Intel is calling its new Arc G Series processors, announced at Computex, the "next step in handheld gaming." After getting a chance to personally test the new MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and Acer Predator Atlas 8, I'm inclined to believe the hype.

The closed demo, hosted in part by Intel Fellow (and general PC hardware wizard) Tom Petersen, revealed a lot of additional information about the new chips before I got to choose a device and game.

One thing I picked up on immediately is that these new Intel chips should probably be viewed as an Arc GPU with an integrated CPU, rather than a CPU with an integrated GPU. As Petersen pointed out, this is the first time Intel has created graphics-forward Systems-on-Chip (SoC), and they're built specifically for gaming handhelds.

Gaming on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and Acer Predator Atlas 8

MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+ was my first stop on the tour. It's a gorgeous Void Purple color with an oversized screen that extends just a bit out of the bottom of the device to accommodate the 8-inch screen.

MSI's shoulder buttons, triggers, D-pad, and standard buttons felt very crisp and responsive. Despite being larger than Acer's Predator Atlas 8, the Claw 8 EX AI+ wasn't too heavy and fit into my hands quite well.

One area where Acer has MSI beat is its thumbsticks. Despite most of its inputs feeling less snappy (I found the Acer shoulder buttons to be particularly soft), the joysticks felt a lot tighter with less chance of accidental movement.

Acer's Predator Atlas 8 is also a bit more compact, and it doesn't have the lower overhang for the screen despite also having an 8-inch display.

Audio out of both devices was respectable, and neither handheld made much fan noise despite running a rather demanding game.

I was equally impressed with the 8-inch displays, and I'll have to spend more time with the handhelds to really dial in the differences (if there are any). Both 8-inch screens have a 1920x1200 resolution, a 120Hz variable refresh rate, and tons of brightness.

Crunching the Intel Arc G Series performance numbers

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight and Hogwarts Legacy were the games of choice in the demo room. You might not think that a LEGO game is taxing, but with a recommended requirement of an NVIDIA RTX 2070 SUPER/AMD RX 6650 XT/Intel Arc B580, it certainly isn't an easy go.

I can attest; I picked up the game before my flight to Taiwan, and my Steam Deck struggles to maintain even 30 FPS in most areas.

That's anything but the case on these new handhelds. The game ran perfectly, holding strong at 100-120 FPS on both systems. Yes, my Steam Deck is showing its age, but Intel had AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme handhelds available to show the direct difference in performance.

How do Intel's new Arc G3 chips compare to AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme?

AMD has had a stranglehold on the gaming handheld market for some time now, but its Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip is starting to show its age in the face of the new Arc G3 chips.

Petersen had plenty of graphs and charts ready to back up his claims, and I'm sharing them here to give you an idea of what sort of performance is expected.

Compared to the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme in the ROG Xbox Ally X, the Arc G3 Extreme chip averages out to being 42% faster at 1080p, with 2x upscaling enabled and both chips at a 35W TDP.

Dropping the Arc G3 Extreme to 17W and leaving the Ryzen Z2 Extreme at 35W, the Intel chip averages out to twice as much performance per watt in tested games. Even at 12W, the Arc G3 Extreme pulls ahead by an average of 37% in the games Intel tested.

This boosted efficiency is exactly what you want in a mobile device. It's even more impressive considering XeSS isn't as energy efficient as AMD's FSR.

While using the new Arc G3 handhelds, the smoothness was remarkable. Intel's intelligent bias control plays a big role in that feeling, focusing mostly on the GPU so that the CPU doesn't suck up all the power.

E-cores are scheduled first, and P-cores get parked when they drop below 13W, making the overall experience much more reliable and with fewer power spikes.

The new Arc G3 chips have all the big XeSS features you want when you're PC gaming. I'm talking about super resolution, multi-frame generation, and ray tracing. Not to mention handheld extras like boosted efficiency, precompiled shaders, configurable TDP, etc.

Pricing remains an issue

The global gaming handheld market is being stomped on by RAM and storage shortages, and what were originally affordable mobile gaming PCs have become expensive luxury items.

👉 Gaming handhelds are the new netbooks — will they suffer the same tragic fate?

Acer hasn't yet set a price for its new Predator Atlas 8 (expected to launch October 2026), but MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+ is supposed to make its debut at $1,500 in June. I hope that number holds out, despite it already being quite high.

In any case, the handheld market is experiencing some serious friction, and that's a shame considering the advancements in performance I saw at Computex. Intel's Arc G3 chips seem to be the real deal, and I look forward to having more time with them once the MSI and Acer hardware launches.

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Acer has unveiled a new gaming handheld at Computex 2026, dubbed the Acer Predator Atlas 8, and if the specs are anything to go by, it could give devices like the Xbox Ally X a run for their money.

The handheld is expected to launch in October 2026 in North America, Australia, and the EMEA region, though Acer has yet to reveal pricing. Given the current state of the handheld market, it's difficult to make even an educated guess as to what it might cost.

Still, while the price remains a mystery, the inclusion of two months of Xbox Game Pass Premium does help sweeten the deal, even if only a little.

With that said, let's take a look at the specs in the table below:

I'm all for seeing as many companies as possible throw their hats into the handheld gaming PC space. More devices mean more competition, and that's ultimately good for pushing the industry forward.

As someone who used to love Acer laptops back in the day, I'm glad to see the company entering the handheld market. But that's just how I feel about it. What are your thoughts on the Acer Predator Atlas 8? Is it a device you'd consider picking up, or are you planning to stick with what you already have?

Let me know by leaving us a comment, and don't forget to take part in our poll!

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MSI continues to throw its hat into the handheld gaming space, and I am here for it. Despite the volatile nature of the market right now, hold on while I have a moment of silence for the Steam Deck... or not, considering it still managed to sell out despite its increased price.

But we're not here to discuss that. Today, we're here to talk about the MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus, revealed ahead of Computex 2026. It's certainly a mouthful of a name, but it features Intel's Arc G3 Extreme chip, which means it should pack quite a punch.

Speaking of packing a punch, instead of droning on and listing the specifications, or at least the specifications that we do know, I’ll put them in a lovely table here:

As you can tell from the table above, there's still quite a bit we don't know about this device. However, we do have a look at the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip, which we covered here.

As for the price, we don't know anything yet, and given the current state of the handheld market, it's difficult to put an exact number on it. MSI's previous handheld, the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus, launched at $1,000, so if MSI gets a little lucky, perhaps this new model could land around a similar price point.

That's about all we know for now, though. Outside of its "Void Purple" color, which does look pretty neat, MSI hasn't shared much else. It was also nice to see the device showcased using the Xbox app, which I presume was running Xbox Mode.

I'm all for having more handhelds in the space. Price concerns aside, the more competition there is, the more choice we get as consumers, and hopefully that competition pushes companies to build even better hardware.

But enough about what I think. What do you make of the MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus? Let me know in the comments, and as always, be sure to take part in our poll!

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Intel gave us a hint of its quest for handheld gaming domination at CES 2026, where it stated it was working on two new Panther Lake Systems-on-Chip (SoC) designed specifically for portable handheld gaming.

It was revealed that at least 11 partners, including Acer, MSI, and Microsoft, were working with Intel to design new gaming handhelds around these unnamed, unannounced chips.

Five months later, Intel has now unveiled further details about these new Arc G-Series CPUs just ahead of Computex. While we got a sneak peek at a new Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip due to a leaked MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ listing, Intel has also now made the Arc G3 official.

By all means, this appears to be the upgrade I've been waiting for, and the handheld market, largely dominated by AMD Ryzen, is in for a big shakeup.

Intel is taking a two-pronged approach with its new Arc G-Series chips. The Intel Arc G3 debuts with 14 CPU cores and Arc B370 graphics with 10 Xe cores, while the Arc G3 Extreme arrives with 14 CPU cores and Arc B390 graphics with 12 Xe cores.

The Arc G3 Extreme is really the SoC I'm most excited for. Its Arc B390 integrated graphics first debuted with Intel's high-performance Panther Lake chips (like the Core Ultra X9 388H), featuring 12 Xe GPU cores, a 2.3GHz frequency, and XeSS 3 upscaling capabilities.

XeSS 3 unlocks features like multi-frame generation, super resolution, and low latency, which are all tools that you want in a gaming handheld.

This chip is notably coming to Acer's Predator Atlas 8 gaming handheld, also announced today ahead of Computex.

It features an 8-inch FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, as well as up to 24GB of LPDDR5x RAM and up to 1TB of M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage.

Intel says it expects devices using its new Arc G-Series chips to begin rolling out in June 2026, "with broader availability through the year." As to how much these devices will cost in a handheld market being decimated by rising memory and storage costs, I can't say.

Windows Central's take

AMD Ryzen has long been the go-to chip for PC gaming handhelds, and although I think there's a future for ARM-based handhelds, it's great to see Intel entering the ring with a dedicated chip focused on maximizing performance for mobile devices.

Of course, how these chips actually perform won't be known until we get our hands on something like the Predator Atlas 8 or the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, but I'm confident that the stellar Arc GPU foundation that I've already seen in laptop chips will translate to handhelds.

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Ever confident, MSI is pushing ahead with its Claw 8 handheld, with the perplexingly named MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, and a move to Intel's Panther Lake-based Arc G3 Extreme chip. It's a processor expected to appear at the Computex show in Taipei next month (via VideoCardz), and Australian retail links have seemingly confirmed their inclusion in a "Void Purple" model.

It sounds great in theory, especially since I tested the previous MSI Claw 8 AI+ last year and came away impressed by the phenomenal performance from its Lunar Lake-based iGPU. However, that model came with a price that I already described as "absurd", but I'll have to find a stronger synonym after seeing the ~$1,900 price tag on the Claw 8 EX AI+ (converted from $2,749 AUD).

There's also a "Launch Pack" listed at ~$2,000 ($2,849 AUD), bundled with a tempered glass screen protector, claw-grip caps, a travel case, and a keychain. Unfortunately, any eager gamers with pockets full of money in Australia will be disappointed to see that Scorptec's listings are set to "out of stock", but the price doesn't feel unrealistic when the Claw 8 AI+ still sells for $1,299.99 in the US.

MSI never implied that the Claw range was anything but high-end, premium gaming handhelds, and it's still offering 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, a 120Hz touchscreen, and an 80Whr battery on the Claw 8 EX AI+ model. It's certainly an impressive display of what you can pack into a portable PC gaming device, but I'd struggle to convince anyone that a handheld is worth over $1,000.

At this point, I'm not sure who would be legitimately excited to buy the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ when there are more viable options on the market. Valve's still-brilliant Steam Deck remains the champion, and Windows-based alternatives start with ASUS' comparable ROG Xbox Ally (that's the $599 white one) and realistically end at the also eye-wateringly expensive $999 ROG Xbox Ally X.

Perhaps it's just a display of what's possible; a spectacle of sorts. Then again, this hardly feels like the time to show off your ability to push prices to their extreme — even with Intel's Arc G3 Extreme. Give me more affordable hardware that runs games at a consistent framerate, otherwise I'm sticking with the Steam Deck and ASUS' original ROG Ally (and so should you).

Windows Central will be at Computex, so we'll keep an eye out for Intel's new handheld-centric processor and any of the OEMs that might be showing it off — including MSI — to see how it justifies such a monstrous asking price. Until then, I wouldn't hold your breath for a price change before this launches. At least, not one in the cheaper direction.

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Lenovo's "Aura Edition" subcategory continues its unique partnership with Intel, featuring a line of Windows devices that lean heavily into the AI PC trend. At its surface, that's what this is: an Intel-powered laptop with smart software tweaks, but most of the magic usually comes from the Core Ultra processor inside and the chassis around it.

• Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra (Gen 11) Aura Edition for $1,889.99 at Lenovo USA

It's tricky to explain in a nutshell, so I tested the new Yoga Slim 7i Ultra (Gen 11) Aura Edition to go hands-on with an example — and to find out what's up with the specs and pricing. The US is missing the same flexible processor options I can access in the UK, and prices are fluctuating for Americans, too.

How much does the Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition cost?

Lenovo estimated the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition (Gen 11) would start at $1,499.99 USD when it announced the laptop at CES 2026, but that optimistic price has turned out to be closer to $1,629.99 $1,889.99 for a configured version on Lenovo's storefront (the price increased as I wrote this). Using the "Build Your PC" option, you can upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro for $50 and from 1TB to 2TB of storage for $190.

Whether you push to $1,869.99 $2,129.99 by upgrading its two customizable components will depend on personal preference and individual use cases. Otherwise, we're looking at a $130 $390 price increase since we saw the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition announcement in January.

In the United Kingdom, Lenovo starts the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition at £2,010, but you get more customization options. Crucially, you can choose from three of Intel's Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" processors: a Core Ultra 5 325, a Core Ultra 7 355, and finally, a Core Ultra X9 388H with upgraded Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics for an extra £250.

Is the Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition a good laptop?

At 2.15 lbs, this is one of the lightest 14-inch Windows laptops I've ever carried. Lighter than ASUS' Zenbook A14 (2.18 lbs) and Apple's 13-inch M5 MacBook Air (2.7 lbs), the magnesium-aluminum chassis still keeps it feeling solid and sturdy despite its featherweight build. The "thixomolding" procedure for its shell also means it feels particularly similar to the "Ceraluminum" ASUS used on standouts like the 14-inch Zenbook S 14, if slightly more glossy.

The 5.5-inch glass haptic touchpad also makes this laptop stand out from all the mechanical equivalents I've used before, though I'm not sure the technology proved to be quite as life-changing as I expected. Still, cursor control is smooth and responsive, complementing the deep 1.5mm key travel I expect from Lenovo's laptops. Just like the Slim 7i (Gen 9) I loved so much before it, this Aura Edition is a joy to use.

The webcam resides in a wide bar that slightly protrudes from the chassis, doubling up as a lip on the top lid that helps with single-finger opening. It's a great camera, and the speakers follow suit with impressive bass response in a setup with 2 woofers and 2 tweeters. An IR sensor enables Windows Hello for face-enabled logins and Human Presence Detection (HPD) that can blur my screen if "Shield Mode" is activated in Lenovo's Smart Modes via the F9 key.

There's a webcam shutter switch on the right side if you'd rather disable the camera altogether, though I quite enjoy using a "wake on approach" method with HPD enabled. Battery life on the Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition borders on the absurd, reaching over 18 hours in PCMark 10 tests that emulate constant productivity app usage and video playback. For an x86-64 PC, it's an incredible feat and a display of Panther Lake's ability.

Finally, the 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED touchscreen reaches 511 nits without HDR in my colorimeter testing, and setting the brightness to 74% gives you a comfortable 250 nits. Without any tweaking, the display achieves 100% color accuracy in the sRGB and P3 gamuts, while AdobeRGB comes in shorter at 87%. It's a beautiful panel with strong contrast, offering a standard 60Hz refresh rate or a smoother 120Hz mode. Zero complaints here.

Does the Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition have any issues?

Shrinking the hardware into this ultra-lightweight frame comes with I/O sacrifices. The Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition excludes USB-A, HDMI-out, and headphone options, leaving three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports with 45–65W power delivery and DisplayPort-out 2.1 for compatible external monitors. On the bright side, there's no proprietary AC adapter, but my USB-A dongles all need a hub or conversion cable.

Software bloat is still a minor gripe on Lenovo devices, and I found the usual McAfee (and WebAdvisor by McAfee) preinstalled, along with a Dropbox Promotion and an Adobe Creative Cloud advertisement in the Start menu. There's also a web shortcut to the Lenovo Subscription Marketplace pinned to the taskbar, which, again, is little more than a baked-in ad. Disappointing, but ultimately all removable with some user effort.

Lenovo says the Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition is "designed to deliver exceptional performance for gaming", but you'd need the higher-tier Core Ultra X processors and the more capable Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics to stand any chance of seeing evidence of that. With the standard integrated Intel Graphics in the Core Ultra 7 355 processor in my sample, Cyberpunk 2077 couldn't exceed an average of 26 FPS at its lowest settings.

Less demanding PC games wouldn't need such drastic graphics hardware, but that always feels like a cop-out. As hardware progresses, it's less and less interesting to see the likes of Minecraft advertised as running on modern laptops just to claim they're capable of PC gaming. Counter-Strike 2 couldn't reliably maintain more than 60 FPS on its lowest settings at 1680 x 1050 resolution, and the CPU climbed to 95°C, so gaming is off the table.

How fast is the Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition?

Lenovo advertises the Aura Edition range with phrases like "standout design, uncompromised power". The former is undoubtedly true for the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra, but the latter is muddied by its selection of the Core Ultra Series 3 family of processors. You see, the Core Ultra 7 355 is the sole option for US buyers, who aren't as lucky as those over in the UK, as we can upgrade to a high-end Core Ultra X9 388H — the 'H' meaning "highest performance".

This laptop deserves at least a Core Ultra X7 358H to match its stellar design and promises, a choice referenced in Lenovo's product specifications reference sheet for the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra. It's not that the Core Ultra 7 355 in my US-based sample is bad, as it can match or surpass the Core Ultra Series 2 "Lunar Lake" chips found in the Yoga Slim 9i (Gen 10) and Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (Gen 9).

It does fall behind the Core Ultra 155H "Meteor Lake" chip from two generations prior, found in one of my favorites, the Slim 7i (Gen 9) — admittedly an apples-to-oranges CPU comparison for a laptop that retailed for around $1,240 at the time. Still, the Core Ultra 7 355 offers tremendous battery life, and this Ultra Aura Edition Gen 11 beats the Gen 9 in most other ways that count.

The elephant in the room is the absolutely incredible Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 11), powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite processor, which serves as a Windows on ARM alternative to the somewhat more traditional x86-64 chips on offer in this Intel-based Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition. There's no getting around it: the Yoga Slim 7x is extremely tempting, starting at just $1,099.99, and it comes from Lenovo itself. This laptop's biggest competitor is its sibling.

Should you buy the Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You want the lightest 14-inch Windows laptop

✅ You're a frequent traveler who relies on long battery life

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You use graphic-intensive apps; upgrades will be needed

❌ You rely on USB-A devices or wired headphones without adapters

An "estimated" $1,499.99 starting price certainly made this laptop more exciting when Lenovo announced it at CES earlier this year, and even a bump to $1,629.99 was one I could handle. However, when the company triggered a second increase to $1,889.99 while I was testing the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition, its limited processor options in the US became harder to accept.

The Core Ultra 7 355 is still a great example of Intel's Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" chips and the tremendous power efficiency they offer, but the Yoga Slim 7x and its Snapdragon X2 Elite chip are likely to draw many buyers away. It'll mean losing out on the haptic touchpad, lower display refresh rate, and the lightweight chassis, but I can't imagine that's enough. A tricky one.

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Intel made the first of its "Panther Lake" mobile processors official at CES 2026 with Core Ultra Series 3. Now, the company has revealed follow-up Core Series 3 "Wildcat Lake" chips, without the Ultra designator or as high a price tag.

Like their full-fledged Panther Lake Core Ultra siblings, the new Core Series 3 chips are built on Intel's 18A process node with proven benefits to performance-per-watt and efficiency.

A hybrid core setup remains intact, with Darkmont Efficient cores and Cougar Cove Performance cores. Intel's X^e3 integrated GPU with up to two cores, and a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capable of up to 17 TOPS, are both also on board.

Here's a rundown of the new Core Series 3 mobile chips.

It seems like Intel is primarily targeting budget buyers who don't often upgrade their PC.

Intel compares the new Core Series 3 mobile chips to a five-year-old PC running a Core i7-1185G7, stating that the new hardware can deliver "up to 47% better single thread performance, up to 41% better multi thread performance, and up to 2.8x better GPU AI performance."

Performance gains remain rather impressive even when up against more recent chips; Intel says the new Core 7 360 offers "up to 2.1x faster creation and productivity" compared to the Core 7 150U from 2024.

