Intel Releases Driver Update Boosting Lunar Lake Integrated Graphics Performance
Prepare yourself for some good news if your rig is powered by Intel's latest and greatest. Intel has finally released a graphics driver update that delivers a long-awaited performance increase to their integrated Arc Battlemage graphics, specifically the Arc 140V and 130V versions of the new Core Ultra 200V processors (those are Lunar Lake chips, for your information, by the way).
What Is This Boost About?
Intel's Lunar Lake CPUs have been wowing individuals with their efficiency and robust integrated graphics, which use the newer Xe2 architecture – the same as their discrete Arc graphics cards. Now, a new driver update is taking it a step further and making those integrated graphics even more viable for gaming.
According to Intel, just by updating to the latest driver package, users can experience a boost in gaming performance. Think of it as a free upgrade without needing to buy new hardware!
Real-World Gains Demonstrated
To demonstrate the improvements, Intel showed results on a device well-known to some handheld gamers: the MSI Claw 7 AI+, which uses the Arc 140V iGPU of a Core Ultra 7 268V CPU. They compared the performance of a somewhat older driver (6732) to the new one (6734 or newer).
On a list of nine games, tested at a common low power level (17W TDP), the results look very good:
- Black Myth Wukong: Up by +13.8% FPS
- God of War Ragnarök: Up by +6.9% FPS
- Hogwarts Legacy: Up by +6.8% FPS
- Cyberpunk 2077: Up by +6.1% FPS
- Marvel's Spider-Man: Up by +6.9% FPS
- PayDay 3: Up by +12.6% FPS
- DOTA 2: Up by +16.0% FPS
- Counter-Strike 2: Up by +8.0% FPS
- Fortnite S34: Up by +17.9% FPS
On average across these games, Intel is noticing about a 10% increase for average frame rates. But perhaps even more importantly for the feel of smoothness of a game, they noticed an average of 25% improvement in the 99th percentile frame rates. Typically, higher 99th percentile numbers translate to less stuttering and a smoother game experience.
Who Gets This Update?
More good news! This performance boost is not just for MSI Claw handhelds. The new Intel Arc graphics driver update is being rolled out to all machines that carry the Intel Arc 140V and 130V iGPUs. So, if you have a different brand of laptop or machine with a Core Ultra 200V processor and these same graphics, you should notice an improvement too.
That Intel continues to be dedicated to maximizing their integrated graphics performance through drivers is great news for the consumer. It makes these power-thrifty chips an increasingly good option for light to medium gaming on the road.
Look for driver version 6734 or newer. For MSI Claw owners, it might be available now through their software or directly from Intel. For other laptops, the manufacturers will be releasing their qualified drivers with these optimizations in the coming months. You might be able to use the generic Intel drivers sooner, but OEM-specific ones are occasionally recommended for stability.
It's great to see Intel making these ongoing software optimizations that directly benefit users with faster and smoother gaming!
