Intel's New Arc GPU Driver Promises Big Gaming Gains On Lunar Lake Handhelds
Intel is rolling out an updated GPU driver that it claims will deliver double-digit percentage gains in several games on handheld devices running Core Ultra 200V series processors with built-in Arc 140V and 130V graphics. Otherwise known as Lunar Lake, Intel says gaming handhelds like MSI's Claw lineup benefit primarily at or under the common default power level of 17W.
The vast majority of gaming handhelds run on AMD hardware, at least for the more popular devices, such as ASUS ROG's Ally and Ally X, Lenovo's Legion Go, and of course Valve's Steam Deck. MSI's Claw family is a bit of an outlier, but is not worse off for wear in tapping Intel (see our gaming handheld buying guide)—we recently reviewed the newest model, MSI's Claw AI+ with Lunar Lake inside, and found that it exceeded our already high expectations.
"This system offers top-class handheld gaming performance and battery life in a no-fuss package with many nice-to-haves," we wrote in our Claw AI+ review. "You get dual Thunderbolt 4 ports for powerful external connectivity, you get VRR support on the display (which really helps with inconsistent handheld framerates), and you get 32GB of RAM, allowing you to assign as much as 16GB to the GPU alone."
Since going live with our review, Intel has pushed out some new driver releases. Intel's claimed performance gains purportedly start with its WHQL-certified 32.0.101.6734 driver release. At the time of this writing, there are two more recent driver releases available—version 32.0.101.6737, which is also WHQL-certified, and version 32.0.101.6739, which is not yet WHQL-certified. The same performance claims, which come by way of optimized power management for Core Ultra 200V series processors, apply to those as well.
Source: Intel
"In testing this update across 9 games on the MSI Claw 8 AI+ in the Manual 17W profile, players can expect higher average GPU frequency and improved frame pacing, which translates to significant uplifts in not only average FPS but also in 1% low FPS, also called the 99th percentile. What this all means is we’re improving not only performance but also smoothness for a great gaming experience," Intel says.
We haven't had a chance to test the updated driver(s) ourselves yet, but according to Intel's own internal benchmarking, users can expect some chunky FPS gains in titles like Fortnite, Counter-Strike 2, DOTA 2, and Payday 3. Meanwhile, Intel's own testing shows smaller gains in a handful of other titles, such as Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered and Cyberpunk 2077.
It's nice to see Intel showing some optimized love for gaming handhelds, especially considering there aren't many of them out there running on Lunar Lake. These types of gains, however, could perhaps encourage other OEMs to follow in MSI's footsteps.