Intel also shows off newfound efficiency. Compared, again, to the Core 7 150U, the Core 7 360 is shown to use up to 64% less battery when streaming a 4K YouTube video. In Procyon's Office Productivity battery benchmark, the new chip is 52% more efficient.

Intel claims you can expect up to 18.5 hours of Netflix streaming, 12.5 hours of office productivity, and 9.6 hours of a one-to-one Zoom call with AI effects enabled, all on a single charge.

Intel is also making a play for edge devices with Core Series 3

Intel's Core Series 3 mobile chips will get the most attention from me when they're in a laptop, but Team Blue is also clearly targeting edge cases like robotics, point-of-sale (POS), and smart metering.

Intel compares its new chips to NVIDIA's Jetson Orin Nano, claiming that the Core 7 350 delivers "up to 1.5x higher object detection performance, up to 1.9x faster image classification, and up to 2.2x higher performance for video analytics."

For edge cases, Intel adds a Core 5 305 chip with no NPU included to its list.

When is Intel launching new Core Series 3 "Wildcat Lake" mobile chips?

Intel says its Core Series 3 mobile chips are available starting today, April 16, 2026, in laptops from Acer, HP, Honor, MSI, and more. Here's what Intel lists so far as being available now (or imminently):

• Acer Aspire Go 14
• Acer Aspire Go 15
• Acer Aspire Go 16
• HP Omnibook 5 14
• MSI Modern 14S
• MSI Modern 16S

Other big names like ASUS, Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung will have PCs with new Intel Core Series 3 later this year.

As for edge systems, Intel says it will begin shipping Core Series 3 beginning in Q2 2026.

Windows Central's take

It's no secret that PC prices are on the rise, making it harder for the average user to find a suitable upgrade path.

Assuming that new laptops launching with Intel Core Series 3 mobile chips will have a noticeable price difference compared to Core Ultra Series 3 configs, I can't help but meet this news with optimism.

With Wi-Fi 7 and dual Thunderbolt 4 support, seemingly excellent efficiency and snappy performance (we'll do our own tests as soon as possible), and availability in many different PCs, Intel could very well be onto something.

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X2 chips aren't mentioned anywhere in Intel's press briefings, but I suspect that these chips are an attempt to claw back some of the value I'm now seeing with laptops like the OmniBook Ultra 14 (G2).

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Crimson Desert has had a turbulent reception, with the game proving divisive among players. Here at Windows Central, however, Michael reviewed Crimson Desert and awarded it a 4.5 out of 5, describing it as a genre-defining experience.

That said, players eager to jump in on Intel Arc GPUs were left out. Arc users quickly found that the game simply didn’t work with their GPUs. Intel also stated it had reached out to Pearl Abyss to assist with development and help ensure the game runs properly on Arc hardware; however, were ignored by Pearl Abyss.

In a new post on X (formerly Twitter), the Crimson Desert account addressed the Intel Arc issues directly, stating:

“Regarding #CrimsonDesert support for Intel Arc:

We are currently working on compatibility and optimization support so that Crimson Desert can also be enjoyed on Intel Arc GPU systems. We are preparing to provide a smooth and stable gameplay experience, and we ask for your patience until the support update becomes available.

We apologize for any confusion our FAQ wording from several hours ago regarding playability on Intel Arc GPUs may have caused. Please regard this as our latest official news on the subject. Thank you.”

The studio has also updated the game’s FAQ to reflect this same messaging, after it previously stated that the game "does not support Intel Arc graphic cards."

Crimson Desert has also gone from Mixed reviews to Mostly Positive reviews on Steam as the studio tackles feedback.

🗨️ Are you relieved to see Pearl Abyss address concerns so quickly about the game?

Regardless of your thoughts on the game itself, the studio has been quick to respond to criticism and implement fixes requested by players.

Even in the past few days, it has pushed out a new patch addressing combat, while also responding to concerns around AI-generated images found in the game. It is now reviewing its art assets to ensure nothing else slipped through earlier development.

With that said, let me know your thoughts on how Pearl Abyss is responding by leaving a comment and taking part in the poll below:

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Pearl Abyss' massive open-world action game Crimson Desert is finally out, and if that near-250,000 player count peak on launch day is any indication, it's very likely going to end up as one of 2026's biggest and most-popular new games. For an entire subset of the PC gaming community, though, the ambitious title can't be enjoyed at all.

That's because, surprise, Crimson Desert doesn't support Intel Arc GPUs — the lineup of affordable graphics cards that Intel began rolling out in 2022 to shake up the PC gaming hardware market. At first, poor driver support resulted in subpar capabilities. In time, though, cards like the Intel Arc B580 offered impressive 1080p and 1440p performance for a low cost, disrupting the duopoly of NVIDIA and AMD in the space.

Indeed, while Intel Arc is still niche compared to Team Green and Team Red, it's on the rise — which makes the fact Crimson Desert doesn't work with any of its GPUs all the more frustrating. Pearl Abyss informed players of the incompatibility in the game's launch FAQ on its release date.

"No, Crimson Desert currently does not support Intel Arc graphics cards," wrote the developer. "If you purchased the game expecting Intel Arc support, please refer to the refund policy of the platform where the game was purchased for available options. We apologize for any inconvenience caused."

It's worth noting that there's no mention here of Intel Arc support potentially coming later down the line, which suggests there's a very real possibility Crimson Desert will never work with these cards. If you try to launch it with one installed, you'll just get a "The graphics device is currently not supported." error.

Another thing — and something that kind of rubs me the wrong way — is that Crimson Desert's incompatibility with Intel Arc wasn't announced until launch day. The aforementioned launch FAQ was actually published a week before its release date, and was updated with the confirmation Intel GPUs won't work at launch time.

With Pearl Abyss posting very detailed PC requirements and recommended specs and also being quite vocal about how much work it put into optimization, it's hard to believe that the developers didn't think about Intel Arc GPUs.

More of a heads up to the community would have been nice, and would have saved Arc users like this one from feeling blindsided and crushed after being excited to play Crimson Desert at launch. "I’m very disappointed I was very looking forward to play," they said. At least Steam and Epic Games tend to be very consumer-friendly with their refund policies.

As for why Intel Arc GPUs aren't supported, it's unclear. Some believe it's due to the fact that Arc is still rather niche overall, but then, Mac is almost never used for gaming these days and Crimson Desert works on Apple's platform. Others suggest that there may be some sort of DirectX feature the game relies on that Arc doesn't yet support, which may be the case.

Whatever the reason is, it's ultimately still very unfortunate that one of this year's massive new games isn't playable on a budget-friendly class of GPUs that's rising in popularity, and that nobody knew about that until after people preordered and it came out. I hope Crimson Desert gets support for Intel Arc cards at some point.

🗨️ Are you an Intel Arc user?

Even if Intel Arc users are the minority, it's still very unfortunate that those who do use the GPUs aren't able to play Crimson Desert, which is one of the biggest games of 2026.

Are you an Intel Arc user that was hoping to play Pearl Abyss' new hit? Let me know in the comments, and vote in our poll to say if you're getting the game or not as well.

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Intel attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year in Las Vegas, primarily to show off its latest Core Ultra Series 3 mobile processors — codenamed "Panther Lake." They'll appear in modern laptops, like ASUS' refreshed ZenBook S14 and ZenBook S16, but the topic of PC gaming was mostly subdued.

It wasn't entirely absent, as Intel even took a jab at its rival by calling AMD's gaming handheld chips "ancient silicon" — but desktop PC gamers were left without any new exciting announcements. That might not have always been the plan, as firmware for a long-rumored Intel Arc Battlemage B770 GPU has appeared inside a Panther Lake-based driver package for an HP laptop (via VideoCardz.)

Proof appeared on Reddit, under r/TechHardware, and the codenamed BMG-G31 GPU driver is listed alongside drivers understood to be compatible with Intel Arc B570 and B580 Battlemage GPUs from last year. Sadly, the hints stop there, as Intel's Tom Petersen was understandably unable to elaborate when quizzed in an interview by Digital Foundry: "I cannot comment on unreleased products or unannounced products, but it's an excellent question, and I know a lot of people are curious."

TechHardware Exclusive: Intel Battlemage G31 "B770" Firmware Shows Up In Intel Driver Package! from r/TechHardware

Curious indeed. I'm a long-standing advocate for Intel Arc discrete graphics, as they're affordable yet performant cards that have significantly improved since their broad introduction with the codenamed Alchemist series, like the Arc A770. I had my fingers crossed to see the B770 appearing at CES 2026 in Nevada, but it never showed.

If nothing else, it's a tiny shred of hope that we might see an official confirmation of the Battlemage B770 before Intel moves on to its Celestial cards — if any discrete GPUs are even planned for that. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a new affordable desktop Arc GPU, especially after rumors that even the prices of AMD Radeon cards could creep up, while surging prices still affect RAM.

Do you think the fabled Arc B770 is on the horizon, or will Intel quietly cancel it and move its focus elsewhere?

Intel has a huge presence at the Consumer Electronics Show, and it makes sense — Intel's next-generation silicon will power millions of brand-new Windows laptops this year.

Those chips fall under the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 umbrella, which Intel officially unveiled at CES 2026. Previously known as "Panther Lake," the latest from Intel represents a massive leap forward for the company in performance, efficiency, graphics, and AI.

We already knew about all of that, though. I wrote extensively about all there is to know about Intel Core Ultra Series 3 late last year, so Intel is focusing on the branding and the newly announced laptops from its partners at CES. You can check Windows Central for the latest news on the latter; this article will explain everything you need to know about the former.

Naming is simplified, but can still be confusing

Intel Core Ultra Series 3 will be the Intel platform of choice for laptops, tablets, handhelds, mini PCs, and more for manufacturers in 2026, and it's all designed to be scalable and modular. Of course, Intel is also competing with AMD's new Ryzen AI 400 series and Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X2 series.

I won't deep dive into Panther Lake and why this generation is so big for Intel, but the focus on disaggregation means Intel can be a lot more flexible. Broadly speaking, Panther Lake is divided into three tiers: low core count, high core count, and high core count with a powerful GPU.

That flexibility also gave Intel an opportunity to somewhat simplify its naming with this latest generation. Intel Core Ultra Series 2 was actually split between the cutting-edge V-series Lunar Lake released in the first half of the year, and the more traditional H, HX, and U-series Arrow Lake released in the latter half of 2025; in 2026, it'll all be Panther Lake.

Intel will likely release more configurations as the year progresses, but right now, there are 14 confirmed Intel Core Ultra Series 3 SKUs. Here are some tips to navigate the new naming scheme.

• Intel Core Ultra Series 3 is still divided into the classic 5, 7, and 9 families, with each family going up in price, performance, and features. For example, the Core Ultra 5 322 would be found in entry-level, value-driven devices, while the Core Ultra 9 386H would be found in high-end laptops that need top-notch performance.
• Family numbers will be followed by a 300 number, with higher numbers usually notating faster clock speeds, more cache, or other improvements. For example, the Core Ultra 5 325 and Core Ultra 5 335 are both 8-core chips, but the latter is clocked higher.
• Within each family, you'll see no suffix or an H suffix, with the H suffix being for SKUs with higher core counts. For example, the Core Ultra 7 365 and Core Ultra 7 366H are very similar overall, but the former has 8 cores while the latter has 16 cores.
• It's worth mentioning that Intel has confirmed the HX suffix isn't dead, and will likely be used with even more powerful configurations for gaming laptops and high-end workstations later this year.
• Finally, Intel is introducing a new X prefix for its most powerful configurations with the latest 12-core Intel Arc B390 GPU. For example, there's the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, which you'll find in premium devices that don't have discrete GPUs.

It may seem confusing at first glance, but this is definitely a far more straightforward naming scheme than last year. If you're comparing the Intel Core Ultra 5 332 to the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, you can tell that the latter is a more capable, higher-end chipset with a powerful GPU and more CPU cores.

Stay tuned for more coverage on Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (especially as we actually begin getting these laptops in our hands).

What do you think about Intel Core Ultra Series 3? Is Intel onto a real winner with this generation? Let us know in the comments below!

Intel Tech Tour 2025 may have been all about new mobile chipsets and artificial intelligence on the surface, but dig a little deeper, and you'll uncover Intel's ambitions for more capable integrated GPUs in our laptops.

I spent time with Intel in Chandler, AZ to learn more about the upcoming Panther Lake family of next-generation chips, including the brand-new Intel Arc B-Series iGPU that's being paired with them.

Intel isn't just touting a sizeable performance increase year-over-year when gaming or spinning up sizeable AI LLMs with Panther Lake — it's also debuting new features and advancements as part of XeSS 3, which also debuts with Panther Lake. Here's what you need to know.

Intel Arc B-Series comes to mobile hardware

I've already broken down everything you need to know about Panther Lake itself, and I even got a tour of the factory that's making it possible. It's worth taking some extra time to highlight the GPU-specific improvements Intel is delivering with Panther Lake.

For one, Intel has detached the GPU tile from everything else, allowing the company to scale up the graphics independently of the rest of the chipset. Intel is going to refer to Panther Lake's GPU as "Intel Arc B-Series," which may sound familiar — because that's the current generation of Intel's desktop-bound GPUs.

Panther Lake utilizes brand-new, third-generation Xe cores, though, so it's actually a new architecture. Intel even admitted during its keynote that it knows the naming scheme is a little odd, but it's the end result that matters.

With Xe3, Intel focused on end-to-end optimization for consistency and efficiency. The new Xe3 cores aren't a massive departure from the last generation, but you do get upgraded ray tracing cores, improved vector engines, increased memory bandwidth and reduced memory bottlenecks, massively enhanced platform tuning to better allocate and use GPU resources, and other advancements.

You'll be able to get Panther Lake with up to 12 Xe3 cores and 12 ray tracing cores, and Intel promises more than 50% greater performance compared to Lunar Lake and more than 40% improved performance-per-watt than Arrow Lake. Microarchitecture improvements mean you can see even greater gains with some games or artificial intelligence workloads, with less stuttering and faster load times.

Throw in an upgraded media display engine with support for more codecs, Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.5 support, and other AI-specific optimizations that result in up to 120 TOPS of computational power, and Intel Arc is looking pretty good inside Panther Lake. Intel teased during the Tech Tour that Panther Lake (and the new Arc GPU) is going to appear in PC gaming handhelds, too, so I'm excited to see what that looks like.

Intel also told me it's still committed to Arc moving forward, even with the news that Intel and NVIDIA are teaming up to jointly develop x86 processors fused with RTX GPUs.

New XeSS features that take advantage of Xe3 cores

Intel Panther Lake isn't just about the hardware, as the supporting software, firmware, and other platform features are also expanding, and that includes the arrival of XeSS 3. The equivalent of NVIDIA DLSS but for Intel Arc graphics, XeSS 2 already offers AI-powered Super Resolution upscaling, single Frame Generation, and Low Latency features.

Now, XeSS 3 is here with Intel's take on Multi-Frame Generation, which can use one natively rendered frame to generate up to three additional, artificial frames. We've already seen this feature with NVIDIA's DLSS 4, and can as much as quadruple your framerates without a significant decrease in visual fidelity or stability.

I saw XeSS 3 Multi-Frame Generation in action with Painkiller and was even able to play myself, and I found myself more impressed than with NVIDIA's implementation of the feature. Multi-Frame Generation inherently introduces additional motion latency (because each artificial frame is created ahead of time), and it's most noticeable with high-speed games that require fast movements and reactions, like competitive shooters.

Just in my limited hands-on, though, it felt to me like Intel's Multi-Frame Generation was slightly more responsive than NVIDIA's. More than that, though, is the fact that all XeSS 2-supported games will immediately support Multi-Frame Generation through XeSS 3, which will be controlled independently through the Intel Graphics Software app.

Intel's latest Arc GPUs also support Cooperative Vectors through DirectX XII Ultimate, an AI-accelerated rendering technique that can use small neural networks (powered by Intel Xe3's upgraded AI engines) across shading stages and reduce the load on the GPU.

Finally, Intel is debuting Precompiled Shader Distribution, an automatic service that collects and compiles the latest shaders for games, stores them in the Intel cloud, and then loads those shaders seamlessly when you boot up a game — ideally saving you time and GPU resources.

Intel maintains a sizable presence in the United States, especially in Oregon and Arizona. I travelled to the latter for Intel Tech Tour 2025, where Intel shared a bevy of announcements near its absolutely massive Ocotillo campus.

I was able to take a tour of this campus, and most notably Fab 52 — the latest (and largest) addition packed with the most cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication technology in the world. It's this foundry that will produce Intel's next-gen processors using the new 18A processing node.

2026 could be a big year for Intel if its ambitions with Fab 52 are realized. Here's what you should know about Intel 18A, and I'll also share my experience strolling through the impressive Fab 52.

The heart of Intel Panther Lake is 18A

I've spent some time breaking down Intel's next-gen Panther Lake mobile chips, and explained what you need to know about the new Intel Arc graphics being paired with them. I skimmed over Intel 18A, though, and why exactly it's important.

If you weren't aware, one of the most important metrics for gauging the progression of semiconductor fabrication is the size of individual transistors, measured in nanometers. The smaller the size, the more densely you can pack transistors. The more densely you can pack transistors, the more transistors you can have. The more transistors you can have, the better your chip's performance and efficiency (largely speaking).

Intel 18A is a 2nm-class processing node, which is on the cutting edge of what modern semiconductor fabrication can achieve. That's important, but Intel 18A is special because it finally debuts two unique technologies in chips that are actually going to reach consumers — RibbonFET and PowerVia.

First, RibbonFET is set to replace the "FinFET" transistor design that has been the standard for over a decade. While the latter uses vertical "fin" transistors with the gate (which controls the flow of electricity through the transistors) set on top, RibbonFET uses a new, flexible and scalable "ribbon" design with a gate that wraps completely around the transistors. This design allows for more precise control, less power leakage, superior performance-per-watt, and helps support more densely packed transistors.

PowerVia is a similarly crucial advancement. Traditional chips weave together signal and power routing for transistors through the front of the chip die, but this can lead to congestion and performance degradation as transistors become more densely packed. With Intel 18A, chips can now route power to transistors through the backside of the die, leaving the front reserved just for signal input/output.

The result of these two technologies is significantly improved performance, efficiency, and consistency with intense, high-power workloads (like artificial intelligence). Intel 18A can also be paired with other Intel processing nodes thanks to Intel's more modular Foveros-3D advanced packaging, which can stack multiple, separate chiplets on the same die.

Intel Panther Lake is the first platform to be built using Intel 18A, and takes full advantage of these upgrades. As production scales up, too, we could see other partners turn to Intel for their semiconductor needs — and it's all happening inside Fab 52.

Fab 52 is alive, and I went aside to see what it's all about

Intel's Ocotillo campus is massive. Constantly growing since it first opened in the 1990s, this campus is built on over a square mile of land with its own 12-acre water treatment and recycling plant, and Fab 52 — the latest addition — is large even by Ocotillo standards.

Four years of construction required thousands of workers and tens of billions of dollars of investment. Intel had to excavate the equivalent of over 400 Olympic pools filled with soil and rock, and poured over 600,00 cubic meters of concrete — so much concrete that Intel built its own mixing plant on-site — reinforced by over 75,000 tons of steel.

It wasn't just about erecting the largest building possible; Intel had to carefully plan how and where to reinforce the ground to support the impossibly heavy Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) machines that are crucial for Intel 18A. These machines are so heavy it apparently takes three Boeing 747 cargo planes to transport just one to Arizona, and Fab 52 uses moveable bridge cranes built into its ceiling for construction and maintenance.

