improvements are important: maybe the Intel Arc won't be among the best video cards, but they are slowly becoming a considerable option for entry level and mid-range systems.