Intel Admits to Performance Issues When Arc GPUs Link With Older CPUs; Launches Investigation

Intel has begun to seriously address the performance issues with its Arc GPUs, particularly concerning older CPUs, and has initiated an investigation to pinpoint and resolve these concerns.

Recently, Intel has responded to the performance issues of its Arc GPUs when paired with older Ryzen and Intel Core processors. At the time of their launch, the Intel Arc B580 and B570 GPUs appeared quite promising, especially considering they offered more VRAM than their competitors. However, they struggled to make a mark on performance charts due largely to subpar optimizations.

The problem goes beyond just Intel’s GPU drivers. There was an underlying issue causing the Arc Battlemage GPUs to lag behind competitors. Some will remember that the team at Hardware Unboxed was among the first to highlight how the Arc B580 underperformed when coupled with older processors, like the Ryzen 2000 series and Intel’s 9th-gen Core processors.

It’s been some time since this problem was acknowledged, but Intel has now addressed it on their forums with an official response. Here’s the message they shared:

“We appreciate your patience. We are aware of reports of performance sensitivity in some games when paired with older-generation processors. We’ve broadened our platform coverage to include more configurations in our validation process and are continuing to investigate optimizations.”

From Intel’s statement, it’s apparent that the issue was known but hadn’t been prioritized for optimization. Intel plans to extend these optimizations across more configurations, aiming to resolve the problem soon. However, no specific timeline has been provided for when users can expect the update.

While Intel’s hardware performs well against rivals in current-gen titles when using the newest processors, the unexpected underperformance on their own previous-gen CPUs was surprising. With upcoming patches, there is hope for Intel to better compete with AMD and NVIDIA GPUs. Nevertheless, this performance boost might not immediately translate into a stronger presence in the GPU market. The Intel Arc Battlemage GPUs have been notably scarce, impacting their competitiveness in the budget segment of the current GPU market.

News Source: Intel