Intel Arc: New driver significantly increases performance under DirectX 9

Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition

With its new Arc graphics cards, Intel can definitely compete with the top dogs Nvidia and AMD in terms of performance in current games in relation to the purchase price. However, since Intel is only now entering the business with dedicated graphics cards, the focus of the developers was on the current DirectX 12. In older games that rely on DirectX 9, significantly higher frame rates can be achieved with graphics cards from Nvidia or AMD. A new driver from Intel aims to change this.

Almost double the frame rates

The current beta version 31.0.101.3959 is said to offer up to 1.8 times as many frames per second under DirectX 9. As a result, old and popular titles such as “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive”, “League of Legends”, “Starcraft 2”, “Guild Wars 2”, “Payday 2” or “Stellaris” should also work properly with the new Intel graphics cards let play According to Intel, for example, in the multiplayer shooter “CS:GO”, the frame rate increases from 177 to 318 frames per second in Full HD with high settings. With 1440p resolution, the performance should also increase by a factor of 1.77. Even more important for gamers is the fact that the new driver also improves the frame times and should therefore deliver a smoother gaming experience.

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Further improvements planned for DirectX 9

The above performance benefits apply to Intel’s top-of-the-line Arc A770, but the weaker Arc A750 and Arc A380 – and their mobile versions – should also benefit to a similar extent from the new driver. In a video, the manufacturer explains that they will continue to focus on the modern graphics interfaces DirectX 12 and Vulkan. However, DirectX 9, which is relevant for many old games, is also the focus of driver development. In some cases games could run with the native DirectX implementation, other titles would need a translation layer from DirectX 9 to a modern render path. The driver with version number 31.0.101.3959 is now available for free download .