Intel A350M and A370M: Arc graphics driver still ‘improving’ benchmarks

Even a month after the release of the entry-level Arc A350M and A370M discrete graphics cards for laptops, Intel didn’t deliver the promised graphics driver accordingly. Already on March 30, the manufacturer promised an updated dedicated driver for graphics chips for the Arc and Iris series.

Arc graphics driver is bleach

By the end of April at the latest, Intel has promised a new graphics driver in the person of Lisa Pierce, vice president and general manager of the Visual Compute Group, which for the first time should also contain an option to disable optimizations for performance standards.

By the end of April, we will be adding a UI option that allows users to turn on and off specific Benchmark improvements.

This gives anyone the ability to see the high-level capabilities of Intel Arc hardware for a fully optimized workload, as well as overall scaling performance.

When the switch is in place and the performance improvements are disabled by default, the driver will be eligible for UL approval.

Lisa Pearce, Vice President and General Manager, Visual Compute Group

Without this option, for example, all tests run in the 3DMark benchmark suite with optimizations that improve performance by 15 percent, but at the same time instantly cancel all entries based on Underwriters Laboratories (UL) guidelines and are therefore not comparable.

Improvements can’t be turned off

The latest Arc graphics driver from Intel, linked at the bottom of this message, has build number 1330 (release notes) and is dated April 8, while the current beta build from April 27 is build 1934. Both graphics engines do not include the promised UI option to disable “improvements” for standards.

Follows the Arc A550M, A730M, and A770M

The Intel Arc Mobile Arc suite will consist of a total of five different discrete graphics cards:

The Arc A350M and A370M as entry-level solutions are based on the ACM-G11 micro graphics chip, while the other three branches are based on the Alchemist GPU ACM-G10. The Arc A550M falls in the mid-range and the Arc A730M and Arc A770M will be some of the best.

According to optimistic estimates, the Arc A550M, A730M and A770M will be launched in July at the earliest.