Intel Arc GPU driver update brings over 2x improvement in CS:GO

Intel has rolled out a new driver update for its Arc-series desktop graphics cards. Meant to address performance in DirectX 9 titles, the new driver brings on average 1.8x improvement across multiple titles.

Of particular note here is CS:GO or Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Despite its age, CS:GO remains a massively popular title, with close to a million players in game at any given time. With the latest driver, average frame rates at 1080p have gone up by 1.79x over the previous driver.

More notable is the improvement in frame time consistency. The 99th percentile or the 1% lows average frame rate has improved by over 2x, which should result in a notably smoother gameplay experience.

Other older but popular titles such as League of Legends and Starcraft 2 also show 1.36x and 1.48x improvement at 1080p.

Being optimized for modern API such as DirectX 12 and Vulkan, the Arc-series of graphics cards have always struggled with older APIs, such as DX11, DX10, and DX9. One solution for this was to run these older APIs through DXVK, a Vulkan based translation layer, which helps improve performance. It seems Intel is likely using such translation layer to improve performance in older titles.

The new driver version 3953 is already available for download from Intel's website.

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