I got to see these EUVs in person, but I couldn't just stroll in. I had to leave my phone and all electronics behind (not just for Intel's security, but also because any wireless signal can interfere with the absurdly precise and delicate tools inside the foundry), and I had to don a hair net, gloves, and shoe covers before I was even allowed to enter the clean room where I was properly gowned in a full-body suit, hood, boots, protective goggles, and a second pair of gloves.

Enter the foundry, and you may note the aggressively "average" feeling of the air, as Intel carefully manages the temperature, humidity, and even air mixture. Dedicated air extraction towers cycle the air in the foundry six times a minute, apparently, and the air is thousands of times cleaner than even your average surgery operating room. You may also note the strange, yellow-green hue of the lighting, which is apparently an additional precaution to protect Intel's chips from the effects of some spectrums of light (similar to a dark room for developing older film).

I remember being mesmerized by the literal miles of track suspended from the ceiling, on which hundreds of automated robots carry silicon wafers and dies from tool to tool and building to building, the rows of extraordinarily advanced equipment, and the knowledge that the foundry is constantly under construction inside and out. Intel carefully considers which tools to replace or upgrade on a daily basis, ensuring that every foundry and building plays a role.

I won't even pretend to fully understand how exactly humanity managed to make rocks think, but I did learn a lot about semiconductor fabrication during my time with Intel in Arizona. I'm excited to see just how good Panther Lake ends up being, and it'll be especially interesting now that I've seen where Panther Lake chips are born.

Intel Tech Tour 2025 has wrapped up, and with its departure comes the reveal of Intel's biggest plans for the next year. Panther Lake is on the way as Intel Core Ultra (Series 3), and it's easily the most advanced platform Intel has put out.

I learned a lot about Panther Lake, Intel Arc graphics, semiconductor fabrication, and more during my time with Intel in Chandler, AZ, but a single, random statement during one of the keynotes grabbed my attention: gaming handhelds with Panther Lake inside are on the horizon.

PC gaming handhelds, like the upcoming Xbox Ally, are all the rage in some circles right now, but they're dominated by AMD silicon. Companies have attempted Intel-powered handhelds, like the MSI Claw, but they've either been lackluster or frustratingly difficult to obtain. Next year, though, we could see more powerful and more efficient handhelds powered by Intel Panther Lake, and I can't wait.

Intel Panther Lake could be incredible for handheld gaming

If you want all the details, I did a deeper dive on what makes Intel's Panther Lake chips so exciting. I even dedicated separate posts to the Intel 18A technology behind Panther Lake and everything you need to know about the latest Intel Arc GPUs inside these chips.

There's a lot of information there, but I'll summarize the most important points here. Panther Lake is the latest generation of mobile Intel chips, and it'll release under the Intel Core Ultra brand. There are some major upgrades across the board, including to memory bandwidth, which give Panther Lake the efficiency of 2024's Lunar Lake and the performance of 2024's Arrow Lake.

More firepower and less power draw are obviously great for handheld gaming, but the real star of the show is the Intel Arc B-Series integrated graphics. Brand-new Xe3 cores and upgraded ray tracing units deliver the usual next-gen improvements alongside support for XeSS 3 — Intel's suite of AI-powered gaming features that now includes Multi-Frame Generation.

Intel also focused a lot on platform tuning with Panther Lake, making this platform far smarter at allocating resources across the chipset. With intense workloads (like gaming), Panther Lake will enjoy fewer CPU spikes and GPU stutters, ensuring more stable performance across long sessions.

With up to 16 CPU cores and 12 GPU cores, Intel Panther Lake could put up a stellar fight against AMD's Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, the current flagship chipset inside handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go 2 and Xbox Ally X.

Intel teased that we will see gaming handhelds powered by Panther Lake next year, too, so we'll be able to pit this platform against AMD's best. I haven't been sold by previous Intel-powered gaming handhelds, though, and AMD is showing no sign of slowing down with handhelds.

Panther Lake could be the future, but the Xbox Ally is here today

AMD may be the de facto choice for silicon with gaming handhelds right now, but Intel showed its usually laptop-bound processors can make for a mean handheld with the MSI Claw 8 AI+.

The problem with that handheld is two-fold, though. On one hand, Intel hardware helps make the MSI Claw 8 AI+ absurdly expensive — on par with more established and less quirky AMD alternatives. On the other hand, the MSI Claw is also frustratingly difficult to even find in stock.

The potential is there, though, and everything I've heard and seen about Intel's Panther Lake chips screams "much better for handheld gaming." Is it worth waiting to see if Panther Lake leaps far enough ahead to put Intel on even footing with AMD in this category, though?

After all, MSI is the only major brand to embrace Intel in handheld devices... and even then, MSI recently announced an AMD version of the Claw handheld. We won't see any other company announce a Panther Lake handheld at least until January of 2026, too.

In the meantime, the Xbox Ally and Ally X are right around the corner, and we more-or-less know exactly what to expect — some of the best PC gaming handhelds you can buy right now. I'm optimistic that Intel could become a far more competitive option for handheld manufacturers in 2026, but AMD can give you a sure thing right now.

The latest Intel Arc graphics driver for desktops, laptops, and gaming handhelds, version 32.0.101.6877 (non-WHQL), was released on June 5, 2025, and is now available to download directly from Intel.com.

It's one of the smallest GPU driver updates I've seen, but it contains a critical fix for PC handhelds that use Intel's Core Ultra Series 2 mobile processors, like the previously reviewed MSI Claw 8 AI+ and its sibling, the MSI Claw 7 AI+.

If you've experienced glitches with stuttering audio or any other unusual behaviour from your Claw handheld, then Intel is pushing this driver specifically to remedy the problem. Otherwise, if you're playing on a previous-generation MSI Claw 7 (A1M), then you shouldn't necessarily need to apply this update.

Patch notes

Fixed Issues:

Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• Certain handheld devices may experience audio glitches and lower than expected performance while audio is playing.

The same advice goes for those running Intel Arc hardware on desktops, like the B-Series "Battlemage" B570 and B580 graphics cards; you likely wouldn't notice any difference here, so you might as well wait for the next GPU driver update.

Any laptops using Core Ultra Series 2 chips, like the Core Ultra 7 256V in Lenovo's Yoga 7i 2-in-1 that I just tested, are technically using the same graphics architecture as the handhelds targeted by the fix, so it wouldn't hurt to apply this update if you're experiencing similar audio oddities.

The latest Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 continues the manufacturer's efforts to offer mid-range convertible laptops at affordable prices by pairing with the latest Intel Core mobile processors.

I had a sample for review with a typical 15.6-inch, 16:10 display wrapped in a slightly different chassis from the Lenovo laptops I've praised in the past, and used it for as much of my daily work as possible for a week.

Boasting the usual Copilot+ PC capabilities, I wanted to see if Intel's latest Lunar Lake mobile chips could help a 16-inch, Evo-certified Windows laptop survive a full day of my usual work and video meetings.

Here's what I found after some real-world testing for my Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16-inch laptop review, and whether I feel it's worth picking up versus its strongest competitor.

This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by Lenovo. The company had no input or saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16ILL10: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A 16-inch, 2-in-1 Windows laptop with optional stylus support.
• Who is it for? Traveling creators looking for a mid-range AI PC.
• How much does it cost? Starts at $839.99 with lower-spec parts.
• What did I like? Long battery life and Copilot+ PC features.
• What did I not like? Low color accuracy on the 1080p60 display.

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Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16ILL10: Price and specifications

This 16-inch Yoga 7i 2-in-1 (Gen 10) doesn't have many customizable options before buying, but you can pick up a pre-built model from Lenovo's official store or "build" your own with a handful of configurable specs.

You can choose between two of Intel's "Lunar Lake" Core Ultra 200V Series mobile processors: a cheaper Core Ultra 5 226V or the Core Ultra 7 256V from my sample for an extra $145.

Memory isn't flexible here as it's part of the processor (Memory on Package, like Meteor Lake), so choosing either of the Core Ultra 200V options will give you 16GB of LPDDR5X-8533 RAM.

Storage starts at 512GB with a PCIe 4.0 M.2-2242 solid-state drive, but can be upgraded on Lenovo's configurator to 1TB for $40 if you need the extra space.

Otherwise, your only remaining option is to choose between Windows 11 Home or Pro for a $65 premium.

By default, you'll get a relatively plain 16:10 touchscreen display running a 1920x1200 resolution at 60Hz, rated for up to 300 nits brightness with Dolby Vision support. However, you will benefit from ultra-modern Wi-Fi 7 networking connectivity alongside Bluetooth 5.4 support for peripherals.

All configurations include an NPU for local AI processing rated at 40+ TOPS, making this a fully fledged AI PC and certified by Microsoft as a Copilot+ PC.

The port selection is fairly typical, but includes two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C inputs and one full-size USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port alongside HDMI-out 1.4b, microSD card reader, and a combo audio jack.

While this Yoga 2-in-1 includes support for Lenovo's Yoga Pen stylus, it doesn't include one in the box. It can be purchased separately for $58.99 at its official store. Finally, a fingerprint reader is positioned across from the 6-inch, left-aligned glass Precision touchpad, enabling secure logins with Windows Hello

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Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16ILL10: What's good

Overall, this 16-inch transforming Yoga brings familiar Lenovo design choices that I'm used to and still appreciate. The keyboard, as usual, feels great for all-day typing just as much as previous laptops within its adjacent subbrands, like my beloved 14-inch Slim 7i, except now I have a full-size number pad on the right side, qualifying it among the best laptops with a number pad guide.

I still prefer smaller keyboards without a number pad on most laptops because they usually leave extra space for side-mounted speakers that ever-so-slightly improve stereo separation. Bigger units also generally enhance bass response when listening to music and watching videos, but the speakers here are serviceable enough, if lacking more low-end than I'd like for a laptop with a 16-inch chassis.

It's not like I ever needed to push the volume above 30% while listening to music during the day, and especially not during video calls, where everyone's voices came through clear and without any distortion on the high end. The touchpad is fine, not as good as the Sensel variants found in Lenovo's excellent ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12), but that laptop is in a totally different price bracket anyway.

The most useful feature here is its fingerprint scanner, which offers a separate secure login method for Windows Hello if I want to keep the physical webcam shutter closed. On that topic, the 1080p webcam is actually quite good, provided your environment is bright enough, though it's still passable in darker rooms. Either way, it pairs with Windows Studio Effects for blurred backgrounds, running the effects on Intel's NPU for increased battery efficiency — a rare sight to see Task Manager reporting the local AI chip in use.

Port selection is quite generous, and I especially appreciate that Lenovo split up the two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports to have one on either side of the laptop. They both support power delivery, so the charger can connect to whichever you prefer, and there's a full-size USB-A port that's useful for a dongle synced with a wireless mouse. HDMI-out is here, too, but I can't think of the last time I needed one, which is the same sentiment I have for the 3.5mm audio jack.

Overall, the 16-inch Yoga 2-in-1 offers a decent Copilot+ PC experience. There's nothing in the realm of egregious bloatware; on the contrary, the pre-installed Lenovo Vantage companion app remains one of the best examples of how to offer genuinely useful system information and shortcuts to settings. Besides Vantage, you get an experience that's close to an out-of-the-box (OOBE) install of Windows 11, so it wouldn't take much effort to apply a clean system restore if you needed to.

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Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16ILL10: What's not

For all of Lenovo's advertisements pushing the 16-inch Yoga 2-in-1 as a versatile laptop, I almost never felt the urge to switch it into "tablet mode", at least not while a stylus is optional. There's something about its size and 4.23 lb weight that makes it feel too cumbersome to ever be useful as a touch-only experience, even though it's not much heavier than, say, HP's latest 16-inch 2-in-1, the 4.18 lb Omnibook X Flip.

Besides pinning Click to Do to my taskbar (which is otherwise extremely useful by the way), there wasn't much enjoyment or productivity to be had with the Yoga 7i sitting in my lap as a tablet, whether at home or elsewhere. Plus, the hinge feels excessively stiff, even for a 2-in-1, and it fails a "one finger lid opening test" in its standard mode, ultimately needing two hands to open it on a desk without raising its entire chassis off the surface.

Smaller 2-in-1 laptops around the 14-inch range feel more convenient to flip around if you're just casually browsing the web or consuming simple content with clicks, but this 16-inch 2-in-1 feels too cumbersome to transform on a whim if I don't have a stylus to work with, which is a big part of why I enjoyed using the ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 8) back in 2023 (which did open with a single finger, by the way).

So, if you're spending an extra $59 on a Yoga Pen stylus, then its appeal will likely increase. To be clear, I'm not implying that the stylus should be included for free, as it's so rarely the case for accessories to be thrown in as freebies anyway, but a permanently discounted bundle would certainly help upsell this laptop. Otherwise, its relatively plain input methods (including an off-center touchpad, if that bothers you) don't make it particularly exciting.

The most disappointing aspect of this Yoga 7i variant is its IPS panel display, which is only rated by Lenovo for 45% accuracy of the NTSC color gamut and scored 62% accurate for sRGB with a colorimeter in my testing. It's not that the display is hard on the eyes, but rather that it isn't suitable for creators who work with color grading in photography or video, limiting its appeal as little more than a full-size laptop that folds into a tablet for reading or placing in tent mode for extended work.

At a maximum of 360 nits, it isn't particularly bright either, so using it outdoors in natural light is off the table. I even struggled to see what was appearing on the screen in shaded areas, so it's apparent that the 2-in-1 functionality is restricted to more closed spaces during airplane flights or train journeys. Even then, I'd promote the benefits of smaller transforming laptops, as flipping a 14-inch screen around is far more convenient.

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Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16ILL10: Benchmark test results

Raw component testing shows a mixed bag for the Yoga 7i 16 (Gen 10), as Intel's Core Ultra 7 256V underperforms in some tests compared to another laptop using the same processor, the mid-range Yoga Slim 7i (Gen 9) Aura Edition. On the positive side, an overall system test in Crossmark shows the 16-inch Yoga 7i 2-in-1 sample keeping up with the Slim 7i, and the 1TB PCIe 4.0 solid-state storage drive delivers read speeds close to a high-end Razer Blade 18 (2024) gaming laptop.

On the other hand, pure CPU-bound stress tests in Geekbench 6 see the Core Ultra 7 256V outperformed by a lower-grade Core Ultra 5 228V in Samsung's Galaxy Book5 Pro 360 2-in-1, which is disappointing considering the 16-inch Yoga 7i never exhibited any signs of overheating or even significantly raised temperatures during a sustained stress benchmark in Cinebench 2024, where it also scored relatively lower than expected.

Battery life

Simulating everyday productivity apps in PCMark 10's battery test saw the Yoga 7i 16 last for 13 hours and 26 minutes. According to a Windows 11 battery report, my average lifespan lands between 10 and 12 hours, which tracks with my real-world experience. The only time I saw significant battery drain was during Google Meet calls within Microsoft Edge, but it still survived a 9-hour shift each day.

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Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16ILL10: Also consider

For the $1,000 to $1,200 price range that Lenovo's 16-inch Yoga 7i 2-in-1 occupies, there is a strong alternative to consider. The $1,199.99 ASUS Vivobook 16 Flip stands as the strongest opposition, as it comes with a 120Hz, DCI-P3 color-accurate 2880x1800 OLED panel rather than a 60Hz 1920x1200 IPS.

Otherwise, the processor remains the same; Intel's Core Ultra 7 256V with 16GB of RAM alongside integrated Intel Arc graphics. Even the 512GB storage matches the Yoga 7i 2-in-1 configuration that I recommend, rather than the 1TB drive in my sample, but you get a slightly larger battery capacity at 75Wh compared to 70Wh.

Acer went all-in on AI when it revealed the ASUS Vivobook 16 Flip, and it still offers better value at MSRP here. Even more so whenever it earns another sub-$900 discount during sale events, and it would take a price-beating response like this from Lenovo to keep the 16-inch Yoga 7i 2-in-1 relevant. Both brands charge separately for a stylus, but at least the Vivobook 16 Flip delivers a better screen.

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Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16ILL10: Should you buy it?

✅ You should buy this if ...

• You want a transforming laptop with a larger screen for work
  • Using the 16-inch Yoga 7i 2-in-1 in "tent mode" is excellent for traveling workers who bring a mouse and keyboard. Lenovo's built-in webcam also performs well in video meetings, given sufficient lighting.
• You need a Copilot+ PC that lasts all day
  • I used this 2-in-1 laptop exclusively for my daily workload, and it lasted all through 9 AM to 6 PM, only issuing low battery warnings on days that ended with longer video meetings.

❌ You should not buy this if ...

• You're a creator who needs a color-accurate display
  • The IPS display is the primary downfall of this Yoga 7i, and its disappointing gamut accuracy should deter creative professionals who regularly work in color grading.
• You want a convenient transforming laptop
  • A stiff hinge combined with a larger chassis means the temptation to flip this laptop into "tablet mode" is rarely felt. Only a separately purchased stylus would help its appeal, but not by much.

I'm a big fan of Lenovo's design philosophy; its laptops are clean, sophisticated, and so often, winners in their categories. It can't always be a slam dunk, though, and this 16-inch Yoga 7i 2-in-1 proves it with a disappointing 60Hz IPS panel and a frustratingly stiff hinge that combine to reduce the urge ever to flip it into tablet mode.

You still get the absolute best Wi-Fi 7 connectivity on the market, alongside a high-speed solid-state drive that rivals what you might find in a high-end gaming laptop. The hardware inside makes for a good (but not the best) Copilot+ PC experience overall, but without a color-accurate panel, it can't genuinely appeal to the color-conscious creative types it aims to.

If it drops below $900 in another sale, it'll be a much easier recommendation as an all-day laptop for traveling workers who need a transforming laptop to better suit unorthodox setups, but it's a tough sell at MSRP.

• Back to the top ⤴

Lenovo's overhauled Yoga Book 9i 14 (Gen 10) from CES landed in my lap last week, and I've been having some fun checking out its capabilities, including gaming.

Following my Yoga Book 9i (Gen 10) hands-on impressions, in which I gave a quick analysis regarding the design, display, and some features, I turned to PC gaming.

Lenovo's new dual-screen laptop wasn't designed to be a gaming laptop. Still, it leans into a more casual user experience than its main competition, the ASUS Zenbook Duo (2025), which I also reviewed.

Both PCs offer similar performance hardware and displays, but the dual-screen ASUS laptop takes a more functional approach that's better suited for busy professionals who need to multitask everywhere.

Lenovo's unique soundbar hinge between the displays, svelte design with rounded edges (typical in Lenovo's modern Yoga lineup), and dual OLED screens translate well to a life of watching movies, listening to music, and playing PC games.

While you can certainly treat the Yoga Book 9i as a standard notebook laptop with one screen in use while gaming, how does it work in dual-screen modes? Does it work at all? I wanted to find out.

A quick look at the Yoga Book 9i's 'Arrow Lake' integrated graphics

I already mentioned that the Yoga Book isn't made for gaming, but the integrated Intel Arc 140T graphics chip in the "Arrow Lake" Core Ultra 7 255H CPU is intriguing.

It uses the Intel Xe+ architecture, it has 8 cores, and it hits up to a 2.25GHz frequency. It also has ray tracing support.

Out of the system's total 16GB of memory, half is marked for shared use by the integrated graphics. It otherwise has 128MB of dedicated RAM.

My colleague Zachary Boddy first tested this chip in our Core Ultra 9 285H CPU review, and they came to the conclusion that it "competes with the best gaming handhelds."

Those tests, of course, were performed on an MSI laptop with a much beefier thermal solution. Remember, the Yoga Book 9i has no visible venting, with airflow provided by slim vents hidden under the soundbar hinge.

What's gaming like on a dual-screen laptop?

I wasn't worried at all about the laptop properly running some of my favorite lightweight games. Think Balatro, Vampire Survivors, and Rimworld.

I was, however, interested to see what I could do with these titles regarding dual-screen play.

I imagined stretching certain games across both screens simultaneously would work quite well, especially those easily controlled by touch or an active pen.

