Tag: Lunar Lake

  • MSI Claw 8 AI+ Handheld: 20% Faster Than ROG Ally X

    MSI Claw 8 AI+ Handheld: 20% Faster Than ROG Ally X

    In the tough world of gaming handhelds, MSI discovered that some risks don’t pay off. Their last handheld, the Claw, received harsh criticism and struggled to compete against devices like the ROG Ally. However, with the new Lunar Lake-powered Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+, things seem to be looking up for the company.

    Promising Performance

    As per the official slides from ETA Prime, the outlook for MSI is bright. The Claw 8 reportedly outperforms the ROG Ally X, which runs on the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, by about 20% at 17 watts with lower graphics settings and XeSS/FSR activated. This result is no surprise since the Arc 140V integrated GPU is indeed much quicker than the old Radeon 780M in the Ryzen Z1 Extreme. Nevertheless, with the Ryzen Z2 Extreme expected to debut at CES 2025, MSI’s edge might be temporary, especially since the Claw 7 AI+ and Claw 8 AI+ won’t hit the market until the end of this month.

    Upgraded Features

    The Claw 8 AI+ comes with several impressive upgrades compared to the ROG Ally X, such as a bigger 8-inch 1080p display, faster Wi-Fi 7, and up to 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory, plus dual Thunderbolt 4 ports. The price for the Core Ultra 7 258V model stands at $899, which is $100 higher than the Ally X. Now, everyone’s waiting to see if Asus will step up with a refreshed version of the ROG Ally X, and with CES 2025 just around the corner, the answer will be revealed soon.

    Source: Link


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  • Intel Graphics Drivers Increase Gaming Performance by 24%

    Intel Graphics Drivers Increase Gaming Performance by 24%

    Intel has launched a fresh set of graphics drivers that bring major performance improvements and optimizations for many games, along with support for new titles. The drivers, 32.0.101.6127 WHQL and 32.0.101.6044 Non-WHQL, cater to integrated GPUs (iGPUs) in the Core Ultra 200V series processors (Lunar Lake), as well as discrete Arc Alchemist GPUs. Users can expect significant enhancements, with Lunar Lake iGPUs achieving up to a 24% performance boost, while Arc Alchemist GPUs can enjoy as much as a 20% increase in game performance.

    Fixes and Enhancements

    Alongside performance upgrades, Intel has resolved various known issues with this driver update, which enhances overall stability and functionality:

    Nevertheless, Intel has stated that some problems are still under investigation. These lingering issues include flickering in Doom Eternal (Vulkan), crashes in Blender during specific rendering benchmarks, corruption issues in Adobe Premiere Pro when using 8K AV1 Encode, and stability concerns in Star Wars Outlaws.

    Download Availability

    The 32.0.101.6127 WHQL and 32.0.101.6044 Non-WHQL drivers can be downloaded and are compatible with Intel CPUs from the 11th Generation up to the latest Lunar Lake processors. Nonetheless, Intel recommends that users should opt for OEM-customized drivers instead of the generic Intel versions. The OEM drivers are tailored for specific devices and have gone through rigorous testing to ensure they are compatible and stable.

    Another noteworthy point about this release is the increased driver package size, now reaching 1.4GB. This is due to the combination of drivers for both Arc GPUs and Lunar Lake iGPUs. Although this merger is expected to be temporary, it currently means that users of either GPU will need to download the entire package.

    Intel via Tom’s Hardware