Intel has just released a major update to its driver tools for the Intel Arc series of graphics cards, including Alchemist and future generations like Battlemage . This driver update notably features tools for analyzing CPU and GPU usage in conjunction with graphics performance.
This means that the "GPU Busy" metrics are added to monitoring tools. Simply put, it indicates whether the CPU and GPU are performing at the same pace, or if performance drops are noticed, whether the GPU or the CPU is causing the bottleneck.
Intel updates its Arc graphics drivers to improve performance and let you know if your CPU or GPU is holding you back
The GPU Busy Metric will allow for more accurate determination of whether a GPU needs to be upgraded, thanks to the Intel Present Month tool, which is now an end-user tool and completely open source. This code will be published on GitHub in the coming days. The goal is to prevent the CPU from causing the GPU to wait, ensuring it performs in accordance with the graphics card's capabilities. Furthermore, this tool can be used with other graphics cards from different manufacturers , provided that manufacturers like AMD or NVIDIA allow access to certain telemetry data.
But most notable of all is that, with the new driver, there have been improvements in games, especially those that use DirectX9 and DirectX11. In a question and answer session, they have confirmed that they will continue to work on performance improvements. They are committed to improving compatibility in DirectX9, and hope to unlock the full potential of DirectX 11 soon. They are also improving DX12, but with some limits. On DirectX10, they commented that there are so few relevant games that use it, that they don't consider it an immediate priority.
They showcased a range of improvements, with some key games showing a 10% increase, but in the case of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the improvement was a staggering 77%. They added that this improvement wasn't achieved using the top-of-the-line model. The results came from a combination of an Intel Arc A750 and an i5 CPU. Further improvements are expected with an Intel Arc A770, and fewer with an A380. They used the A750 as an example because it's the most popular among gamers. Finally, they added that the improvements in Arc graphics aren't specific to Intel CPUs , so they could also be seen with AMD CPUs.
