Will Arc A-Series GPUs Get Precompiled Shader Support? Here's What Intel Says

You may recall that just a couple of days ago we posted about Intel's new Arc Graphics Precompiled Shader Distribution. This is an implementation of Microsoft's Advanced Shader Delivery, where gamers can download pre-compiled binary shaders ready to run on their Arc GPUs instead of having to sit there and slowly compile them before beginning to play a game. This feature was listed by Intel as only being available to its recent integrated graphics and discrete GPUs, with no mention of older Arc discrete GPUs. Well, now we know that those GPUs aren't getting the feature.


We know that because well-known enthusiast and occasional leaker Haze straight-up asked Intel on Xwitter if the Precompiled Shaders feature was coming to the Arc A-series. Intel's answer was quite direct: no. You can read the actual text of the answer above, but in case you're using a screen reader: "The Intel Precompiled Shaders are intended for Arc GPUs built into Intel Core Ultra 3/200V series and Intel Arc B-Series discrete GPUs. We don't have plans to support products with pre-Xe2 architectures such as Arc A-series."

We actually talked about this in our initial coverage of the Precompiled Shaders feature, and as we said then, this really isn't a surprise. Every new GPU model added to the program multiplies the amount of work and storage required by another factor. It's a bummer for Alchemist users, but the number of gamers still playing the latest games on Alchemist cards is likely a vanishingly small number, and remember: this doesn't preclude them from playing. The only difference is that Alchemist users will have to continue compiling shaders the old-fashioned way.


If you're on a machine with Xe2 or newer Intel graphics (that's Lunar Lake, Panther Lake, or an Arc B-series discrete GPU), you can enable the Precompiled Shaders feature to have the Intel driver download shaders for you before you play supported games. There are only 13 supported games at this time, but it could be a real convenience feature if you're currently playing one of those titles; Intel claims load times are cut by as much as 37x. Head over to our previous post to see how to enable the feature and the list of supported games.