It was about time: Intel is drastically slimming down its new graphics drivers


Nerces

Hardware and Gaming Specialist

March 25, 2023 at 9:45 a.m.

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intel arc 750

© Intel

The drivers for graphics cards take on a certain overweight with the integration of ever more functionalities.

The support of Resident Evil 4 Remake is an opportunity for Intel to deploy a new version of its unified graphics drivers, the 101.4255 WHQL, and significantly reduce their footprint.

More than 1 GB of graphics drivers

Last year, Intel released – not without some difficulty – its first dedicated graphics cards in more than 15 years. The famous ARC Alchemist were available in five versions, but beyond the hardware issues, Intel was forced to review the entire software part.

Resident Evil 4 Remake © Capcom

© Capcom

The graphics drivers have been the source of several controversies as some of the first testers pointed out a lack of optimization. Our article on the A750 and A770 was precisely the opportunity to highlight the almost too frequent updates made by Intel.

Updates which had not, however, eliminated a major problem, both literally and figuratively. Indeed, in order to simplify things, Intel has opted for unified drivers between the graphics solutions integrated into its CPUs and the ARC GPUs. Problem, we ended up with huge pilots.

Size reduced by approximately 45%

Released on March 15, version 31.0.101.4146 finished pushing things up with a download greater than one gigabyte. Yes, for “dumb” graphics drivers.

Version 4123 is good to put in the trash © Nerces

Fortunately, the release of version 31.0.101.4255 is an opportunity for Intel to correct the situation. Using the expression “good things come in small packages” or “the most beautiful things are in small packages” Intel points out that the drivers are about 45% smaller.

In fact, in addition to supporting Resident Evil 4 Remaketo integrate various optimizations (Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Counter Strike Global Offensive, D5 Render, blender) and to fix some bugs, these drivers have the good taste to represent only a download of 604 MB.

A size of course to be compared to the 1.04 GB of 31.0.101.4146 to measure performance. Note that AMD remains the champion with its 598 MB Adrenalin 23.3.2. On the contrary, NVIDIA is now last: its GeForce 531.41 drivers have 853 MB on the scale.

Source : Intel



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