Intel has recently released a new set of drivers for their Arc series graphics cards, promising significant performance improvements for a variety of games, including Dragon’s Dogma 2. As a tech enthusiast, I decided to put these claims to the test and see if the new drivers truly deliver on their promises.
For my testing, I used an Arc A770 graphics card installed in a Ryzen 5 5600X gaming PC, paired with 16GB of DDR-3200 RAM. While not a top-of-the-line system, it is still capable of handling modern games with ease. I focused on testing the performance improvements in Dragon’s Dogma 2 in open-world environments, as this is where the new drivers were expected to make the most impact.
Upon testing the game at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions with the new drivers, I was initially disappointed. While there was a slight improvement in smoothness at 1080p, the overall performance gains were not as significant as Intel had claimed. The game did not exhibit any stuttering issues that were present in the previous driver version, but the FPS boost was marginal at best.
Upon further analysis, it became apparent that Intel’s claims of up to 36% more performance were based on testing done on a Core i9 14900K system. This high-end CPU offers significant performance advantages over the Ryzen 5 5600X that I had used for testing. The release notes also revealed that the new drivers had shown improvements in other games such as Assassin’s Creed Origins, Detroit: Become Human, Fortnite, God of War, Sons of the Forest, and Horizon: Forbidden West.
To validate the performance differences between the drivers, I decided to test the Arc A770 on a Ryzen 7 8700G platform with 32GB of DDR5-6400 RAM. This setup, while not equivalent to a Core i9 14900K, offered a considerable performance boost over the Ryzen 5 5600X. However, the game consistently crashed at the main menu on this platform, even with the latest drivers installed. This could be attributed to compatibility issues or other underlying factors.
While Intel’s new Arc series graphics card drivers do offer some improvements in performance, the real benefits are likely to be seen on high-end systems with powerful CPUs like the Core i9 14900K. For average gaming setups, the gains may not be as pronounced, and users may not experience a significant difference in gameplay. It is essential to consider the hardware and software compatibility when evaluating driver updates and their impact on gaming performance.
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