Intel is continuing its steady march of driver improvements with a fresh update targeting its latest hardware. Whether you’ve recently picked up a new “Battlemage” B-Series card or you’re running one of the new Core Ultra Series 2 laptops, this update aims to smooth out a few bumps, particularly for those looking to try out upcoming titles.
Intel Arc Graphics Drivers
This latest release focuses heavily on stability for the newer architectures. While the list of fixes isn’t the longest we’ve seen, it addresses a specific annoyance for those testing out the PRAGMATA SKETCHBOOK demo, which was previously prone to crashing on launch.
Fixed Issues:
- Intel Arc B-Series & Core Ultra Series 2: Resolved an application crash when launching the PRAGMATA SKETCHBOOK Demo (DX12).
- Intel Graphics Software: The Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) range in the Display page now correctly shows the proper values instead of incorrect figures.
Tell Me More
Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:
- Call of Duty Black Ops 6 (DX12) may exhibit intermittent corruptions on certain water surfaces during gameplay.
- Star Citizen (VK) may experience an application crash on game launch.
- PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio may experience an intermittent application crash while running the benchmark. Recommendation is to change the timeout slider to 1500 seconds or higher, to wait for each test to complete, in PugetBench benchmark settings.
Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:
- PugetBench for Davinci Resolve Studio may experience an intermittent application crash while running the benchmark. Recommendation is to change the timeout slider to 1500 seconds or higher, to wait for each test to complete, in PugetBench benchmark settings.
Intel Core Ultra Series 1 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:
- Battlefield 6 (DX12) may exhibit intermittent corruptions on certain maps during gameplay.
Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:
- Call of Duty Black Ops 6 (DX12) may exhibit intermittent corruptions on certain water surfaces during gameplay.
- Battlefield 6 (DX12) may exhibit intermittent corruptions on certain maps during gameplay on some notebooks with Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs.
- No Man’s Sky (VK) may exhibit corruptions on certain terrains during gameplay.
- Topaz Video AI may experience visual artifacts when using certain AI models.
Intel Graphics Software Fixed Issues:
- Variable Refresh Rate range in Display page may show incorrect values.
Intel Graphics Software Known Issues:
- When using the settings, preferences, reset all settings option in Windows 10 the application may experience an intermittent crash.
- Settings can be reset from individual pages without issue.
- Intel Graphics Software may sometimes experience a single application crash on the first re-arrange of metrics within the select metrics window. Subsequent usage will not be affected by this crash again.
- Combined Display may intermittently not function as expected while combining displays or resetting settings.
Intel Graphics Software Performance Tuning (BETA):
- Intel Graphics Software Performance Tuning is currently in Beta. As such, performance and features may behave unexpectedly. Intel will continue to refine the Performance Tuning software in future releases.
- In multi-GPU scenarios with two performance tuning capable devices, the performance tuning page may attempt to apply changes to one or more devices at once rather than individually based on the GPU selector.
While it’s good to see fixes, there is a fairly extensive list of “Known Issues” that Intel is currently tracking. Users on the brand-new Core Ultra Series 3 (built-in Arc GPUs) might notice some terrain corruption in Ghost of Tsushima or intermittent crashes in The Finals.
Furthermore, B-Series users should be aware of some flickering or corruption on water surfaces in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. If you are a creative professional using DaVinci Resolve Studio, Intel recommends increasing the timeout slider to 1500 seconds in the PugetBench settings to avoid benchmark crashes.
Key Known Issues to Watch:
- Star Citizen (VK): Potential crash on launch across B-Series and Core Ultra Series 3.
- No Man’s Sky (VK): Terrain corruption on certain planetary surfaces.
- Battlefield 6 (DX12): Map corruption on certain Intel Core Ultra Series 1 and 2 notebooks.
- Performance Tuning (Beta): Intel notes that their performance tuning software is still in Beta and may behave unexpectedly in multi-GPU setups.
What We Think
Intel’s driver team is clearly working overtime to keep up with the rapid release of their new hardware tiers. It is a little frustrating to see “Known Issues” popping up for major titles like Black Ops 6 and Ghost of Tsushima, but the transparency in their release notes is always welcome. If you are running a B-Series “Battlemage” card, keeping these drivers up to date is essential as Intel continues to refine the performance of their latest architecture.
Where to Buy (and Download)
You can find the latest Intel Arc B-Series graphics cards at major retailers like Overclockers UK and Scan. If you already have the hardware and just need the software, you can download the latest Intel Graphics Drivers from here.
