Intel just boosted gaming performance by up to 155%

Monica J. White
·2 min read
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A tray of Intel Core Ultra CPUs.
A tray of Intel Core Ultra CPUs.

Intel’s engineers once again managed to introduce significant improvements in the latest driver update — but this time, it’s not the discrete graphics cards that received a boost. Instead, the recent patch targets integrated Intel Arc GPUs found in Intel Core Ultra processors, which are some of Intel’s top CPUs for laptops. This update adds support for a couple of games, but more importantly, it boosts gaming performance by as much as 155%.

For starters, the new 31.0.101.5333 WHQL driver adds support for Last Epoch and Sea of Thieves, more precisely, the DX 12 update. This applies both to the Intel Arc A-series, meaning dedicated GPUs, and to the Core Ultra chips. Next, we have a slew of performance improvements in DX11 games.

Just Cause 4 gets the biggest improvement, with a 155% average uplift. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate also shows a notable increase in frames per second (fps), now up by 65%. Other notable increases include Sid Meier’s Civilization VI with a 27% boost, Snowrunner with 49%, Divinity Original Sin 2 with 25%, and It Takes Two with 24%. Even newer games like Palworld got tweaked in this update, now hitting up to 14% higher fps. All of the performance figures apply to 1080p and some variations of medium/normal settings.

The full list of improved games is as follows:

  • Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (up to 65%)

  • Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (up to 17%)

  • Divinity Original Sin 2 (up to 25%)

  • Far Cry 5 (up to 8%)

  • Halo: The Master Chief Collection (up to 19%)

  • It Takes Two (up to 24%)

  • Just Cause 3 (up to 18%)

  • Just Cause 4 (up to 155%)

  • Palworld (up to 14%)

  • Rise of the Tomb Raider (up to 9%)

  • Rust (up to 9%)

  • SCUM (up to 6%)

  • Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (up to 27%)

  • Snowrunner (up to 49%)

  • Warframe (up to 7%)

  • XCOM 2 (up to 8%)

DX11 was something of a weak point for Intel Arc upon launch, and DX9 was even worse, so it’s good to see a list of 16 games that are all DX11 titles. Intel’s discrete Intel Arc GPUs first came out with a lot of problems, but the company slowly smoothed out these very rough edges into something that performs well and provides good value. This gives hope not just for Intel Arc Battlemage but also for the iGPUs in Intel Core Ultra chips. After all, these processors aren’t only found in laptops, but they also power up some gaming handhelds, such as the MSI Claw — so integrated graphics are just as crucial.