Intel has started paying attention to the performance issues with its Arc GPUs, particularly when paired with older CPUs, and is now actively investigating the problem to find a solution.
When the Arc B580 and B570 graphics cards hit the market, they seemed promising, offering more VRAM compared to their competitors. However, they didn’t make waves in the performance charts as expected. A significant factor behind this lukewarm reception was the lack of optimization.
It’s not just about the Intel GPU drivers; the main concern was the underwhelming performance of Arc Battlemage series when used with older processors, like the Ryzen 2000 and Intel’s own 9th generation chips. Hardware Unboxed was quick to highlight this issue, and it has taken Intel some time to address it publicly.
Recently, Intel has finally responded on community forums, acknowledging the challenges users face and outlining steps they plan to take. Their statement indicates an awareness of performance sensitivities with older generation processors and expresses their commitment to expanding platform coverage and optimizing configurations. However, Intel has not provided a specific timeline for when these issues will be fully resolved.
Intel aims to roll out updates on the driver side, as their hardware can hold its ground against competitors from previous generations in most recent games. Notably, there have been no performance issues with the Arc B580 or B570 when coupled with the latest CPUs from Intel and AMD. The dip in performance with older Intel processors was indeed unexpected.
With future patches, Intel hopes to better position itself against AMD and NVIDIA in the market. However, this alone might not be enough to significantly boost Intel’s presence in the GPU landscape. The availability of Arc Battlemage GPUs is sparse, further hindering their impact in the budget segment of the market. Without broader distribution, gaining substantial traction will remain a challenge for Intel in the GPU arena.