Here's where I ran into my first snag.

Unlike NVIDIA's "Surround" and AMD's "Eyefinity" monitor tools that allow you to combine multiple displays into one — tools often used by racing and flight sim enthusiasts — Intel's Arc graphics software does not offer the same option.

Thinking maybe Lenovo stole the option for its own settings, I checked the Vantage and UserCenter apps, to no avail. The best Intel support page I could find details monitor extension, but that was no help.

I resigned myself to doing it the old-fashioned way, by dragging game windows across the two displays and hoping they'd stay put. This method turned out to be quite effective.

I started with Balatro, as I felt like it'd be the least compromised by the sizeable gap between the displays.

Despite the split down the middle, I spent about an hour enjoying myself while building hands and collecting Jokers. I used the included active pen without issue.

The dual-screen window snapped into place along the borders, and although it left the taskbar and window top visible, I didn't notice once I started gaming.

Next, I gave Rimworld and Vampire Survivors a shot using both screens simultaneously.

Unfortunately, the screen split is just too large to be effective in these games. Rimworld edged on being suitable thanks to the slower gameplay, but Vampire Survivors and its frenetic action were a hard no.

Instead, I set the Yoga Book 9i up on its stand, keeping the game on the top display and a podcast on the bottom. As someone who usually has two displays on the go when gaming on my desktop PC, I felt right at home here.

Working from a full battery with Lenovo's adaptive performance profile selected and the screens at about 350 nits, I played Vampire Survivors for 30 minutes (with the second screen streaming the podcast).

The battery dropped approximately 10% in that half hour of light gaming. Not bad considering the PC is going full tilt with both screens and the CPU/GPU under pressure. That works out to roughly five hours of game time on battery.

I measured about 38°C at the exhaust vent and about 35°C on the bottom panel hotspot during the 30 minutes of gameplay.

Heat only really becomes an issue when the laptop is plugged in. The battery charges quickly, creating extra work for the thermal system. I'll have more info to share in my full review.

As for system noise, the fan wasn't audible over the game and podcast audio. I had to get my ear up close to check if it was running.

How does the Yoga Book 9i perform with more demanding games?

The Intel Arc 140T integrated graphics work very well for lighter titles, but that's not exactly breaking news.

Satisfied with the single- and dual-screen gaming experience with Balatro, Vampire Survivors, and Rimworld, I next downloaded the perfectly rated DOOM: The Dark Ages and Forza Horizon 5 to see what the GPU- and CPU-intensive games would do to the Yoga Book 9.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get DOOM past the loading screen for the main menu. A replicable bug caused it to crash each time I loaded in.

Forza Horizon 5, in all its optimized glory, was another story. It ran smoothly at an FHD+ resolution, averaging 48 FPS in the in-game benchmark.

That was with a High preset and ray tracing set to medium, with XeSS set to Quality. The game looks incredible on the OLED display this way.

I adjusted some of the graphics settings and tweaked XeSS to increase frame rates above 60, but I didn't notice a significant difference in visual fidelity. The displays, of course, have a 120Hz refresh rate, so there's plenty of room to improve frame rates.

Fans are louder when running a game like Forza, but they're never screaming.

Keep in mind that the Yoga Book 9i's Wi-Fi 7 wireless standard is ideal for game streaming. So even if your favorite games don't run natively on the laptop, you can always check out Xbox Cloud Gaming or GeForce Now.

Have you tried gaming on a dual-screen laptop?

Next stop on my journey with the Yoga Book 9i 14" (Gen 10) is in-depth testing for a full review, but I'm glad I took some extra time to see how good a dual-screen laptop feels for gaming.

I love the dual-screen split for Balatro, and I'm impressed that the thin laptop can offer such a great Forza Horizon 5 experience. Watching podcasts while gaming? Also easy.

What do you think about gaming on a dual-screen laptop? Have you tried it? Do you have any tips to improve my experience? What about some suggestions for the full review testing?

Be sure to let me know in the comments section below!

Intel released an update for its "Game On" driver for Arc desktop and laptop graphics hardware to version 32.0.101.6795 over Memorial Day Weekend — available to download directly from Intel.com.

The patch notes are slim, but by no means insignificant, and come in two parts: First, launch day for Elden Ring Nightreign is fast approaching for PC players on May 29, and Intel is providing official support for FromSoftware's co-op player-versus-environment parallel universe spinoff with this update.

Alongside Elden Ring, Intel Arc users will be ready for the recently previewed multiplayer survival game Dune: Awakening, which launches on June 10, and F1 25 even earlier on May 30 for high-speed sim racing fans.

Second, there's a little treat for fans of the multiplayer open-world action RPG Monster Hunter Wilds, which has gradually received patches from its developers to address performance issues and now has the same treatment at a hardware level.

According to Intel, running Monster Hunter Wilds at 1080p on an Intel Arc B-Series "Battlemage" graphics card with this updated driver will increase your average frames-per-second (FPS) by around 9%, or by 6% if you play at 1440p. So, that's only an extra ~5 FPS if you're already hitting 60 FPS, but it's better than nothing for a demanding PC game and a good reason to upgrade.

Are you tempted to switch to Intel Arc yet?

Intel's continued (if expected) efforts to support the latest and greatest PC games are appreciated, but the performance bumps for titles that already struggle to run on modest hardware are particularly encouraging.

Sure, there's a reason that Intel Arc graphics primarily advertise to the 1080p and 1440p bracket, given their penchant for mid-range hardware like the B580 and B570 "Battlemage" cards and my last-gen favorite, the plucky A750 from its "Alchemist" range.

Nevertheless, it lends more credibility to handhelds using modern Arc mobile graphics, like the highly praised (if hard to find) MSI Claw 8+ AI, when Intel's driver team puts extra effort into improving framerates on its affordable hardware with new driver releases.

I've seen firsthand how Intel Arc graphics have improved since the launch of its first discrete A-Series graphics, and I'm eager to see the trend continue, particularly if NVIDIA and AMD are determined to release cards with only 8GB of VRAM.

All I'm really craving is for more high-profile OEMs to adopt Arc mobile graphics in new PC gaming handhelds, and for Intel to expand its B-Series cards into the high-end with some more powerful models. We'll see.

Patch notes

Gaming Highlights

Intel Game On Driver support on Intel Arc B-series, A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel Core Ultra with built-in Intel Arc GPUs for:

• Dune: Awakening
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• F1 25

Game performance improvements on Intel Arc B-series Graphics GPUs versus Intel 32.0.101.6793 software driver for:

• Monster Hunter Wilds (DX12)
  • Up to 9% average FPS uplift at 1080p
  • Up to 6% average FPS uplift at 1440p

Creators that take advantage of the latest Thunderbolt docks and accessories could soon have a new GPU to match their setup. Intel and Sparkle showed off "Project Thundermage" at Computex this year. The Intel Arc GPU concept from Sparkle could — ahem — spark new life into the Thunderbolt 5 ecosystem.

Thunderbolt 5 has been around for over a year, but there aren't a lot of devices that take full advantage of it yet. While you can find PCs that support Thunderbolt 5, such as the Razer Blade 18, adoption of the technology has been slow.

That could change with "Project Thundermage" and other devices shown at Computex this year. During that event, several eGPUs were shown off that support Thunderbolt 5.

Sparkle's GPU supports data transfer speeds of up to 80 Gbps (bidirectional). That large bandwidth also makes it possible to drive an 8K display at 60Hz while delivering 27W of power.

X user @akiba_ten_M shared images of the GPU presentation during Computex. VideoCardz then added further context.

What is Thunderbolt 5?

Thunderbolt 5 is a new standard for device connectivity. It has several improvements over Thunderbolt 4, most notably a significantly higher data bandwidth.

While Thunderbolt 4 ports and cables max out at 40 Gbps transfer speeds, Thunderbolt 5 doubles that bandwidth to 80 Gbps. Thunderbolt 5 can also push transmission to 120 Gbps at the cost of lowering its receiving rate to 40 Gbps.

That larger bandwidth opens the door to faster data transfer, better eGPU support, and the use of multiple 8K displays.

Creators are one of the target audiences for Thunderbolt 5 because devices that support the standard support up to three 4K displays at 144Hz or two 8K displays.

Support for 540Hz also makes Thunderbolt 5 a good option for gamers with high-end hardware and the best gaming PCs.

Thunderbolt 5 can also clear up clutter and simplify a desk setup because the standard requires 140W of charging with optional support of up to 240W.

Some powerful laptops require more than 100W for charging, which meant you needed multiple cables to keep your PC topped up while connected to an external display.

Thunderbolt 5 is better than Thunderbolt 4 in several key areas, but the newer standard is more for enthusiasts. Even a year after launching, Thunderbolt 5 is rarely seen in new devices.

VideoCardz notes that Project Thundermage appears to be built for compact systems used by creators. The GPU could be part of a larger wave of Thunderbolt 5 devices to hit the market in the near future.

Intel revealed its Arc Battlemage desktop graphics cards in December 2024, and since their launch, the B580 and B570 have been almost perpetually sold out.

Why are they so popular? It comes down to price and performance.

The more powerful Arc B580 GPU with 12GB of VRAM debuted at a $249 MSRP, while the Arc B570 with 10GB debuted at $219. Demand and scalping have driven prices up, but they're still the best value on the market.

With enough power to handle an impressive 1440p experience, Intel is providing gamers with a couple of stellar mid-range GPUs in a market saturated with expensive AMD RDNA 4 and NVIDIA RTX 50-series cards.

An Intel Battlemage B770 GPU could be on the way

It's been confirmed by Intel that a new Arc PRO A60 GPU with 24GB of VRAM will be shown off at Computex 2025, but there could be more.

Videocardz recently picked up on some social media banter from the Intel team, in which it seems very likely that we'll soon see an Arc B770 model.

While there's still no official confirmation, Intel is surely looking to expand its Battlemage lineup further after the massive success it's had with the initial two entries.

As mentioned by Videocardz, rumors point to Intel having two GPU chips in the works. The BMG-G21 is found in the B570 and B580, while a larger BMG-G31 is still hanging around, waiting for a home.

That larger GPU chip could be what's coming to the Arc B770, if it's indeed real.

If so, NVIDIA's RTX 5060 launch on May 19 and AMD's expected RX 9060 XT reveal at Computex could be placed on the back burner for many value-conscious PC gamers.

Why Intel's rumored Arc B770 is worth waiting for

Looking at Intel's current Battlemage lineup, the speedier Arc B580 compares very well to the RTX 4060, delivering similar performance at 1080p and 1440p at a better price.

Its 12GB of VRAM is also crucial at a time when 8GB of VRAM (which the RTX 4060 has) is shown to struggle in many modern titles.

NVIDIA's upcoming $299 RTX 5060 is already raising eyebrows for some of the same reasons.

First, NVIDIA's lack of driver support before the 5060's launch means there won't be any reviews on launch day. Second, its 8GB VRAM limit is worrisome.

While NVIDIA excuses itself by claiming it wants to take time to get the launch drivers right, it probably doesn't mind avoiding potentially negative press before PC enthusiasts have a chance to buy the card.

The 8GB RTX 5060 Ti has been roasted by many reviewers due to its VRAM limit, and I don't see why that will change for the 8GB RTX 5060.

Of course, NVIDIA's DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Gen is an impressive piece of tech, and it's a big reason why the RTX 50-series GPUs are so popular. How the 5060 handles it will be revealed soon.

Although there aren't many details available yet for the rumored Intel Arc B770, I expect it will be positioned to compete with the RTX 5060 and, perhaps, the RTX 5060 Ti.

If Intel continues its current Battlemage trend, the B770 could launch with 16GB+ of VRAM, plenty of power for 1440p, and a more affordable price. It's all speculation at this point.

How the upcoming AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT fits into the equation also remains to be seen, but the bottom line is that I don't recommend rushing out to buy the RTX 5060 on launch day.

Wait to see what Intel and AMD have to offer in the mid-range market before making a final decision.

It's a message I feel I've repeated too often at this point, but it's simply the reality of the current GPU market, where high demand and limited stock lead to rushed decisions.

Earlier this week, Intel pushed an update for its "Game On" driver for Arc desktop and laptop graphics hardware to version 32.0.101.6793 — available to download directly from Intel.com.

It includes support for one gigantic PC release and another unreleased game that I admittedly had never heard of until today. First up, the phenomenal DOOM: The Dark Ages is ready for its May 15 release (or today, if you pay for the Premium Edition), followed by "Japanese Drift Master", set for a May 21 drop to presumably excited arcade racing fanatics.

If you're already running one of Intel's current-gen Arc B-Series "Battlemage" desktop GPUs, like the affordable B570 or B580, and you were hoping for some follow-up patch notes for other titles, then you're out of luck.

Besides the added launch day support for DOOM: The Dark Ages and Japanese Drift Master, there's nothing else new for Intel Arc owners, even if you're using last-gen Arc A-Series "Alchemist" cards or integrated graphics in Core Ultra Series 2 (Lunar Lake) laptops and even Intel Arc-powered handhelds like the MSI Claw 8 AI+.

Yeah, bad news for the handful of lucky gamers who have been able to actually buy an MSI Claw; there aren't any FPS-boosting patches in this GPU driver update.

Are you out there, Intel Arc fans?

It's great to see Intel prepping its Arc GPUs so far ahead of schedule for the big release of DOOM: The Dark Ages, even if its mid-range Battlemage GPUs might have to stick to modest graphical settings at around 1440p. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited, but it'll be interesting to see how well these more affordable GPUs can handle the rapid-fire action of the latest demonic FPS from id Software.

If its predecessors are anything to go by, then Intel Arc users could be in luck, because DOOM (2016) and DOOM: Eternal were pretty fantastically optimized for a broad range of PC gaming hardware, even running quite well on earlier handhelds like Valve's Steam Deck.

I wish I could offer the same praise for the MSI Claw as the Steam Deck, but it feels like gold dust in the world of PC gaming handhelds, still listed as "coming soon" at Best Buy. I'm once again asking Intel to partner with at least more than one mainstream OEM for a handheld — especially if high-end discrete Arc GPUs aren't happening any time soon.

Patch notes

Gaming Highlights

Intel Game On Driver support on Intel Arc B-series, A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel Core Ultra with built-in Intel Arc GPUs for:

• DOOM: The Dark Ages
• Japanese Drift Master

(No, seriously, that's it.)

Yesterday, on April 23, Intel updated its "Game On" driver for Arc & Iris Xe graphics hardware, moving to version 32.0.101.6737 — now available for download directly from Intel.com.

The new driver officially supports the blockbuster re-release of Bethesda's instant hit RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on Intel's Arc B-Series "Battlemage" desktop GPUs, including the budget-friendly B570 and B580 and the last-gen Arc A-Series "Alchemist" cards, like the RTX 3060-challenging Intel Arc A750 and sub-$200 Arc A580.

Plus, Intel includes support for integrated GPUs used in Core Ultra Series 1 (Meteor Lake) and recent Core Ultra Series 2 (Lunar Lake) mobile processors, but I'd temper your expectations based on The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered PC system requirements and specs.

Even in my own experience, I'm seeing stuttering with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor paired with an NVIDIA "Founders Edition" RTX 4090 graphics card — but this is something I expect Bethesda to address with game patches.

Game-specific benefits for "Infinity Nikki" (me neither) on Battlemage GPUs deliver up to 7% average FPS uplift at 1080p or up to 5% average FPS uplift at 1440p with "Ultra" settings, but this "gacha" game remains listed as "Coming soon" on Steam, so it's not particularly exciting (at least not for me, after I had to look it up).

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 comes to Intel Arc

Besides the overwhelming hype for Virtuos' The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Intel also adds support for the "certified banger" from Game Pass, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, with its latest Arc GPU driver.

It's undoubtedly been overshadowed by Bethesda's "shadow drop", but this hybrid RPG still stands as "one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of the year". If you're running a capable Intel Arc GPU, now's your chance to try Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, currently on sale for $34.79 at CDKeys.

Patch notes

Gaming highlights

Intel Game On Driver support on Intel Arc B-series, A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel Core Ultra with built-in Intel Arc GPUs for:

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

Game performance improvements on Intel Arc B-series Graphics GPUs versus Intel 32.0.101.6734 software driver for:

• Infinity Nikki (DX12)
  • Up to 7% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings
  • Up to 5% average FPS uplift at 1440p with Ultra settings

The latest Intel Arc graphics driver, version 32.0.101.6734, is available to download directly from Intel.com after its release on Tuesday, April 8, with an interesting changelog. Compared to recent drivers that improved performance on games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, this new release is notable for its lack of "Game On" improvements for any PC game whatsoever.

Instead, this new driver focuses (albeit in a vague fashion) on the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and MSI Claw 7 AI+ handheld gaming PCs. Since they are (currently) the only handhelds that use Intel's Ultra 200V Series processors, the included power management optimizations should improve framerate pacing at "lower power" modes on each Claw.

In our Claw 8 AI+ review, we note that MSI's flagship handheld can switch between 8W, 17W, and 30W modes for its TDP (Thermal Design Power) profile by a user's choice, or allow its "AI Engine" to adjust between them automatically.

While a lower power setting can prevent the speed of battery drain, it can also lead to performance problems like stuttering, which Intel's new driver claims to remedy.

Of course, this new Intel Arc graphics driver is still compatible with other compatible mobile processors from Core 11th Gen to 14th Gen, Core Ultra, and even discrete desktop graphics like A-Series "Alchemist" and B-Series "Battlemage" cards like the budget-friendly Intel Arc B570 and B580.

Is the MSI Claw affected by the recent tariffs?

Since the highest tariff percentages have been applied back and forth between the United States and China, it's reasonable to expect that gaming handhelds made in the East will be affected, if only on production costs.

We've already seen the MSI Claw 7 AI+ go up from $799 to $829 in our handheld price tracker, and the Claw 8 AI+ may soon follow suit.

You can follow our tariff live blog for all the latest breaking news related to PC gaming, including handhelds, laptops, and broader tech categories, to find out what the latest percentage changes are (if any).

Patch notes

Highlights

Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• Power management optimization for Intel Core Ultra 200V series (codename Lunar Lake) handheld gaming devices for improved performance and frame pacing with lower power modes.

Greetings, Windows Central readers. I hope you're having a great day; it's the weekend, after all.

The Windows Central team has been having a lot of fun reading and responding to your comments in our awesome new comments system, and I'd like to take advantage to ask YOU a question.

What graphics card do you have in your PC and why?

It's so far been a busy 2025 for anyone who follows graphics card (GPU) news.

NVIDIA revealed its new "Blackwell" generation of RTX 50-series GPUs at CES 2025 in January, and in the following months, it launched the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070.

AMD played the waiting game, pulling its Radeon RX 9000 "RDNA 4" CES presentation at the last moment.

We finally got an official RDNA 4 announcement on February 28, and the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 launched on March 6, 2025.

I can't forget about Intel, which unveiled its Arc B-series "Battlemage" GPUs in December 2024.

Intel's latest cards hit shelves on December 13 and quickly sold out everywhere thanks to their bargain pricing and strong 1440p performance.

While the GPU news surrounding AMD and Intel has been mostly positive, NVIDIA has been receiving flak for a number of issues surrounding its Blackwell GPUs, including melting power cables, missing ROPs, faulty drivers, underbaked AI tools, and just general performance (as is the case with the RTX 5070's harsh reviews).

The GPU market is in flux in 2025

The GPU market is currently going through a shift. NVIDIA is now focused on producing 50-series GPUs, making 40-series cards much harder to find at anywhere near a reasonable price.

AMD's Radeon RX 9000 GPUs are nearly impossible to find despite promises of plenty of stock, and many people are waiting for the latest hardware rather than investing in one of the RDNA 3 cards that remain relatively plentiful.

