Intel Arc Driver 101.6734 WHQL Brings Optimisations to Lunar Lake Devices

Intel has rolled out its latest Arc GPU Graphics Drivers, version 101.6734 WHQL, bringing a key highlight for users of the newly announced Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors, which feature integrated Intel Arc graphics. This update specifically targets handheld gaming devices powered by the “Lunar Lake” architecture, promising enhanced power management optimisations designed to improve both performance and frame pacing while operating in lower power modes. This focus suggests Intel’s commitment to delivering a smoother and more efficient gaming experience on the growing number of mobile gaming PC devices>

Beyond the optimisations for Lunar Lake, the new driver also addresses some resolution issues in some game settings. While this fix will surely be welcomed by affected users, the release notes also detail a number of known issues across different Intel Arc GPU series. Notably, users with Intel Arc B-Series graphics products may encounter crashes in “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” and “Returnal”, as well as flickering in “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6” and corruption in “Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0”. Similar issues, including crashes in “Returnal” and “PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19”, are also listed for Intel Arc A-Series and Core Ultra Series 1 and 2 integrated graphics. Hopefully, these will be resolved soon too.

Despite the list of ongoing issues, Intel encourages users to update to the latest driver to benefit from the power management improvements for Lunar Lake and the addressed resolution enumeration bug. It is important for users, particularly those playing the listed problematic games or using the mentioned benchmark software, to be aware of the potential issues and consider the trade-offs before installing the update.

Highlights
Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• Power management optimization for Intel Core Ultra 200V series (codename Lunar Lake) handheld gaming devices for improve performance and frame pacing with lower power modes.

Fixed Issues

• Certain games may not enumerate all supported display resolutions in the game settings on some notebooks.

Known Issues:
Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (DX12) may experience an application crash while loading to gameplay.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (DX12) may exhibit flickering corruption in certain scenes during gameplay.
• Returnal (DX12) may experience an application crash during gameplay with ray tracing settings turned on.
• Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 (DX12) may exhibit corruption on water areas in certain scenarios.
• MLPerf may exhibit intermittent errors when running on multi-GPU system configurations. It is recommended to disable integrated GPU as a workaround.
• SPECapc for Maya 2024 may experience intermittent application freeze during benchmark.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience an application crash while running the benchmark.

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

• Returnal (DX12) may experience an application crash during gameplay with ray tracing settings turned on.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (DX12) may exhibit darker than expected shadows in certain campaign scenarios.
• Topaz Gigapixel AI may experience intermittent crash while exporting images.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience an application crash while running the benchmark.

Intel Core Ultra Series 1 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience errors intermittently with the benchmark preset set to Extended.

Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• Adobe Premiere Pro may exhibit corruption in the output video after performing 8K AV1 Encode.
• PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio V19 may experience errors intermittently with benchmark preset set to Extended.