Intel’s latest CPUs are on their way to getting back on track, according to ASRock. The motherboard manufacturer has posted an update on the performance of the recently released Intel Core Ultra 200 (Arrow Lake) processors. On the gaming front, the company expects Intel’s next big update to improve performance by 13%.
The Intel Core Ultra 200 series has been dogged by gaming performance issues since launch, as we found in our Core Ultra 7 265K review. Once the obvious choice for the best gaming CPU, Intel has since been outpaced by AMD with its hugely successful X3D processors, including the sold-out Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
To get back on track, a new update to the Platform Power Management driver is now live. According to ASRock, the new driver for the company’s Z890 motherboards will increase gaming performance by up to 13.23%. The newest driver (1007.20240913) is also available on other major manufacturers’ motherboards, including Asus and Gigabyte.
In its announcement, ASRock states that “benchmarks show that installing the driver can deliver up to a 13.23% improvement in gaming performance.” However, ASRock’s bar for testing still leaves a lot wanting. Currently, the manufacturer only appears to have said that Final Fantasy XIV has seen this type of boost in performance. It also doesn’t provide any data outside of the MMO’s Dawntrail benchmark, which provides a score increase from 29,157 to 33,017.
We’ll have to wait and see if this performance increase materializes across the board for every game, as the driver rolls out across more configurations. Let’s hope that major titles get a bump in performance at least.
Of course, this will also depend on your particular PC build too. If you’re hamstringing your PC by using an older GPU, a driver for the CPU might not make much of a difference.
Intel is currently gearing up for the release of its newest GPU architecture, codenamed Battlemage, with Intel Arc B580 details already starting to leak out. However, if you’re looking to buy a new CPU for gaming right now, we recommend reading our Ryzen 7 9800X3D review, so you can see why it’s currently our favorite option.