👉 Related: NVIDIA RTX 5080 Founders Edition review

Intel's Battlemage GPUs, well, they're such a good bargain that they continue to be elusive months after launch.

Bottom line? It's tough out there for anyone trying to land a new GPU.

In my case, I'm waiting for an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT to replace my aging RX 6800. Unfortunately, sourcing one in Canada hasn't been easy, and I'm considering picking up a 5070 Ti since they seem to be more readily available. Go figure.

I want to hear from you!

Our new comments section requires a sign-up before you can post, but the process is quick and easy.

From the mobile or desktop site, you can hit "Sign In" at the top of the page, which will open up a registration portal.

The commenting system is straightforward and modern, and it no longer logs you out nearly as often as our previous system.

With all this in mind, I'm curious to know the current GPU status of our readers. While my main question — What GPU do you use and why? — is quite broad, I have some extra input on interesting tidbits I'd like to find out.

• Do you use a desktop or a laptop? Pre-built or DIY?
• What is your GPU usually used for? Gaming, creation, AI, etc.
• Are you considering a brand change for your next upgrade?
• What's the main feature that would make you upgrade?
• What's the main feature keeping you tied to one brand?
• Why did you choose one GPU over another?
• Are you OK with the newfound reliance on AI to boost gaming performance?
• What price do you aim to pay for a new GPU?

You certainly don't have to stick to my ideas, and I urge you to let your opinion be known in the comments below!

On March 19, Intel updated its "Game On" driver for Arc & Iris Xe graphics hardware, moving to version 32.0.101.6651 non-WHQL (not tested by Windows Hardware Quality Labs but still signed by Microsoft) — now available for download directly from Intel.com.

The new driver supports Intel's latest Arc B-Series "Battlemage" graphics cards, like the ultra-affordable B570 and B580 that target 1440p gaming alongside previous-generation Arc A-Series "Alchemist" cards and integrated GPUs found in Core Ultra Series 1 and recent Core Ultra Series 2 mobile processors.

Game-specific benefits include launch support for the refined appeals of Assassin's Creed: Shadows, meaning Intel Arc owners can jump right into the game today. Still, the most significant perk comes to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 fans who upgrade from driver version 32.0.101.6647.

FPS boosts for Black Ops 6 on Intel Arc B-Series

If you're running an Intel Arc B570 or B580 GPU in your gaming desktop PC, whether a first-party card or from an OEM like Sparkle or ASRock, Intel boasts "up to 15% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Extreme settings" in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 or "up to 12%" if you bump the resolution to 1440p.

Unfortunately, it does come with a caveat for those using Intel Arc A-Series GPUs like the RTX 3060-rivaling A750, in that Black Ops 6 can render "darker than expected" shadows in various areas of the campaign when using DirectX 12.

Fans of Warzone 2.0 might run into similar problems with DX12 on Intel Arc B-Series desktop cards and integrated Core Ultra Series 2 chips as "corruptions on water areas in certain scenarios" are reported under a list of known issues.

As far as driver bugs go, these are relatively minor and shouldn't be too distracting to most players, at least if the water corruption bug doesn't appear in multiplayer maps — something we'll try and check first-hand.

Patch notes

Gaming highlights

Intel Game On Driver support on Intel Arc B-series, A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel Core Ultra with built-in Intel Arc GPUs for:

• Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Game performance improvements on Intel Arc B-series Graphics GPUs versus Intel 32.0.101.6647 software driver for:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (DX12)
  • Up to 15% average FPS uplift at 1080p with Extreme settings
  • Up to 12% average FPS uplift at 1440p with Extreme settings

Fixed issues

Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

• Black Myth: Wukong (DX12) may experience application crash while running benchmark with Full Ray Tracing turned on.

Known issues

Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

• Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 (DX12) may exhibit corruptions on water areas in certain scenarios.
• MLPerf may exhibit intermittent errors when running on multi-GPU system configurations. It is recommended to disable integrated
• GPU as a workaround.
• Topaz Labs Photo AI may exhibit corruptions with certain image enhancement operations.
• SPECapc for Maya 2024 may experience intermittent application freeze during benchmark.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience an application crash while running the benchmark.
• Adobe Lightroom Classic may experience lower than expected performance. Workaround is to set recommended preferences in the application
  • Under Edit, Preferences, Performance options, choose Graphics Processor as “Custom”
  • Select “Use GPU for Display”, “Use GPU for Image Processing” and “Use GPU for Export” options.

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (DX12) may exhibit darker than expected shadows in certain campaign scenarios.
• Topaz Gigapixel AI may experience intermittent crash while exporting images.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience an application crash while running the benchmark

Intel Core Ultra Series 1 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience errors intermittently with benchmark preset set to Extended

Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc™ GPUs:

• Adobe Premiere Pro may exhibit corruption in the output video after performing 8K AV1 Encode.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience errors intermittently with benchmark preset set to Extended.
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered(DX11) may experience intermittent crash during gameplay.
• Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 (DX12) may exhibit corruptions on water areas in certain scenarios.
• GFXBench benchmark may experience application crash in certain scenarios.

Intel just released its XeSS 2 SDK for game developers, including improvements to its existing Super Resolution upscaling technology alongside in-house answers to frame generation and low latency technology already championed by AMD FSR 4 and NVIDIA DLSS 4.

Publishing a separate Xe Super Sampling 2 developer guide, Intel has uploaded its XeSS 2 SDK to GitHub for developers of all abilities to integrate the game performance-boosting technology into their projects.

To speed things along for indie developers and established studios alike, Intel now provides ready-made XeSS 2 plugins for industry-leading Unreal Engine and the more lightweight Unity engine.

Intel still encourages manual implementation of Xe Super Sampling Super Resolution (XeSS-SR) to help developers understand how its API works, followed by Xe Super Sampling Frame Generation (XeSS-FG) and Xe Low Latency (XeLL) to help increase FPS (frames per second) performance in their games.

What is Intel XeSS?

Intel develops its Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) technology to help boost framerates in PC games by utilizing a combination of AI-powered upscaling methods and, now with XeSS 2, an introduction of in-between frame generation and input latency reduction is exclusive to Intel Arc GPUs.

While the new additions to XeSS 2 run "most efficiently on Intel Arc A- and B-series GPUs and on Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 2) with built-in Intel Arc 100V and 100T series GPUs," the basic Super Resolution feature is still compatible with various discrete and integrated graphics hardware from other vendors alongside previous-generation Intel iGPU options.

Super Resolution (SR) refers to AI-powered resolution scaling, a well-established rendering technique with similar iterations seen in FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling.)

Essentially, this visual trick allows your PC game to render at a size lower than your screen's native display and upscales the image with various anti-aliasing and sharpening techniques to help smooth jagged edges and keep text legible in the UI.

XeSS-FG + XeLL = The killer difference

While it's great to see Intel iterate on its Super Resolution technology, something that already boosts performance in visually demanding PC games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and Forza Horizon 5, the addition of Frame Generation and Low Latency excites me more.

It might be a divisive topic for some PC gamers, as the concept of generating "fake frames" can introduce issues with graphical artifacts on fast-moving sequences and often around complex objects like foliage and real-time shadows.

However, the benefits will appeal to players running low-to-mid-range hardware, like the budget-friendly Intel Arc "Battlemage" B570 and B580 desktop graphics cards and whatever we might see in future "Celestial" C-Series GPUs.

Besides, visual oddities are generally ironed out over time with graphics driver updates, and the XeSS 2 suite includes an "Inspector for XeSS" app to help developers pre-emptively identify these bugs before adding the tech to their games.

If your desktop, gaming laptop, or PC gaming handheld can manage to run a modern game at around the 30 FPS mark with a reduced internal resolution, XeSS 2 will be able to increase the visual fidelity to meet your display's native setting and increase the perceived frame rate, offsetting introduced input latency with XeSS-LL.

Great news for PC gaming handhelds

A broad range of PC gaming hardware will benefit from XeSS 2 integration, but handheld users stand to gain the most significant improvements. It should be an easy selling point for the new MSI Claw AI+ handhelds, but they still haven't seen broad availability in the US. Still, the basic Super Resolution (SR) technology is totally compatible with alternatives like our favorite, the ASUS ROG Ally X, so any performance boosts to the SR code will help there.

Nevertheless, I'm experiencing a particularly personal grievance that Intel Core Ultra Series 2 chips haven't seen saturation in the PC handheld market outside of the encumbered MSI Claw, but it's great to see XeSS 2 make its way to developers and bolster the appeal of Arc GPUs.

I'm a huge advocate for Intel Arc as an underappreciated underdog in the GPU space, and I want consumers to have more avenues to try it as a third option against the ultra-expensive options from NVIDIA and mid-range champs at AMD.

If XeSS 2 proves its worth and further demonstrates Core Ultra mobile chips as a power-efficient option for PC handhelds, we might see more options from other OEMs — Razer and Alienware; I'm still looking at you.

For now, PC gamers will have to wait while developers integrate Intel's answer to Frame Generation and Low Latency tech with XeSS 2, but the Unreal Engine and Unity plugins will undoubtedly help the process along. Whenever I get the chance to test the XeSS 2 upgrades on real-world hardware, you'll soon hear about my findings.

Personal computers have been rapidly evolving over the last few years, largely due to increased competition in the silicon space between AMD, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and industry leader Intel.

Intel's complacency in the past gave its opposition space to expand, but now the company is firing back with the aggressively updated Intel Core Ultra family. We've been impressed by the latest Intel chips in thin-and-light ultrabooks, but Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) is finally coming to more powerful laptops, workstations, and gaming machines. Intel and MSI sent me one of the first laptops to rock the new Intel Core Ultra 9 285H to try it out.

After all my testing, I'm confident that few are going to be disappointed by the new H and HX-series Intel Core Ultra processors. This CPU, at least, is both powerful and efficient whether you're plugged in or not, and its integrated GPU makes gaming possible even without more expensive hardware. I'm just confused by Intel's approach to AI with its more expensive, higher-end chips, especially when both AMD and Qualcomm seem to have the right idea. It'll be interesting to see how this pans out.

This review was made possible thanks to review samples provided by Intel. Intel and MSI had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285H review: What is it?

• The Core Ultra 9 285H is the flagship in Intel's new H-series line.
• It's a 16-core processor meant for more powerful laptops and workstations.

Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) debuted with the V-series, which we've already seen plenty of in premium thin-and-light devices like the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024) I reviewed. Series 2 also marked Intel Core Ultra's debut on desktops with the powerful K-series. Now, Intel is massively expanding the lineup with the affordable U-series, powerful H-series, and top-tier HX-series mobile chips, as well as the more affordable T-series on desktops.

That's a lot of series and a lot of SKUs in each series to make the whole mess more confusing. What you need to know about the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H and its less impressive Ultra 7 and Ultra 5 siblings is that they're designed for laptops that demand greater performance than the V-series can offer. Expect to see the H-series in creator-focused laptops, enterprise workstations, and even compact gaming laptops. This family can stand on its own, but Intel designed it and the HX-series with discrete graphics in mind.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285H is a Central Processing Unit (CPU) that boasts 16 cores (and 16 threads) split between 6 performance cores, 8 efficiency cores, and 2 low-power efficiency cores. You're looking at a base frequency of 1-2.9GHz, with Intel Turbo Boost technology supporting max frequences of 2.5-5.4GHz. Supporting the CPU is a 24MB cache, as well as an Intel Arc 140T integrated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) with 8 Xe2 graphics cores and an Intel AI Boost Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with up to 13 TOPS of AI computational power. As a system, the Core Ultra 9 285H draws 35-45W of power, with a peak of 115W when turbo boosting.

If any of that sounds unfamiliar to you, don't worry — keep reading for the real-world reasons you should or shouldn't consider a laptop powered by this chipset.

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Intel Core Ultra 9 285H review: The good

• The Core Ultra 9 285H is a reliable performer with everyday computing.
• It also boasts one of the best integrated GPUs we've tested.
• Efficiency seems to be solid, with casual computing sipping power.

In order to test the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, Intel sent me an MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo (B2HMG) sample, as well as an MSI Prestige A16 AI+ (A3HMG) powered by an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 for comparisons' sake. I'm not entirely sold on Intel positioning the Ryzen AI 9 365 as this chipset's direct competitor, though; it seems a bit odd to take aim with a 16-core CPU at a 10-core CPU that has been competing with Intel's 8-core V-series chips up until this point.

I'd argue that the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 inside laptops like the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 (2024) that I reviewed is a more appropriate comparison, even if Intel would rather we compare its HX-series to that chip. Sharing the "HX" moniker isn't enough to be rivals, though, especially when AMD just announced more powerful Ryzen AI MAX chips that compete more directly with Intel's new HX-series offerings. On top of that, these two MSI Prestige laptops differ far more than just their processor of choice. Different designs, displays, thermal management systems, components, and more make it difficult to take any one-to-one comparisons at face value.

While we're on the topic, though, let's go ahead and get those comparisons out of the way.

Benchmarks tell only a fraction of the complete story, but these graphs can give you a quick idea of where these chips stand in relation to each other. Sure enough, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H is stronger and faster than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365... In everything but encoding a 4K video in the H.265 mkv format (where we often see AMD beat out similarly specced Intel devices).

Some of these results are likely influenced by the AMD-powered laptop running a significantly slower SSD (and other potential differences in its hardware), but overall, the Core Ultra 9 285H makes a strong showing. That's especially true in single-core performance, which is incredibly important for day-to-day smoothness and can impact efficiency. Having so many cores obviously helps the Core Ultra 9 285H keep up with even last-gen gaming laptops running HX-series chips on multi-core performance, too.

Despite boasting 6 fewer cores, though, the Ryzen AI 9 365 is never far behind. The biggest deficit is in the Geekbench 6 multi-core test, where AMD's offering drops 17% in comparison to Intel. The new H-series flagship isn't leaping past AMD's offerings, but the Core Ultra 9 285H stays competitive with the best on the market currently and doesn't have any glaring weaknesses. Synthetic testing is done, and Intel is off to a solid (if not exceptional) start.

So, how does the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H fare when you're actually using your laptop? Really good, honestly. Exceptional single-core performance helps make day-to-day operation as smooth as silk. Zipping around Windows 11, browsing the web, and using Microsoft Office — I never had any complaints, and this MSI Prestige 16 has done a fair job staying cool and silent during casual usage. Booting up, waking from sleep, and logging in via Windows Hello has also been fast and seamless.

Push the hardware further, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H can get very hot... But not so hot that I couldn't touch the MSI Prestige 16. It also never noticeably slowed down, no matter what I did, and it's no slouch when it comes to multi-core performance. By far, the most impressive part of this chipset — and the only category in which it definitively steps ahead of AMD and Qualcomm — is the performance of its integrated GPU.

• Forza Horizon 5 — 47 FPS (High preset, 1200p resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, v-sync enabled, Intel XeSS disabled)
• Gears 5 — 51 FPS (High preset, 1200p resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, v-sync enabled)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — 52 FPS (Minimum preset, 1200p resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, v-sync enabled, Intel XeSS enabled)

If I had lowered some settings, it would've been pretty easy to achieve a stable 60 frames-per-second in both Forza Horizon 5 and Gears 5. It wouldn't have been the prettiest, but the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H's GPU competes with the best gaming handhelds on this front. I also tested how well the Core Ultra 9 285H manages its performance over time by looping 3DMark's Time Spy benchmark 25 consecutive times, and it managed a framerate stability of 99.5%. That's a great score.

Finally, there's efficiency — Intel has made some big claims about how efficient it has made its Core Ultra (Series 2) platform. A 45W, 16-core x86 processor may not instill confidence on paper, but the Core Ultra 9 285H really is more efficient than I expected. I set the laptop to the "Balanced" performance profile and 200nits screen brightness, then ran it through Procyon's one-hour battery consumption benchmark. An hour of looping a standard Microsoft Office workload only drained 4% of the battery, and an hour of looping an HD video at 50% volume drained 6%.

I won't bother comparing that efficiency to the MSI Prestige A16 and its AMD chip, though, because that laptop doesn't behave the way I expect. Under the same conditions, the Ryzen AI 9 365 drained 10% in both tests... Except that doesn't quite track because the ASUS ProArt P16 (2024) that I reviewed also drained around 10% in this test — and that's with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, a 4K OLED display, and an active NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 discrete GPU.

What I can compare is performance off the charger. Past mobile chipsets have been criticized (especially on the AMD side) for excessive throttling on battery power, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series maintains nearly identical performance regardless of its charging state.

Recent Intel and AMD chipsets don't struggle with this, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H is no exception. Single-core CPU performance, in general, remained unchanged on and off the charger, while multi-core and GPU performance took small hits but not enough to be noticed in actual usage. The story is the same for the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365-powered laptop, but the gaps are a little smaller, so AMD does actually win this fight.

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Intel Core Ultra 9 285H review: The bad

• The entire H and HX-series looks odd when placed above the V-series.
• That's because these chipsets' NPUS aren't Copilot+ PC compatible.
• This odd move leaves AMD especially a lot of room to maneuver.

I was there when Intel announced the new H and HX-series Intel Core Ultra processors. During the keynote, Intel brought on a Microsoft executive to talk about Copilot+ PCs and how important Intel is to the AI revolution occurring within the PC market, then promptly stopped mentioning Microsoft's flagship AI platform the moment it began announcing new chipsets. Oh, Intel made sure to talk about AI a lot with Intel Core Ultra H and HX-series, including mentioning the addition of an NPU, but it was all about platform AI computational power.

I mention this because not a single laptop running an Intel Core Ultra H or HX-series chip will be a Copilot+ PC, and that's because the Core Ultra 9 285H and all its siblings are limited to a 13 TOPS NPU. To put that into perspective, being a Copilot+ PC on the cutting edge of all Microsoft's AI investments in Windows requires an NPU with 40 or more TOPS of AI computational power. Right now, that includes Intel's Core Ultra V-series... the entire Qualcomm Snapdragon X series, and the AMD Ryzen AI series. Yes, that includes the new ultra-affordable Snapdragon X and AMD's most budget-friendly chips like the Ryzen AI 5 340.

For Intel to announce two premium series for more powerful and specialized laptops that flat-out can't support Windows 11's best AI features moving forward is wild. Don't get me wrong, the Core Ultra 9 285H can still handle AI tasks just fine with its GPU, and laptops with discrete GPUs will have even fewer problems, but the point of an NPU is to be able to handle smaller or background AI tasks far more efficiently than any GPU ever could. Either way, when it comes to how artificial intelligence actually matters to regular people on their laptops, "platform TOPS" means nothing — because you're not going to be using the entire platform for solely AI tasks.

The fact of the matter is that AMD and Qualcomm are scaling superior AI capabilities to more price ranges, while Intel is restricting its Copilot+ PC-capable NPU to only the premium, efficient V-series at the moment. I may not personally care much about AI PCs, but I can't begin to claim that it's not incredibly important now, and even more so moving forward. It's a baffling move from Intel, and it gives AMD especially a lot of opportunity with its expanding Ryzen AI lineup.

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Intel Core Ultra 9 285H review: Final thoughts

You should consider this if ...

✅You specifically want an Intel-powered laptop

Look, I get it. At some point, it's simply tribalism, but many of us do have legitimate preferences with our technology and trust certain companies over others. AMD has been winning me over, but this is a fine Intel platform that, at the end of the day, gets the job done.

✅You want the best integrated GPU you can get

We don't know just how good AMD's Ryzen AI MAX platform will be, but right now, the new H and HX-series Intel Core Ultra chips boast the most powerful integrated GPU you're going to find anywhere. If you want efficient graphical prowess, this is a good place to start.

You should not consider this if ...

❌You want a laptop future-proofed for AI

I've no doubt the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H will run fantastically for years, but it's behind the times right now when it comes to supporting the latest and greatest AI features in Windows. If you want to stay on that cutting edge, only AMD can really help you in this category of device.

