Subj : Intel fixes a driver bug that made gamers think their Arc GPU got
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Fri Aug 25 2023 14:30:04

Intel fixes a driver bug that made gamers think their Arc GPU got a free 
upgrade

Date:
Fri, 25 Aug 2023 13:23:33 +0000

Description:
If you thought your Intel Arc GPU was supercharged by the last graphics 
driver  weve got some bad news.

FULL STORY
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Intel has released a new driver for its Arc graphics cards, and it fixes what 
was thought to perhaps be a perk ushered in by the last driver release  
namely a bump in clock speed. 

Lets rewind a bit here and explain. So, the previous Arc driver was released 
and it was a good one , delivering large boosts in frame rates for some games 
(most notably Overwatch 2 and GTA V). 

However, some gamers with Arc A380 graphics cards  the budget end of Intels 
range  found that their affordable card (there have been some good deals on 
this GPU ) was suddenly even better value for money, as it was running 150MHz 
faster. 

Or at least, it appeared to be, but sadly, that isnt actually the case. 

Intel just released a new beta version of the Arc driver (v31.0.101.4669, as 
spotted by VideoCardz ) and under bug fixes, the company notes that it has 
resolved an issue where: Some Intel Arc A380 products may incorrectly report 
a higher value than expected for default clock frequency value. 

So, while the reported value for the default clock speed may have been bumped 
up 150MHz with the previous (release) driver, the GPU is actually running at 
the same clock frequency it always was. Analysis: A curious case of 
misreporting 

At this point, this latest release is a beta driver, so we wouldnt recommend 
using it. Even so, this does make it clear that the purported 150MHz bump in 
clock speed for the A380 delivered by the most recent full driver release is 
just a case of misreporting the frequency. 

With the next full driver release, Intel will incorporate this fix, and your 
A380 will go back to reporting the correct clock speed. As we wrote at the 
time when this first emerged, we were skeptical a driver release would pull 
off such a feat anyway  even though technically its not outside the realms of 
possibility. 

The good news is that none of this affects the considerable frame rate boosts 
that the latest official driver provides in some games, as noted above. 

For those playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider with an Arc GPU, a second fix 
provided in the new beta driver is a cure for the game crashing when getting 
to the main menu upon first loading. So, thatll be inbound for the next full 
release of the Arc graphics driver, too. You might also like These are the 
best cheap GPUs right now Also check out the best cheap monitor deals Laptop 
graphics cards explained



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/computing/gpu/intel-fixes-a-driver-bug-that-made-gam
ers-think-their-arc-gpu-got-a-free-upgrade


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