Intel says it’s fixed four Arrow Lake gaming CPU issues, one more update coming

It appears to be like as if Intel has lastly recognized why its newest CPUs aren’t figuring out for avid gamers. Based on the chip maker, there are 5 completely different causes behind the Intel Arrow Lake points that resulted in lackluster gaming efficiency, and it claims that 4 of them have already been solved, with one ultimate repair deliberate for the brand new yr.

That is excellent news for Intel on the again of a horrible launch for its new Core Extremely 200 lineup. As our personal early Intel Core Extremely 7 265K overview confirmed, this mid-tier Arrow Lake CPU massively underperformed in gaming assessments, providing poor competitors in opposition to the very best gaming CPU designs on the market, leaving AMD because the undisputed chief as soon as extra.

In a weblog publish on the Intel web site, the corporate shared its findings after a number of weeks of investigation. Based on Intel, there are 5 “distinct subjects” that might influence efficiency, which it has recognized.

The primary pertains to a lacking efficiency and energy administration (PPM) package deal for Arrow Lake CPUs – this controls how the CPU responds when a sure energy plan is about on Home windows, for example. This package deal was lacking from Home windows for these specific Arrow Lake CPUs throughout early evaluations, however Intel says a latest Home windows 11 replace (construct 26100.2161, or KB5044384) has already resolved it.

Intel additionally concluded that its Software Efficiency Optimizer (APO), a function designed to reinforce efficiency in multi-threaded video games and purposes, wasn’t functioning correctly because of the lacking PPM package deal. The latest Home windows 11 construct 26100.2161 replace addressed this subject, based on Intel.

One other subject was noticed by Intel that confirmed the Home windows Blue Display of Loss of life (BSOD) error occurring in sure video games with Simple Anti-Cheat enabled, however Epic Video games has already issued a brand new replace to resolve this downside. Efficiency settings have been additionally discovered to have been misapplied in early-review motherboard BIOS variations, which have now been mounted in latest BIOS updates for launch fashions.

This smorgasbord of issues brought on a efficiency drop of between 2% and 30%, relying on the difficulty, but it surely sounds as if the chip maker is heading in the right direction now. Intel has additionally recognized additional BIOS optimizations that it intends to use in a brand new BIOS microcode replace in January, which it believes will lastly resolve the poor efficiency as soon as and for all.

The proof will probably be within the pudding, however a latest Intel Core Extremely 200 replace reportedly improved efficiency by 13%, whereas a brand new Cyberpunk 2077 replace for Arrow Lake CPUs confirmed a large 91% enchancment in one in all our personal assessments. These are all optimistic indicators that, regardless of these early stumbles, Intel may have a gaming CPU lineup right here that might find yourself being aggressive in any case.

That stated, it’ll take so much for Intel to knock AMD off its pedestal, with its newest 3D V-Cache CPU simply outperforming these Arrow Lake alternate options. Try our AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D overview to see simply how far Intel has to go to beat the very best CPU you should buy proper now.