It's strange reviewing a mobile processor because you can't actually go out and buy the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H and shove it into the laptop of your dreams. If you're looking for specific information to help inform your next laptop purchasing decision, though, Intel hasn't taken back its dominance with the H and HX-series Intel Core Ultra chips, but it is (mostly) keeping up.

That caveat is because Intel can claim that the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H is designed with AI in mind as much as it wants, but it will never be inside a Copilot+ PC. There's no good reason for that, especially since the most expensive Intel-powered laptops are going to be those powered by these beefier, core-heavy chips. With AMD Ryzen AI impressing so much on nearly every front and Qualcomm continuing to push its ultra-efficient silicon into lower price ranges, I fear Intel may struggle to keep up if it doesn't inject some consistency into its product ranges.

If you're not concerned in the slightest about AI, though, don't worry about any of that. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285H is a very capable performer with an especially impressive iGPU, and it won't smash your battery to pieces to achieve that performance.

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Intel's processor division might have had its fair share of difficulties in the last year, but the same can't be said for its graphics cards. Intel announced its second-gen "Battlemage" desktop GPUs on December 4, 2024, and since then it's been surrounded by (mostly) good news.

The Arc B580 debuted on December 13 with a $249 price tag. In a GPU market dominated by NVIDIA and its pricey cards, Intel's Battlemage option sold out everywhere almost immediately. It received praise from countless tech journalists, and a majority of the initial reviews were very positive. Tom's Hardware gave it a perfect 5 stars, calling it "A spectacular success for Intel and a gateway to 1440p for gamers on a budget."

Since then there has been some rumbling about Arc B580 performance when paired with older CPUs, which I cover in more detail below. However, the general consensus remains positive, with the B580 now offering PC gamers an affordable option that can handle 1440p. With 12GB of VRAM on board, it's looking a lot more future-proof than even the NVIDIA RTX 4060 with 8GB.

With the sibling Arc B570 scheduled to launch on January 16 at $219, many are wondering if the B580 was a one-off success. This new performance leak is limited in scope, but it suggests that Intel could have another sellout on its hands.

Intel Arc B570 "Battlemage" leaks in Geekbench

First reported by Wccftech, Geekbench numbers from the upcoming Arc B570 GPU have leaked. It comes from X (formerly Twitter) user @GawroskiT, who spotted the Geekbench entry on January 12.

It's no surprise to see the Arc B570 sitting at about 10% less performance than the Arc B580; the former card is meant to be an even cheaper alternative that nevertheless retains 1440p capabilities. With a price that's roughly 12.8% lower than the B580, it seems like you're getting exactly what you pay for.

Visiting the Geekbench result page directly reveals more information. The test was run on a system using Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K CPU, an MSI MEG Z890 ACE motherboard, and 48GB of DDR5 RAM. Geekbench lists the Arc B570 as having 144 compute units, a 2,750MHz maximum frequency, and 9.64GB of VRAM.

These numbers align with what Intel has listed on its B570 product page, but the boost frequency at 2,750MHz is new information. Intel only lists a 2,500MHz base frequency on the page.

These Geekbench results are ultimately a small look at the B570's potential, and as we now know, Battlemage performance seems to differ greatly depending on the CPU with which you pair it.

What's up with Battlemage performance on older CPUs?

Intel's Battlemage launch was mostly surrounded with positive vibes, but it didn't take long for some performance drawbacks to surface. The general idea is that while modern CPUs don't affect the modern GPU negatively, performance wasn't measuring up when the B580 is paired with older chips.

Hardware Unboxed published a great video tackling the subject. It was believed at first to be an issue with CPUs that don't support Resizable BAR, which came to the forefront with Intel's 10th Gen and AMD's Zen 3 desktop CPUs.

However, as Hardware Unboxed discovered in testing older chips (like the Ryzen 5 2600 that can have Resizable BAR manually enabled), the Arc B580's drop in performance on older CPUs can't be solely blamed on a lack of the tech.

The ultimate conclusion of the Hardware Unboxed video is muddy. It doesn't seem like there's an easy answer as to why the GPU drops performance when it isn't paired with a modern CPU. There's clearly some sort of overhead issue plaguing the card, but how to fix it remains to be seen.

Hardware Unboxed followed up with a re-review of the Arc B580 alongside both the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Ryzen 5 5600, ultimately demonstrating that the cost per frame climbs slightly from about $4.38 to $4.80 when paired with the older CPU. Regardless, the Arc B580 remains one of the best cards on the market for budget shoppers. I'd normally suggest checking out some retailers to see what's in stock, but at the time of writing you won't find anything but scalpers demanding astronomical prices.

Intel is one of the biggest semiconductor players in the world, so every new generation of chipsets is bound to make a big splash. The latest, codename "Panther Lake," is a major launch even by Intel standards, thanks to an ambitious suite of upgrades and improvements.

Built on a brand-new processing node with some truly game-changing technologies, Intel Panther Lake is coming — and when it arrives, we'll all know it as Intel Core Ultra (Series 3). The latest Intel Core Ultra generation promises to be an exciting one, and there's a lot to discuss with it.

I've written about Panther Lake and what makes it exciting. I've covered my tour of the factory that makes Panther Lake possible. I've detailed the brand-new GPUs being paired with Panther Lake. I've even considered the future of gaming handhelds with Panther Lake inside. Well, now you can get all that information in one place — here's everything you need to know about Intel Core Ultra (Series 3).

What are Intel Panther Lake's specifications?

Intel hasn't revealed all the specific SKUs that will be released on the Panther Lake configuration, but we do know the three main configurations. You can find all of those specs below.

What is Intel 18A, and why is it important for Panther Lake?

Intel 18A is the processing node on which Panther Lake is built. It's a 2nm-class node, which means individual transistors in a processor (of which there are billions) are approximately two nanometers large. 18A is Intel's most advanced processing node yet, and Intel actually claims it's the most advanced in the United States.

Apart from generally being more performant and efficient than Intel 3, the 3nm-class node that is 18A's precursor, Intel 18A also debuts two technologies that fundamentally change how Intel's processors are built. Those technologies are RibbonFET and PowerVia, and this is the first time we've seen both on one processing node.

RibbonFET refers to the design of the transistors themselves. It succeeds FinFET, the design debuted by Intel over a decade ago, which featured vertical "fins" and a gate (what controls the flow of energy through the transistor) placed on top — which allowed some energy to leak from the bottom of the transistor fins. RibbonFET uses flexible, scalable "ribbons" in a horizontal layout, with a gate that wraps all the way around. This leads to better performance-per-watt, more precise control, and practically no energy leakage.

PowerVia is also a major upgrade, referring to how the signal and power routing for a processor's transistors are laid out. Traditional design places everything on the front of a die, but as transistors become more numerous and densely packed (and they do, it's one of the main ways to gauge how far semiconductor technology has progressed), data and power can become congested and performance can degrade. PowerVia separates signal and power, using the back of the processor die for the first time to channel power into the transistors.

To make these advancements possible, Intel had to optimize its entire end-to-end process with RibbonFET and especially PowerVia in mind, and the result is Intel 18A. This processing node is hitting full production with Panther Lake at Intel Foundry, and most notably Fab 52 at Intel's Ocotillo campus in Chandler, AZ.

What's new and upgraded with Intel Panther Lake?

New processors often reuse components and parts from previous generations, even if announcements would love for you to focus only on what has been upgraded. Intel Panther Lake's upgrades are quite comprehensive, however, delivering sizable improvements on almost every single front.

Here's a rundown of what Panther Lake brings over past Intel chipsets.

• Platform Advancements. Firstly, Panther Lake continues Intel's focus on "disaggregation," which basically means making its processors more modular and scalable. Rather than a System-on-Chip (SoC), Intel refers to Panther Lake as a System-of-Chips, as it's actually a series of stacked chiplets that share the same die. For example, the GPU tile is now separate from the rest of the die, so Intel has more control over configurations. Intel also focused a lot on various microarchitecture and platform improvements, including to thread direction, scheduling, and more, all of which improve performance, efficiency, and consistency.
• Central Processing Unit. The core of Panther Lake, the CPU is built on Intel 18A and debuts two new core architectures: Cougar Cove performance cores and Darkmont efficiency cores. Intel made a ton of upgrades to both types of cores, and these cores also benefit massively from the aforementioned platform improvements and the yet-to-be-mentioned memory improvements.
• Graphics Processing Unit. Intel Panther Lake chips will be paired with Intel Arc B-Series integrated graphics cards, which also debut Intel's new Xe3 cores. More powerful, more efficient, and more stable, Xe3 cores are optimized for both gaming and artificial intelligence workloads with upgraded ray tracing units and AI engines. Panther Lake can boast up to 12 Xe3 cores, too, and will support new XeSS 3 features like Multi-Frame Generation. The GPU is why I'm excited to see what Panther Lake looks like inside of a PC gaming handheld.
• Neural Processing Unit. Panther Lake also debuts Intel's new NPU 5, which delivers up to 50 TOPS of computational power for efficient, local AI tasks. Intel condensed and optimized with this NPU, delivering 40% more performance per area, with greater efficiency, upgraded bandwidth, and native support for features like FP8 datatypes.
• Memory & Bandwidth. Intel Panther Lake benefits from a suite of improvements for memory and bandwidth, including support for faster LPDDR5x and DDR5 SO-DIMM RAM, larger caches across the chipset, and optimized cache layouts for transmitting information between cores. All of these improvements will help with performance and reliability, but will be especially noticeable for intensive AI workloads. It's also worth mentioning that Panther Lake brings native support for LPCAMM modules, so we can see premium devices with upgradeable LPDDR5x memory — without compromising on transfer speeds.
• Image Signal Processor. Alongside everything else, Panther Lake features Intel's IPU 7.5, which Intel claims is a sizable upgrade over the ISP featured in Intel's 2024 chips. The IPU 7.5 handles signals from connected cameras, and includes enhanced, hardware-accelerated High Dynamic Range (HDR), support for up to three concurrent cameras and 120 frames-per-second (FPS) slow motion, and AI-powered noise reduction and local tone mapping. The IPU 7.5 also enjoys a 1.5W reduction in power draw, which should increase battery life during video calls and content creation.
• Media & Display Engine. With Panther Lake, Intel is upgrading its Xe Media & Display Engine, too, notably with a much wider support for audio and video codecs (and Intel chips already enjoyed very healthy support). Panther Lake supports AVC 10-bit, AV1 10-bit, and Sony's XAVC codecs for decoding and encoding now.
• Connectivity & Input/Output. Finally, Intel Panther Lake supports Wi-Fi 7 (R2) and Bluetooth Core 6.0 across the board, the absolute latest in wireless connectivity. Intel pretty confidently stated its wireless connectivity is best-in-class for feature support, performance, stability and reliability, and security. Just to rattle off a handful of those features, Panther Lake has 6GHz and 320MHz band Wi-Fi support, multi-link reconfiguration, single-link eMLSR, P2P channel coordination, Bluetooth Auracast support, Bluetooth channel sounding and more precise distance awareness, and more. For input/output, Panther Lake supports up to four integrated Thunderbolt 4 ports natively, and companies still have the option to add Thunderbolt 5 support themselves.

Intel has made some bold claims about Panther Lake's year-over-year improvements compared to Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake, but those claims are backed by an ambitiously long list of major upgrades and advancements.

Those claims include more than 10% better single-thread performance compared to Lunar Lake and more than 50% better multi-thread performance compared to Arrow Lake, more than 30% lower power draw with similar performance, and up to 40% less power consumption than Arrow Lake. On the GPU side, Intel promises more than 50% better performance compared to Lunar Lake and more than 40% better performance-per-watt than Arrow Lake.

We'll have to wait until we can actually get our hands on laptops with Intel Core Ultra (Series 3) inside before we'll know for certain, but I'm feeling very good about Intel's latest and how it'll compare to Qualcomm's recently announced Snapdragon X2 series.

What you need to know

• Intel just released the beta version of its AI Playground app.
• AI Playground utilizes the power of an Intel Arc GPU and an Intel Core Ultra-H CPU to run AI locally.
• The app supports creating images, enhancing images, and answering questions.
• AI Playground will suggest AI models to install as you use the app, but you can also install alternative models to fit your workflow.

AI may take lots of jobs, according to Elon Musk, but there's fun to be had with the technology as well. Intel has a new tool in testing that lets you play around with AI, as long as you have a system with the right specs. The company's AI Playground was first teased in June, and it is now available in beta. Intel says that the AI Playground is "AI made easy on Intel Arc GPUs."

AI Playground is an app that supports using a wide range of models to create content through the power of artificial intelligence. The app has sections for creating images, enhancing images, and getting answers from a chatbot. All of those features run locally and utilize the power of your PC, streamlining the AI workflow and removing the need to send data to the cloud.

When you first use AI Playground for a specific type of task, such as image generation, you'll have to download a model. AI Playground will present you with a prompt to download a model if one is needed. You can also browse through the app's settings to install specific models or install alternative models. Intel has a guide on how to install custom models on AI Playground, but you won't need to follow that guide to get started.

Since AI Playground runs locally, the app's output doesn't leave your PC (unless you choose to share it, of course).

AI Playground is also an open-source project, so people can clone it, fork it, or help improve it.

Intel AI Playground requirements

If you want to play around on Intel's AI Playground, you need a system that meets the minimum requirements of the app. Your PC has to have an Intel Arc dGPU with at least 8GB of RAM. An Intel Core Ultra-H processor is also required.

Our colleagues at PC Gamer went hands-on with Intel's new AI Playground using a PC powered by an Intel Arc A770 with 16GB of RAM. Getting AI Playground up and running takes a bit of time, since you have to install the app and install any required AI models for your desired workflow. PC Gamer's Nick Evanson was impressed by the speed of AI Playground during beta testing:

"The result from just using 'an astronaut riding a horse' wasn't too bad but the real surprise was just how fast it was—less than four seconds to generate the 512 x 512 image. Interestingly, Intel's system automatically includes two negative prompts, bad hands and nfsw, so you won't be churning unsavoury images without being highly creative with the prompts."

Evanson noted that the other tools aren't quite as quick as AI Playground's image generator, but none of them are slow.

As its name suggests, AI Playground is meant for fun, not replacing complex workflows or more powerful AI applications. But the app is a nice way to dip your toe into the waters of AI, as long as you have a PC with the right specs.

What you need to know

• Intel XeSS delivers AI-powered upscaling and competes with NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution.
• Intel just unveiled XeSS 1.3, which promises a significant performance boost of the previous version of XeSS.
• The benchmarks shared by Intel were performed on games modified with an experimental build of XeSS, but they show an average FPS increase of 10% when running on a system with an Intel Arc A750.

Intel announced a new version of its AI upscaling technology this week. XeSS 1.3 promises better performance than the original XeSS, including higher frame rates and reducing aliasing and ghosting. The improvements come thanks to updated AI models and show promising figures.

As expected, games using XeSS 1.3 have significantly higher frame rates than those without any upscaling. The bigger story is how much XeSS 1.3 raises frame rates when compared to the original XeSS. On a system with an Intel Arc A750, Intel saw an average 10% expected increase in FPS. Some titles saw even more of a jump, such as Diablo 4's frame rate increasing 28% over what was seen on when using the original XeSS.

The new version of XeSS also delivered improvements when tested on a system with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, though the bump was not as dramatic as the one seen in the Arc A750 system. Intel expects XeSS 1.3 to provide an 8% boost in FPS on average when compared to the original XeSS.

It's important to note that Intel's testing was done on games modified with an experimental version of XeSS 1.3. None of the titles shown in Intel's figures work with XeSS 1.3 at the moment, so you may have to wait a bit to boost the performance of Diablo 4.

The XeSS 1.3 SDK is available now through GitHub. Intel is working with game developers to integrate the upscaling technology into popular titles.

Why is XeSS 1.3 better?

The secret sauce behind XeSS 1.3 is Intel's updated AI models. The tech giant worked on optimization and training with a special emphasis on difficult visual elements. The end result is "better anti-aliasing, less ghosting, and more temporal stability," as outlined by Intel. 

AI upscaling tech can struggle with finer details, such as small lines that are very close to each other. Intel's updated AI models do a better job of handling these than the old XeSS.

Intel also updated its quality presets and added more choices alongside XeSS 1.3.

Catching up to NVIDIA DLSS

Over 100 games support Intel XeSS at the moment, but that pales in comparison to the number of titles that work with DLSS, which works with over 300 apps and games. Intel started its game upscaling journey after NVIDIA and entered the GPU space relatively recently, so it's understandable that Intel lags behind. But a recent announcement by Microsoft could help Intel catch up.

Microsoft unveiled DirectSR earlier this year. That API makes it possible to support multiple types of Super Resolution with a single code path. DirectSR works with NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution, AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, and Intel XeSS. It enters public preview soon and could make it much easier for developers to target Intel-based systems without requiring as much dedicated work.

"Super Resolution is a cutting-edge technique that increases the resolution and visual quality in games. DirectSR is the missing link developers have been waiting for when approaching SR integration, providing a smoother, more efficient experience that scales across hardware," explained Microsoft when it announced DirectSR.

Once generally avaialble, DirectSR could help Intel close the gap between its upscaling tech and NVIDIA's.

I've been using Intel Arc graphics from day one, and I haven't looked back. Part of that is wanting to support the newcomer and help drive competition, but a bigger part is my appreciation of truly impressive, more affordable hardware. Intel has a year of work in the Arc platform under its belt now, and with a Black Friday deal this good on a Sparkle A750, now is definitely a good time to join the blue team. 

More great Black Friday deals

• Walmart: Early Black Friday deals on practically everything
• Dell: Top deals on laptops, gaming PCs, accessories, and more
• Alienware: Up to $800 off gaming laptops and desktops
• Best Buy: Big savings on video games, accessories, and more
• HP: Up to 84% of select HP Windows PCs and accessories
• Lenovo: Up to 50% of gaming towers, laptops, and accessories
• Newegg: Save on PC gaming accessories, components, and more
• Razer: Up to 43% off laptops and accessories with free gifts
• More individual deals:
  • Xbox Series X + Diablo IV + free $75 Target gift card for $634.99 $449.99 at Target
  • Samsung T9 4TB Portable SSD for $439.99 $249.99 at Best Buy
  • Xbox Stereo Headset — 20th Anniversary for $69.99 $46.86 at Walmart
  • Xbox Series X + Diablo IV + Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III for $639.99 $489.99 at Walmart
  • TP-Link Deco X55 Wi-Fi mesh 3-pack for $229.99 $179.99 at Amazon
  • Razer Wolverine V2 Chroma for $149.99 $89.99 at Best Buy
  • Xbox Series X + $50 Best Buy gift card for $549.99 $399.99 at Best Buy for Plus/Total members
  • HyperX Cloud III Wireless for $169.99 $129.99 at Best Buy
  • Xbox Series S + 3-months Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $299.99 $249 at Walmart
  • Lenovo LOQ Tower (17IRB8) + 3-months Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $1,029.99 $674.99 at Lenovo

The Intel Arc A750 goes toe-to-toe with more expensive graphics cards 

Of the current Intel Arc lineup, the A750 is the sweet spot. While the A770 is a little more powerful, in my experience the difference between the two isn't huge. The lower asking price of the A750 makes the small performance sacrifice worth it. Especially when it's this cheap. 

More impressively, the Intel Arc A750 can go toe-to-toe with the NVIDIA RTX 3060, albeit when you don't factor ray tracing into the equation. Then again, I'd question whether ray tracing is worth it at all if you're buying a budget graphics card, though the Arc A750 can do it. 

The RTX 3060, even when discounted during an event like Black Friday, is still substantially more expensive. The A750 runs very close to the RTX 3060 at 1080p, even 1440p, and the XeSS upscaler is improving all the time. One area Intel has the upper hand, though, is that even its budget graphics cards have a hardware AV1 encoder, something NVIDIA only added on the RTX 40 series. 

