Noticeably better Intel ARC A770 performance showcased as updated drivers deliver 9% more average fps in DirectX 11/12 games

Intel launched the desktop ARC GPUs late last year to middling reviews. The main criticism of the company’s first foray into the enthusiast graphics market was that the ARC A770 and the ARC A750 were plagued with driver issues that resulted in poor performance especially in games that rely on the older DirectX 9 API. With subsequent driver updates, Intel claims it has made significant gains in this department.

Hardware Unboxed, a popular YouTube channel covering PC hardware, has now tested the ARC A770 with the ARC driver version 4123 and compared the results to the version 3802 (released in November 2022) to see whether Intel’s promises about improved performance have materialized.

At 1080p and with the driver version 4123 installed, the ARC A770 proved to be 9% faster on average in 12 games that Hardware Unboxed tested. Here, the GPU produced an average frame rate and 1% lows of 111 and 89 fps respectively. The ARC A770 with the version 3802 drivers managed to push out an average of 102 fps with 1% lows of 81 fps.

At 1440p, version 4123 boosted the ARC A770’s performance by around 8% when it comes to average frame rates. The GPU pushed out an average fps of 86 while the 1% lows came in at 73 fps.

Interestingly, drivers 4123 have had little to no effect on DX11/12 titles. For instance, the largest performance uplift Hardware Unboxed came across was in Far Cry 6. The title saw an average fps increase of around 10% at 1080p whereas at 1440p the gain shrank a bit to 9%.

The marginal DX11/12 performance gains afforded by the new drivers are in stark contrast to the uplifts seen in DX9 titles. In CS: GO, the ARC A770 cranked out an impressive 322 fps at 1080p with 1% lows standing at 197 fps. For comparison, the ARC A770 only managed a measly average fps of 147 and disappointing 1% lows of 70 fps with the old 3802 drivers. The 144p results were equally impressive with a whopping 120% average fps increase while the 1% lows saw an even bigger 180% uplift.

Per Hardwar Unboxed, the value proposition of the ARC A770 has also improved thanks to better drivers. At 1080p and 1440p, the cost-per-frame figures have decreased and now end up at US$3.21 and US$4.06 at the respective resolutions. These cost-per-frame calculations are based on Newegg rates, so the results could be different depending upon the pricing from different stores.

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