Driver adds shader delivery
Intel’s Arc graphics driver 32.0.101.9150 WHQL, dated October 12, adds support for Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery and claims frame-rate gains of up to 31%. Almost all of those gains are for Core Ultra Series 2 laptops, not Arc desktop cards, according to Intel’s release notes.
What’s new
- Advanced Shader Delivery on Arc B-series GPUs, Core Ultra Series 3 and “certain Series 2 notebooks” with built-in Arc graphics. Intel says it “improves load times of games on supported storefronts”.
- Game On support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Planet Zoo 2 across Arc B-series, A-series and Core Ultra integrated graphics.
The performance claims
Every figure is an “up to” average FPS uplift against driver 31.0.101.9034, at 1080p unless noted.
| Game | Hardware | Medium | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resident Evil Requiem | Core Ultra Series 2 | 31% | 29% |
| Assassin’s Creed Shadows | Core Ultra Series 2 | 18% | 12% |
| Strange Brigade | Core Ultra Series 2 | 16% | 13% |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | Core Ultra Series 2 | 8% | 11% |
| The Last of Us Part II Remastered | Core Ultra Series 2 | 7% | 5% |
| Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga | Core Ultra Series 2 | 6% | not listed |
| F1 25 | Core Ultra Series 3 | 5% | not listed |
| Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (1440p) | Arc B-series | not listed | 6% |
| Monster Hunter Rise (1440p) | Arc B-series | not listed | 6% |
Desktop Arc B-series owners get two 6% claims at 1440p High. The 31% and 29% Resident Evil Requiem numbers are for Series 2 integrated graphics, where a few extra frames can be the difference between playable and not.
PC Gamer reported the Assassin’s Creed Shadows 18% figure as a High-settings result. Intel lists it at Medium, with 12% at High.
Resident Evil Requiem gets the largest claimed gain in this driver, up to 31% on Core Ultra Series 2 integrated graphics. Image: Capcom, via Steam.
Fixes and open issues
Fixed: a blank screen on launch in Stormgate on all four hardware families, PugetBench for Lightroom Classic crashes, a missing mouse pointer after sleep on A-series, a Foundation crash on Series 2, and Intel Graphics Software showing the wrong PCIe version.
Still open, among others: Gears of War: E-Day may run slower than expected on A-series and on Series 1 and some Series 2 laptops, Monster Hunter Wilds may crash on A-series, EA Sports FC 27 may crash on certain Series 2 platforms, and Planet Zoo 2, a game this driver adds Game On support for, may crash after changing endurance gaming settings on Core Ultra integrated graphics.
Who should install it, and who should wait
- Install it if you game on a Core Ultra Series 2 laptop, especially in Resident Evil Requiem or Assassin’s Creed Shadows, or if Stormgate has been launching to a black screen.
- Install it on Arc B-series if you play through a storefront that supports Advanced Shader Delivery and want shorter first-launch shader waits.
- Wait if you’re on Arc A-series and mainly play Monster Hunter Wilds or Gears of War: E-Day, both of which are listed as open problems on that hardware.
For A-series desktop owners, this is mostly a maintenance release. Advanced Shader Delivery, the headline feature, doesn’t cover their cards.