I've obviously been following Intel's continued development first-hand, and as impressed as I was at launch, things are so much better now. Modern titles have always worked pretty well, but Intel has focused on delivering big improvements in older DX11, and even DX9 games. The latter is particularly impressive given that there's no hardware support for DX9 on Arc. 

Ultimately, at $180 you simply cannot do better right now if you're looking for a graphics card. This Sparkle version is also the best looking of them all, with a cool blue paint job. I was disappointed on Prime Day that there weren't any Intel discounts, but I'm excited about this one. Join me on team underdog, I promise you won't regret it. 

What you need to know

• Intel released new graphics drivers for its Arc GPUs recently.
• The driver updates fix several issues with Starfield, Alan Wake 2, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and World Ward Z.
• Intel generally releases about two Arc driver updates per month, which helps keep its cards compatible with the latest games.

The latest Intel Arc drivers fix issues with several of the most popular PC games. Starfield, Alan Wake 2, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and World War Z all perform better following the update. The drivers started rolling out on November 13, 2023, so you should see them on your PC now.

Intel ships driver updates about once every two weeks, which helps ensure game compatibility. Intel Arc graphics are still relatively new, so it's important for the company to ship updates frequently to keep up with NVIDIA and AMD.

If you want to play Alan Wake 2 but haven't purchased it yet, you should check out Razer's holiday deals that get you a free copy of the game with select accessories.

Here is everything that's fixed with the latest driver updates, as well as the known issues, shared by Tom's Hardware:

Intel Arc Drivers: Fixed Issues

• Starfield* (DX12) may exhibit flickering color corruption in the sky during night scenes.
• Alan Wake 2* (DX12) may exhibit corruptions on water and reflective surfaces.
• Halo: The Master Chief Collection* (DX11) may experience lower than expected performance with the Xbox* Game Pass version.
• World War Z* (DX11) may experience lower than expected performance with the Epic Games* Store version.

Intel Arc Drivers: Known Issues

• Ghostrunner 2* (DX11) may experience sporadic application crash during gameplay.
• Total War: PHARAOH* (DX11) may exhibit corruption after changing resolution in game on certain displays.
• Starfield* (DX12) may exhibit corruption when using Dynamic Resolution Scaling. A workaround is to change the Render Resolution Scale slider value.
• Dead by Daylight* (DX11) may experience an application crash during gameplay.
• Topaz Video AI* may experience errors when using some models for video enhancement.

Intel Xe Drivers: Known Issues

• Driver installation may not complete successfully on certain notebook systems with both Intel® Iris™ Xe + Iris™ Xe MAX devices. A system reboot and re-installation of the graphics driver may be required for successful installation.

Intel Core Processors: Known Issues

• Dragon Quest X Online* (DX9) may experience sporadic application crash during gameplay.

What you need to know

• A recent leak showed off an Emdoor handheld gaming console known as the EM-GP080MTL.
• The portable gaming PC pairs an Intel Meteor Lake-H CPU with Intel Arc 5 graphics.
• Intel Meteor Lake chips are set to launch in December, so we likely won't have to wait long to see Emdoor's console running on a CPU from the lineup.

Intel's new Meteor Lake CPUs don't launch until December of this year, but we now know of a handheld gaming console that will be powered by the chips. Notebook Italia shared details about an upcoming Emdoor system that will pair an Intel Meteor Lake-H CPU with Intel Arc 5 graphics. The original content from Notebook Italia has since been removed, but VideoCardz snagged all the details.

An image shared by Notebook Italia shows the system specs of the Emdoor EM-GP080MTL. I suspect the device will have a more consumer-friendly name when it launches, but that's what we have to go by at the moment. The EM-GP080MTL runs on an Intel Meteor Lake-H processor with a TDP of 20 to 35W. That wattage is noteworthy because the ASUS ROG Ally, which runs on an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme, has a TDP of 10 to 25 watts. The Steam Deck maxes out at 15 watts.

The display of the EM-GP080MTL is an 8-inch 16:10 panel with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. The portable gaming console also has 32GB of LDDR5X memory and up to 2TB of PCIe Gen4 storage.

The CPU of the EM-GP080MTL will pair with an integrated Intel Arc 5 GPU. We don't know the number of cores in that Alchemist GPU, but VideoCardz speculated that the figure is likely between 4 and 8 Xe cores.

Emdoor's design looks similar to other gaming consoles on the market. It features offset thumbsticks and the standard array of buttons. The portable PC space is quickly filling up, which will hopefully result in companies driving each other to make even better devices.

Promotional materials shown by Notebook Italia show the EM-GP080MTL running God of War, which would suggest the console is capable of running the best PC games.

What you need to know

• Intel originally announced the Arc 5 graphics card 2 years ago, but it was noticeably absent when the flashier Arc 7 GPUs launched.
• The Arc A580 launched today at a $179 price point with 3 SKUs from Intel partners GUNNIR, ASRock, and Sparkle.
• Intel describes the A580 as the 'middle' of the intel Arc graphics card stack, with smooth 1080p gaming performance with support for media and creation capabilities.

It's been a year since the release of the Arc A770 and A750, but it seems that Intel's Alchemist line of GPUs still had some tricks up its sleeve. Today, Intel officially released the Arc A580, a 1080p graphics card that falls well into a budget friendly price point. 

Intel expects the A580 to fill out the middle of its Arc product stack. The A580 offers up 8 GB of GDDR6 memory paired with a 256-bit memory interface, 24 ray tracing units, and 24 Xe-cores. The card clocks in at 1700 MHz with a TBP of 185W.

According to Intel, the A580 will support variable rate shading and DirectX 12 Ultimate along with ray tracing. Dips in performance with ray tracing on a sub-$200 card seems inevitable, though Intel is pushing its AI-enhanced upscaling tech, Xe Super Sampling, to make up for it.

Intel shared performance output from various games on the Intel Arc A580 GPU. At 1080p resolution, Diablo IV reportedly rendered 155 FPS natively, while Spider-man Remastered hit 119 FPS and Baldur's Gate 3 tapped out at 90 FPS. According to Intel's performance reports, the Intel Arc A580 hit 85 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 with Ray Tracing and XeSS in use. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Remnant II were at 77 and 73 FPS, respectively, using Intel's AI-enhanced XeSS tech.

Despite the competitive price point, Intel has already undercut the Arc A580's release with its own A750, which is currently available as an Amazon Prime Day deal. It can be difficult to justify the $179 launch price of the A580 when the A750 is currently $189 and offers 4 more Xe cores and 4 more ray tracing units for your extra $10. Windows Central's own Richard Devine loves Intel Arc cards so much he'd almost consider moving to the US just for the Prime Day deal.

If you plan to pick up an A580 despite Intel's efforts to cannibalize it with the A750's sale price, it can be purchased now via 3 SKUs from Intel partners GUNNIR, ASRock, and Sparkle.

I love Intel Arc graphics. I love a good underdog, but beyond that, we should all want Intel to do really well and keep pumping these things out. Intel is the only one of the three GPU makers right now that seems to give a damn about keeping graphics card prices affordable. It's commendable and one reason I gave Intel my money. 

What I also love is the Sparkle range of Intel Arc graphics cards. I just love how they look, with their subtle, yet striking blue shroud. And I love that they have kick-ass names like ORC, ELF and TITAN. Even though I have an Arc A770 in my PC, I'm sad I can't buy one of these Sparkle Orc Arc A750 cards for their lowest price yet on October Prime Day.

There are actually two versions. The smaller one with two fans is the cheaper option, but the triple-fan card is only $10 more if you have space for it. Both have the same display outputs (triple DisplayPort 2.0 and a single HDMI 2.0) and the same 2200MHz clock speed. One is just a bit longer, hence being the TITAN. 

I have no issues recommending the Intel Arc A750 to folks looking to build a good gaming PC on a tighter budget. You can play at 1440p with one of these, but knocking it down to 1080p is a better call, so you can crank up the settings a bit more. It supports ray tracing, though whether you should use it is debatable, and for content creators you have hardware AV1 encoding on all Arc GPUs. 

Intel has been working flat out in the last 12 months since the first launch of the Arc A-series to make the drivers better. I've been using an Arc throughout that whole time, and I'm extremely pleased with the progress. Older games work better now, even DX9 titles which aren't supported at a hardware level. Recent attention shifted to DX11 games, of which there are many, and gains are to be found in all corners. 

So, don't let this one slip by. I can't get one, but you definitely should.  

What you need to know

• Ryan Shrout, head of marketing for Intel Arc, has announced that he is leaving the company.
• This comes as Intel begins to ramp up its machine for work on the release of "Battlemage" sometime in 2024.
• Ryan is giving it a few weeks before announcing what's next for his career.

Ryan Shrout, who headed up the marketing for Intel Arc, was one of the prominent faces of the division and appeared in several videos and discussions about the hardware. He has announced on X that he is leaving Intel to take on a new challenge. He will announce this in a couple of weeks after taking some time off with his family.

Shrout previously worked for Intel as the Chief Performance Strategist, a role he started in 2018. He was responsible for the "real world usage over benchmarks" strategy during a difficult time for the company. He struggled to get to grips with a surprising turnaround and increased competitiveness of AMD and its Ryzen line of CPUs.

This is the second high-profile departure for Intel Arc, with Raj Koduri, the Chief Architect, leaving back in March of this year. There were several questions on whether Arc would survive; would Intel scrap its GPU division? It seems this is not happening, and Battlemage is still scheduled to be released in 2024.

This news has come just as AMD lost the well-known Scott Herkelman, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of AMD Radeon. He is a popular figure who could be a target for Intel to fill the space left by Shrout when they need someone reliable to get the message across to potential buyers.

Can Intel still succeed with Arc and its push to restore balance to the graphics market?  Let us know in the comments below!

What you need to know

• Intel has pushed out a second Starfield-focused driver update for its Arc graphics cards. 
• Among the improvements are that your characters will now have proper eyebrows.
• There's still a sizeable list of known issues, though, and stability is still an issue. 

Starfield continues to be a roller coaster ride for those of us who use Intel Arc graphics cards in our PCs, though there's a new driver update that does at least fix some more issues. But not all of them. 

While Todd Howard thinks you should just upgrade your PC if Starfield isn't playing well for you, the issues with Intel graphics aren't related to just being underpowered. Despite what a hilarious interaction with the online support team may indicate (pro-tip, the Intel Arc A770 very much outperforms the GTX 1070 Ti.) 

It's abundantly clear that prior to launch Intel users, however small in number they may be, weren't a focus, but Intel's own boffins are working hard to try and make it better for us. The new driver does that in places, but is still a way off being what I'd call very playable. Here's the quick list of fixes for Starfield: 

• Starfield (DX12) improved stability in different areas of the game.
• Starfield (DX12) may incorrectly render glass surfaces and objects.  
• Starfield (DX12) may exhibit missing eyebrows on characters

However, this list of still known issues is a bit larger: 

• Starfield (DX12) may experience sporadic instability in some areas of the game.
• Starfield (DX12) may exhibit corruption when using Dynamic Resolution Scaling. A workaround is to change the Render Resolution Scale slider value. 
• Starfield (DX12) may exhibit low texture details on certain objects in the game. 
• Starfield (DX12) may exhibit texture flickering on light sources during gameplay

I'm using an Intel Arc A770 in my gaming PC, and I still haven't been able to progress beyond the first 15 minutes of the game. Despite the updated drivers, I've seen crashes galore, initially any time I changed a graphics setting the game would just freak out and then crash to desktop. The latest driver I can't even get outside the ship in the initial part of the game it seems without a crash. 

I'm happy that Intel is working overtime to fix this game for its users, but as I've written recently, I'm not remotely thrilled by the quality control overall in PC gaming of late. The cynical side of me puts this whole AMD deal at the heart of it, especially since even folks on NVIDIA graphics have seen their own share of issues. 

I'll keep playing around and if I can figure out something stable enough to report back on, I'll update this post. But right now, the Xbox Series X is looking more attractive. But hey, we have eyebrows now, at least. 

What you need to know

• Starfield early access for premium edition owners began on September 1. 
• For those playing with Intel Arc graphics, there were issues, acknowledged by the company. 
• The first driver update is now available with important fixes specifically for Starfield. 

It's tough being an underdog sometimes, but Intel is certainly working hard on its Arc graphics products to make them as good as possible. But things always slip through the cracks, and in this case, it was Starfield, one of the biggest releases of 2023. 

Intel acknowledged before the weekend that Intel Arc users were not having a good time in Starfield, and initially promised fixes by the time general release came around. 

Fortunately for those who spent extra on early access, the Intel boffins have worked extra hard and the first driver update is now available. 

And as confirmed by Intel's Ryan Shrout, there are more updates in the pipeline this week. As a reminder, Starfield becomes available to all, including Xbox Game Pass players, on Wednesday, September 6. 

The new driver you're looking for is version 31.0.101.4672 and should be available through Arc Control on your PC. If not, you can grab the driver directly from Intel's website. 

Here's exactly what's in it for you: 

• Graphics Driver package has temporarily increased to significantly reduce the Starfield game load duration.
• Several Starfield game instability and visual artifacts have been fixed in this driver. High Preset and below is recommended to improve stability.
• Efforts in progress to further improve overall gaming experience of Starfield for Intel Arc users in future driver updates.

The latest driver also contains support for upcoming free-to-play, co-op shooter, SYNCED, which launches on September 8. 

As an Intel Arc gamer myself, I'm both impressed and a little disappointed once again. This stuff is hard, and I truly appreciate the speed at which Intel works and the sheer volume of impressive updates Arc has seen since its launch last year. But on a personal level, it's the second big title in recent months to have been completely broken on Intel graphics at launch. 

I had to cancel plans to review Remnant 2 because it was basically unplayable on Intel graphics. Fixes came quickly, but still. I'd been toying with buying the premium upgrade for the Game Pass edition of Starfield to play early, but now I'm glad I didn't. Hopefully, those who did, can now start to enjoy their game.  

What you need to know

• Intel's "Battlemage" GPUs are already being tested in labs.
• The new GPU architecture is expected to bring a massive performance uplift over the current "Alchemist" Arc GPUs.
• Battlemage is expected to launch some time in 2024.

Intel's initial Arc GPU efforts codenamed "Alchemist" didn't have the smoothest of launches back in early 2022, with multiple driver issues making them almost unusable for many. Since then, however, Intel has put in a lot of effort to improve the drivers, making Arc a rather appealing GPU purchase for those on a budget, and they continue to get better with every update.

"Battlemage" is Intel's next generation GPU architecture. It's scheduled to release some time in 2024 and it appears that it is already in pre-production. This is according to Mr Andreas Schilling, editor at German hardware site HardwareLuxx. The new information was spotted by him whilst on a tour of the Intel facility in Malaysia.

Note that Andreas said he saw chips marked "BMG-G10". When you compare this to Alchemist labelled as "ACM-G10," which is what's used in the Arc A750 and A770. It's not that difficult to work out what that is. Battlemage is also not meant to go up against the most expensive GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA. A previous leak from RedGamingtech on YouTube shows Battlemage being a competitor to the likes of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 and the AMD Radeon 7800XT, targeting the performance/enthusiast gamer base.

All of this points to a significant improvement for Intel's Arc GPUs and with their current range of cards. The Arc A750 and A770 are now available at reasonable prices to go with the huge improvement in drivers. Hopes are high that Battlemage can bring much needed competition to a market that is desperate for it. And maybe we'll get it at a competitive price.

What you need to know

• Intel has been working away on DX11 performance in its Arc graphics drivers and the gains are noticeably impressive. 
• On average DX11 games are now performing 19% better over launch drivers, with better frame rates and smoothness. 
• Intel PresentMon beta brings the company's monitoring tool to the masses for the first time as an easy-to-use alternative to apps like MSI Afterburner. 

Intel Arc continues to get better and better as every month passes, and as a user myself, I can attest to that. I was impressed from day one, really, given that it's hardly easy to enter a space dominated by NVIDIA and AMD already, but Arc offers a true value alternative to gamers. 

Arc has always been a decent performer with newer graphics APIs like DX12, but its hiccups have usually been linked to older versions like DX11 and DX9. While the latter was a focus earlier, DX11 is now in the spotlight with the company highlighting the work it has been doing to make those games better. 

It isn't complete yet, initially focusing on a smaller subset of titles, but with average gains around 19%, all DX11 titles should begin to benefit over the next few months. Some titles have benefitted as much as 33%, though, so there's plenty on the table. 

Besides just "numbers go brr" Intel has focused on balance, since it has its own position of dominance when it comes to CPUs. The idea is that Intel CPU and Arc GPU are working in better harmony, and the result is both better frame rates and better smoothness. The latter shouldn't be taken for granted, since ironing out issues here removes janky areas in games and more significant frame dips. Improvements in the 99th percentile frametimes are anywhere between 9% and 45% better compared to Intel's launch drivers. 

Drivers were one of the main concerns when Arc first launched, and it was fairly warranted. But Intel has been working none-stop and put out a huge number of updates since late 2022 when the cards launched. The work is no more notable than in the DX9 performance improvements, which is especially impressive when Arc has no hardware support for DX9 at all. 

Aside from highlighting the work done for DX11 games, Intel is also today launching PresentMon beta, a tool that has, until now, not really been pushed as a consumer product. If you've ever used something like MSI Afterburner, you'll be familiar with the sort of thing you're getting here.

"This overlay can run while your game is on the screen to show your performance, GPU telemetry like voltage and temperature, and analyze a heap of information, all in real time. Want to see your 99th percentile frame times charted against your GPU utilization just above a chart of memory of utilization? We’ve got you! Maybe you really love histograms (like TAP does!) or maybe you are just tech-curious and want to see how your system is behaving – Intel PresentMon will impress."

PresentMon beta is free, open-source, and works across Intel, AMD and NVIDIA graphics. It's designed to be simple to use, while offering full system monitoring while playing games with clear graphs, and a huge range of options that can be tweaked to your needs. It also adds a new metric, "GPU Busy," which in simplest terms will show you how much time your GPU spends rendering versus idling. 

It's available to download for free from today on Intel's website.

What you need to know

• A user managed to overclock his Acer Predator BiFrost A770 to 3586 MHz.
• The overclocking process showcased different outcomes under varying workloads.
• Power and voltage were some of the challenges that impacted the overclocking process.

Intel's Arc A770 graphics card is quite impressive, and while it stacks miles away from key players in the industry like AMD and NVIDIA, it's a cost-friendly PC part for gamers. It sports a solid 1080p performance and has the capability to run some games at 1440p.

Most graphic cards often ship factory-overclocked, but SkatterBencher took a step further to push the limits of his Acer Predator BiFrost A770, ultimately unlocking impressive feats, as reported by Tom's Hardware.

The Intel Alchemist GPU defaults to a 2400 MHz boost clock, but SkatterBencher overclocked it to 3586 MHz. This translated to a 25% boost. But as expected, the GPU became unstable quickly, resulting in the screen freezing, prompting a system reboot. The user could only maintain the high frequency for a few seconds.

SkatterBencher further indicated that the temperature on the liquid nitrogen container was at -80°C, and the processor hit -50°C during the entire process. 

However, the overclocking process varied significantly under different types of workloads. For instance, while under light workload, the processor hit a peak frequency of 3400 MHz at 1.285V, while its temperature sunk to -30°C.

During a 3DMark Benchmark, the GPU hit a frequency of 3100 MHz, though the user couldn't complete more than one Time Spy game test. And finally, the GPU hit 3012 MHz at 1.12V while on a complete 3DMark run. He also added that the frequency helped achieve the top position in the 3DMark Night Raid benchmark across the A770 lineup.

