Intel’s 1st Gen Arc “Alchemist” GPU family is looking more and more mythical. Originally set to launch last year, we’re yet to see a proper release in global markets. A few SKUs including the A380 have been rolled out in the Chinese market but that hardly makes up for the massive delay. Furthermore, Intel’s graphics drivers are in one word, rubbish. A video from GamersNexus highlights the various bugs plaguing these drivers, resulting in a sub-par gaming experience.
It now makes sense that Intel has held back the worldwide release of the Arc GPUs. In the condition they are now, we’d probably be looking at a massive PR nightmare if the hardware was already in consumers’ hands. GN found a total of 43 bugs with the Intel Arc graphics driver including game-breaking flickering, image corruption (with Smooth Sync), screen tearing, and abrupt crashes.
The Intel Arc Control Panel also frequently freezes and crashes and updating the driver can be a hassle. Overclocking is also a no-go as the utility often generates incorrect voltage and fan speeds. Considering the vast scale of the PC gaming market, I don’t expect Team Blue to have a fully functioning driver anytime this year.
