Intel Admits Performance Drop in Arc GPUs with Older CPUs; Investigation Underway

Intel has finally started to tackle the performance issues with its Arc GPUs, particularly when paired with older CPUs, and is actively investigating to find a resolution.

Intel’s Take on Arc GPU’s Compatibility with Older Processors

Initially, the Arc B580 and B570 GPUs seemed promising, offering more VRAM than competitors. However, they failed to capture a significant share of the market, primarily due to subpar optimizations. This challenge isn’t solely related to Intel’s GPU drivers; it also involves a specific problem that has kept the Arc Battlemage GPUs trailing their competitors. You might recall how Hardware Unboxed highlighted the Arc B580’s underwhelming performance when used with older processors like Ryzen 2000 and Intel Core processors from the 9th generation.

It’s been quite some time since anyone has heard any acknowledgment from Intel about this issue. At last, Intel has addressed this matter in the forums, sharing the following message:

Thank you for your patience. We are aware of reports of performance sensitivity in some games when paired with older generation processors. We have increased our platform coverage to include more configurations in our validation process, and we are continuing to investigate optimizations.

This statement suggests that Intel was aware of the issue but hadn’t prioritized optimizing the performance until now. They plan to widen the scope of their optimizations to encompass more configurations, hinting at a potential resolution soon. However, Intel hasn’t provided a specific timeline for when these improvements can be expected.

To address this effectively, Intel will need to roll out driver updates since the hardware performance stands competitive with previous-generation rivals in the latest games. It was indeed surprising to witness such performance shortcomings on older Intel CPUs, even though the Arc B580 and B570 operated smoothly with the latest Intel and AMD CPUs.

With forthcoming updates, Intel aims to enhance its standing compared to AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, though this won’t necessarily translate into a significant foothold in the GPU market. The Arc Battlemage GPUs’ limited presence and availability have kept them away from the current budget segment competition.

(News Source: Intel)