Overclocking challenges

Based on the varied results, it's apparent that the Intel Alchemist GPU isn't suitable for overclocking. SkatterBencher highlighted some of the challenges he encountered while attempting this overclock as highlighted below:

The power limit of the GPU was one of the major challenges, coming in at 228W despite placing it under extremely cool temperatures. As such, the user leveraged the Predator Bifrost software application to bypass this limitation.

It's also worth noting that the GPU automatically alters the operating frequency when it hits a high voltage. This is mainly because of its voltage performance throttle. That said, it's quite difficult to get it to a voltage of anything above 1.2V. However, SkatterBencher found a way around this. Switching the voltage control mode from SVID to PMBus allowed him to adjust the MPS MP2979 voltage controller output directly from the ElmorLabs EVC2 device.

Moreover, the GPU's VRM design also encounters difficulties when its power consumption exceeds 330W. As such, when it hits a temperature of 110°C, the device's GPU clock defaults to a base frequency of 2100 MHz. As a workaround, he adjusted the controller's VR_HOT threshold to mitigate the power constraints.

Be it as it may, it's still incredible that SkatterBencher was able to overclock Intel's Arc A770.

What you need to know

• Intel quietly updated its mobile Arc Alchemist lineup with two new units.
• While Intel launched the new A570M and A530M mobile GPU SKUs officially, they've already been incorporated into the latest GPU driver and Intel's product spec pages.
• Intel's upcoming graphics architecture, codenamed Battlemage, is expected to launch next year.

Recently, Intel quietly updated its mobile Arc Alchemist lineup with two new entries. That is, the new A570M and A530M mobile GPU SKUs, as spotted by Tom's Hardware. And while Intel hasn't officially announced its latest additions to the mobile Arc Alchemist lineup, they're already featured in the latest GPU driver and Intel's product spec pages.

Last year, Intel debuted several graphics cards for its Arc A-series, including the A770M, A730M, A550M, and more. And now, the company has subtly refreshed its Arc A500M series with two new units that also leverage the PCIe 4.0 x8 interface.

Per the information shared by Intel, the Arc A570M ships with 16 Xe-Cores with 256 execution units, 4 render slices, 16 ray tracing units, and a 1.3 GHz clock speed. The TGP has also been enhanced significantly to 75 - 95 W. 

As for the A530M, it also ships with a clock speed of 1.3 GHz,12 Xe cores with 192 EUs, 3 render slices, and 12 ray tracing units. The TGP also comes in at 65-95 W, a significant bump compared to the A550M's 60 - 80 W.

Unfortunately, Intel hasn't disclosed performance stats for either of the units it launched, but they'll likely feature subtle improvements over the A550M owing to the superior clock speeds. Likewise, the company didn't disclose the silicon used on the Arc A570M or A530M. However, there's a great chance that Intel used ACM-G10 (DG2-512) silicon as it did with the Arc A550M. 

Details regarding the new A570M and A530M memory configurations remain thin. But presumably, both should sport higher performance than the Arc A550M, which features 6GB of GDDR6 memory,14 Gbps. It also delivers 224 GB/s of memory bandwidth at a 128-bit interface. With this in mind, the A570M and A530M will likely have better memory bandwidth.

Windows Central take

Intel making a subtle launch of these entries could be an indication that it's not looking to spend a lot of resources on the Alchemist lineup, owing to its dismal performance compared to similar units in the same range from NVIDIA and AMD. Perhaps it is putting elaborate measures in place in preparation for its Battlemage graphics architecture, which is expected to launch next year.  

While debuting the Arc A-series, Intel only featured Arc A350M, A370M, A550M, A730M, and A770M, but Arc A530M and A570M have recently made their way to the lineup. It's not yet clear what Intel's plans for the lineup are, and whether it will be making more launches in the foreseeable future.

What you need to know

• Intel partner ASRock looks to be launching a 16GB VRAM variant of the Arc A770 graphics card. 
• Currently ASRock already sells an 8GB VRAM version of the A770 under its Phantom Gaming brand. 
• Intel recently discontinued its own Limited Edition 16GB A770, leaving this and the Acer Predator BiFrost A770 as the only alternatives with the same VRAM. 

Intel Arc doesn't yet enjoy the range of third-party graphics card makers as AMD and NVIDIA enjoy, but there are a few. One such is ASRock, which offers Arc cards from right across the lineup. But now it looks like the top tier A770 is getting a bit of a lift with the arrival of a 16GB version. 

Naturally, I recently purchased the 8GB ASRock Phantom Gaming Arc A770. Ah well. 

The news comes via Videocardz but does indeed seem to be a thing happening very soon. The 16GB Arc A770 is listed on ASRock's website and according to Newegg it'll be shipping before the end of July. 

The new version is virtually identical to the existing one, with the same triple fan cooling system and visual design. The difference is of course double the VRAM and a 17.5 Gbps memory speed, which matches Intel's now defunct Limited Edition Arc A770. This means we're back up to two 16GB versions available with this alongside the Acer Predator BiFrost A770.

It's also priced aggressively, too, apparently costing around the same as the 8GB model did when it first launched. So, if you're buying an Arc A770, this is pretty much the one to get. 

I've been using my own 8GB ASRock A770 for a little while now and it's a really good card. It's surprisingly quiet, even when gaming, and for the reported price of this new 16GB version it's pretty amazing value. Content creators will also enjoy it, since Intel Arc is about the most affordable way to get in on the new AV1 encoding standard. 

What you need to know

• Acer is beefing up their Predator BiFrost series of graphics cards with 3 new releases.
• Previously the Intel Arc 770 (16GB) was the only card in the Predator BiFrost line.
• The new Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 7600 (8GB) is the first Radeon model GPU to come from Acer.
• The Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A750 OC and an OC model of the Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 7600 (8GB) were also released at the same time.

Acer has been making big moves in the graphics cards department, launching its first GPU with its flagship Predator branding right out of the gate. The most surprising part of this launch was that the card was an Intel Arc A770 GPU. Despite that initial launch with Intel, Acer had made it known that it intended to launch additional GPUs using NIVIDA and AMD Radeon tech. According to a report, Acer is launching three new cards as part of the Predator BiFrost line including 2 which were built upon the Radeon RX 7600 SKU. 

The Acer Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 7600 8GB card will retail for approximately $274 while the second variant, the Acer Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 7600 8GB OC, is expected to be priced at a reasonable $290. As is standard with this current generation of cards, you can expect them to be DirectX 12 Ultimate compatible with support for PCI Express 4.0. Both cards feature 8GB of GDDR6 memory. You'll need to have at least a 550W power supply for either card, which utilizes a single PCIe 8-pin connector. Both cards feature 3 HDMI 2.1 port along with 3 ports supporting DP 1.4 connections and are a super slim 267x117.75mm allowing them to only take up 2 slots.

The standard 8GB version will have a game clock of 2250 MHz with a boost clock of 2655MHz with a TBP of 170W while the OC variant will have a game clock of 2320 MHz and a boost clock of 2725 MHz with a TBP of 180W.

Along with the 2 new Radeon GPUs, Acer is also releasing a second Intel Arc GPU to its Predator BiFrost line. The Acer Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A750 OC will cost you around $258 and will feature similar compatibility to the Radeon versions of the card including DirectX 12 Ultimate and PCI Express 4.0 support with 8GB of GDDR6 memory. 

The Arc A750 OC does throw in AI-Enhanced upscaling via Xe Super Sampling as a bonus, however. The graphics clock comes in at 2200 MHz with a TDP of 250W, so you'll want to make sure you have at least a 650W power supply to connect to the 2 PCIe 8-pin connectors. The body of the card is 267x117.75mm and will take up 2 slots, leaving enough space for one HDMI 2.0 port and 3 DP 2.0 ports.

It's important to note that these cards have only officially been released by Acer in Taiwan as of yet, so it remains to be seen whether or not the prices will stay the same once the cards hit western markets. 

Deals events like Amazon Prime Day are one of the best times of the year to get a new graphics card for your gaming PC. This year I was hoping to be able to gush over some excellent deals on Intel Arc cards, because as I've written before, I'm fully behind the new underdog in the market. I use an ASRock A770 in my own gaming PC. 

Enter the sad face then when there aren't any. One of the big deals around Intel Arc is price, and I was hoping Prime Day would be a good chance to capture a few more minds by severely undercutting the competition with some awesome graphics card deals. That hasn't happened, so it got me to looking for an alternative. And I came up with this.  

Why an AMD card over an NVIDIA RTX 3060 or 3060 Ti? For starters, it's a better performer than an RTX 3060 and with this discount applied, costs about the same as the RTX 3060 deals you can get right now. Which also makes it cheaper than an RTX 3060 Ti. 

We've got a full comparison of the RTX 3060 Ti and the RX 6700 XT you can check out, but the tl;dr is that unless you really insist on DLSS and the best ray tracing performance, AMD is the way to go. FSR is an alternative upscaling tool to DLSS that's fully supported on an AMD graphics cards and as it's open source, very widely used. 

But I'd also lean towards AMD over NVIDIA, especially in this case, for other reasons. I'm not going to go crazy and trash team green, because the RTX family is (mostly) extremely impressive. But NVIDIA holds way too much power over the market and prices are going up and up. And NVIDIA seems to think paying a ton for a graphics card is absolutely fine. 

I beg to differ, though, which is one big reason I'm behind Intel. Even AMD's graphics cards are getting pricier, while for Intel, resetting the market and providing good performance at realistic prices is a key focus. But in the absence of Intel deals, this RX 6700 XT is definitely the one that catches my eye. 

What you need to know

• Without much of an announcement, Intel has quietly pulled the plug on its Limited Edition Arc A770 graphics card. 
• It only affects the first-party card with 16GB VRAM, third-parties can and will continue to offer the A770, mostly with 8GB VRAM. 
• The cheaper Arc A750 appears to be unaffected for now. 

If you've been on the fence over picking up Intel's own version of the Arc A770 graphics card with 16GB VRAM, you might want to jump on it pretty quickly. Spotted and subsequently confirmed by our pals at PC Gamer, Intel is killing off its 'Limited Edition' Arc A770 that has been on sale from launch. 

The Arc A770 graphics card was quietly added to Intel's PCN list a couple of days ago, without much to signify it was only this particular version that was being discontinued. The subsequent confirmation though does point out that Intel will continue to ship silicon to its third party partners for the A770, including ASRock and Acer. 

What this means is that once stock at retailers has run out, it's gone for good. The big loss is that Intel's own card has been the cheapest to pack 16GB VRAM. Acer's Predator A770 also has 16GB, but it does cost a little more. 

This also doesn't seem to affect the cheaper Arc A750 Limited Edition for the time being. It's specific to the A770, though I guess we shouldn't expect the A750 to stick around for too long now. It happens, though, and we're expecting to see the first signs of Intel's next generation Arc graphics in the next year, as well. 

I spent some time using the Arc A770 Limited Edition last year around launch, and have since put the ASRock 8GB version in my own gaming PC. I was always really happy with the overall performance, especially given the price, and that has only improved over time. Drivers keep getting better, and Intel has even made inroads with DX9 performance without having native support for it. 

I'd happily recommend the A770, but if you had your eye on Intel's own version (and it is a very good looking card) your time is fast running out. 

What you need to know

• Intel announced its Arc Pro A60 and Arc Pro A60M graphics cards this week.
• The GPUs offer double the number of PCIe lanes, memory, and ray tracing units compared to their predecessors.
• The Intel Arc Pro A60 will launch in the "coming weeks," while the Intel Arc Pro A60M will start shipping in the "coming months."

Intel has a new pair of Arc Pro graphics cards for workstation PCs. The Intel Arc Pro A60 and Intel Arc Pro A60M feature significantly higher specs than their predecessors. Both GPUs have twice the amount of memory bandwidth, AI X Matrix Extensions engines, and ray tracing units than Intel's previous models. They also have double the number of PCIe lanes, bumping that figure up to 16.

The Intel Arc Pro A60 is designed for desktop workstations and the Intel Arc Pro A60 is built for workstation laptops. They offer solid specs for workstation PCs, though they are not as fast as graphics cards like the Intel Arc A770. As highlighted by our colleagues at Tom's Hardware, Intel's new Arc Pro GPUs are entry-level to lower midrange graphics cards.

The Intel Arc Pro A60 uses a single-slot cooling solution, which makes it easier to fit into a variety of systems. Intel has full spec breakdowns for the Intel Arc Pro A60 and the Intel Arc Pro A60M on its website. 

The Intel Arc Pro GPUs receive quarterly driver releases for the following applications:

• Autodesk 3ds Max
• Autodesk AutoCAD
• Autodesk Fusion 360
• Autodesk Inventor
• Autodesk Maya
• Bentley MicroStation
• Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS
• Nemetscheck VectorWorks
• PTC Creo
• Siemens NX
• Siemens Solid Edge

Additionally, Intel optimized the new GPUs for "media and entertainment applications like Blender."

The Intel Arc Pro A60 will become available "in the coming weeks," according to Intel. The company also shared that the Intel Arc Pro A60M will launch "in the coming months." The desktop GPU will be available through authorized distributors, while the mobile graphics card will be available through OEM partners.

What you need to know: 

• As the Diablo 4 open beta goes live, gamers using Intel Arc graphics have a new driver to install for it. 
• Besides Diablo 4, the latest Game On driver also adds optimizations for Deceive Inc. and improvements for Sons of the Forest. 
• Additional fixes are included for Resident Evil 4's demo and The Riftbreaker on Xbox Game Pass. 

If you're a PC gamer then you probably know that this weekend is the first open beta for Blizzard's hotly anticipated Diablo 4. With new games to play comes new drivers, and if you're using an Intel Arc-based gaming machine then you're included in the party as well. 

The latest Game On driver is now available, with version 31.0.101.4148 adding in optimizations for the Diablo 4 open beta alongside Deceive Inc. However, remember that Diablo 4 is a beta, and even with optimizations there is still one currently known issue Arc graphics users need to be aware of: 

"Diablo 4 (Beta) may exhibit corruption on character during gameplay with ‘Highlight Character When Obscured’ setting enabled."

In addition, players of Sons of the Forest will be pleased to hear that Intel has added performance optimizations for the title to all A-series GPUs with this release. 

There are also Arc-related fixes to the previously known issues listed below:

• The Riftbreaker (DX12) may exhibit black line corruption with the Xbox Game Pass* version. 
• Resident Evil 4 Remake Chainsaw Demo (DX12) may experience lower than expected performance during gameplay.

You should be able to pull down the latest driver through Intel Arc Control if you use it, or by going to the direct download on Intel's website.

The Diablo 4 open beta is now live until March 20 for those who pre-ordered the game. An additional weekend for anyone to try the game will follow from March 24 to March 27. 

To see everything included in this driver be sure to check the full release notes.

Intel Arc is the new kid on the block for dedicated graphics and while I've been pleased with the first-gen so far, it's clear there's still plenty to do in order to close the gap to NVIDIA and AMD. But for now, I'm all-in on the underdog, I want Intel to succeed and frankly, the performance has never been that bad. Despite what opinions on the internet might want you to believe. 

That extends to laptops, too. Before Christmas, I upgraded to the Acer Swift X 16. This pairs an Intel Core i7-1260P CPU with an Arc A370M 4GB dedicated GPU. This isn't a gaming laptop by any stretch, but it has dedicated graphics so naturally, I'm going to try and game on it. 

When Intel's laptop GPUs first launched there were some sensational headlines out there. One that sticks in my mind is "I can't believe Intel is selling this" on a YouTube video that talks specifically about the Arc A370M that's inside my own laptop. That was posted seven months ago at the time of writing this. But as I've lived with an Arc laptop for a bit now and used it to game as well, I'm pretty comfortable in saying that such headlines are (now, at least) overblown. 

The Intel Arc A370M is a low-end mobile GPU

The fact that the A370M is inside a laptop like the Swift X 16 speaks to what it's real purpose is. This isn't a gaming laptop, it's not supposed to be able to play Forspoken at 144 FPS on max settings or any other such crazy ideals. 

Like the XPS 15, for example, this is a professionally targeted laptop for those who want more horsepower than integrated graphics. Creators, say, who want some extra juice for rendering videos. And since it's an Arc, it supports AV1 encoding, too. Intel was actually the first to market with hardware AV1 encoding and it covers both desktops and laptops. 

On paper, it's not a bad proposition. The A370M has 8 Xe cores, 8 ray tracing units (though seriously, don't try and play games with ray tracing), and 4GB of GDDR6 memory. I paid £1,100 for this laptop, and the whole package is great value. 

But we can't lose focus. The Arc 3 series on desktops and laptops is low-end. Arc 7 is where the performance comes from, and there are laptops out there with such a GPU inside. But I don't have one of those, so I can't talk about how they game. 

What I can say is that right now, in 2023, the Arc A370M is a surprisingly good performer. 

60 FPS gaming on a low-end GPU

If the Steam Deck has taught us anything it's that you don't need the highest-end, most powerful, and most expensive hardware to play games. Not just play them, either, enjoy decent frame rates and detail settings as well. 

The native resolution of the display on my Swift X 16 is 2560 x 1600, and apart from Vampire Survivors, I'm never using that. But I also don't need to. Much like the Steam Deck, a lower screen means that to me at least, a lower resolution is perfectly acceptable. 

If that means 720p, so be it. But a lot of the time I'm using either 1080p or 1600 x 900 and enjoying my games. How about some examples? 

Take Shadow of the Tomb Raider, everyone's favorite benchmark. At 1600 x 900 on medium settings with XeSS enabled on balanced, I can run the game at 60 FPS. Sometimes it's a little lower, sometimes a little higher, but it basically averages out around 60. It looks great and it's pretty smooth, with XeSS definitely giving it a little added advantage on this all-Intel system. 

Vulkan titles perform well, too. Wolfenstein: Youngblood is the same story. Same resolution, the same medium settings, and a pretty solid and consistent 60 FPS experience. Even Forza Horizon 5 doesn't take much to hit 60 FPS at medium settings, though I've been running it at 1920 x 1200 and hitting an average of 50 FPS, which is great. This is one game I appreciate a little extra resolution in over a few extra frames. 

Other titles are less successful but still playable. Control needs some trial and error, but it's easy enough to go above 30 FPS while maintaining the visuals at an appealing level. Even older titles relying on DX9 are much improved over my early Arc experiences. Batman: Arkham Asylum used to crash a couple of minutes in, but Intel's recent work on improving DX9 support (all without actual hardware to do it) seems to have paid off. 

Obviously, a lot will come down to the games you want to play. But some more recent titles like High on Life and Hi-Fi Rush are enjoyable and don't require massive hardware to play well. And both have been a dream on my Swift X 16. 

Give Intel a chance

This isn't a definitive review nor is it a glowing endorsement that says you should all rush out and buy an Intel graphics product immediately. What it is, is my personal experience and saying that Intel needs to be given a chance. Even since the launch of desktop Arc cards, the drivers have improved massively, and they'll continue to do so. Intel is serious about this. They want it to work out. 

We all need Intel to succeed with this as well. NVIDIA gets things too much its own way, and AMD isn't the plucky underdog anymore, joining the green team with some really expensive graphics products. Intel has a focus on trying to offer something different and something that doesn't cost you a kidney to buy. And I appreciate that. 

We may not see too many laptops coming with Intel Arc graphics, but unlike those early headlines, I'd encourage anyone not to dismiss it. If you're a hardcore gamer, then sure, you're going to want an NVIDIA laptop right now. But if you're buying an all-around machine, like I did, mainly for work but with a hope of doing a little gaming on the side, even Intel's lower-end hardware is more capable than you might think. 

I have no regrets and haven't switched back to using the NVIDIA-powered laptop I also have in my possession. I'm more than fine with the Arc A370M, and actually pleasantly surprised at how good it is. I'm excited to see where the blue team takes this, and crossing everything that the future is bright. I'd love to see more laptop makers jump on Arc, and start experimenting with the more powerful mobile GPUs as well.