Intel recently released a new set of drivers for its Arc series graphics cards, promising significant performance improvements for a variety of games, including Dragon’s Dogma 2. As a tech enthusiast, I was intrigued by these claims and decided to put them to the test.
I conducted my testing using an Arc A770 graphics card in a Ryzen 5 5600X gaming PC with 16GB of DDR-3200 RAM. While not a top-of-the-line system, it is more than capable of handling modern games. I focused my testing on the open world environment of Dragon’s Dogma 2, opting for High settings and Progressive rendering mode.
Upon testing the game at 1080p, 1440p, and even 4K resolution, I was disappointed to find that the new drivers did not deliver the significant performance improvements as claimed by Intel. While there was a slight improvement in smoothness at 1080p, the gains were not as substantial as advertised.
Discrepancies in Testing
Upon further examination of the release notes, I discovered that Intel conducted their testing on a Core i9 14900K system, a far more powerful setup than what I used for my testing. This revelation raised questions about the validity of the claimed performance improvements, as my Ryzen 5 5600X system did not see the same level of benefit.
Alternative Testing
In an effort to explore potential differences in performance, I switched the Arc A770 to a Ryzen 7 8700G platform with 32GB of DDR5-6400 RAM. Despite the increased horsepower of this system compared to the Ryzen 5 5600X, I encountered stability issues with the game crashing at the main menu, even with the latest drivers installed.
After conducting thorough testing on different systems, it is clear that the performance improvements touted by Intel may not be easily achievable on mainstream gaming setups. While owners of Core i9 14900K systems may benefit from the new drivers, the average gamer with a more modest setup may not see the same level of improvement. As technology continues to advance, it is crucial for hardware manufacturers to provide accurate and realistic performance expectations for consumers. In the case of Intel’s latest Arc graphics card drivers, the devil truly is in the details.
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