New MSI Claw driver update promises impressive performance gains

Despite its legacy as a top-tier electronics manufacturer, MSI has failed to make a dent on the handheld gaming market with the MSI Claw. Many blame the company's decision to opt for Intel Meteor Lake processors for its lackluster performance. However, MSI has been hard at work delivering performance improvements to its maiden handheld, with the previous update based on the Intel Arc GPU driver 31.0.101.5382 yielded in some remarkable increase in framerates. Its successor, based on the Intel Arc GPU driver 31.0.101.5445, promises even more.

A blog post on MSI's website states the newest update delivers a whopping 150% performance improvement in 7 to Die (31 FPS to 78 FPS). Other titles that get a boost include Cyberpunk 2077 (58%), GTA V (40%), Fortnite (16%), Diablo IV (14%), and Lethal Company (16%). These figures are with all settings at "Low", with XeSS enabled at 1080p. While first-party benchmarks should always be treated with skepticism, Intel's recent driver updates have been legitimately good.

MSI Claw (curr $799 on Best Buy) users can now directly upgrade their BIOS through Windows instead of relying on a USB drive. You can download the above mentioned BIOS and drivers from MSI and Intel's websites, respectively. The update should eventually be available on other Intel-powered handhelds such as the OneXPlayer X1 and AOKZOE A2 Ultra.