Sunday, December 8th 2024
Intel 0x114 Microcode Could be the Magic Gaming Performance Fix for "Arrow Lake"
The gaming performance of Intel's latest Core Ultra 200-series "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors missed the mark by quite a bit, ending up slower than the 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processors. Adding pressure to Intel is AMD's recent launch of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which extends the company's leadership in gaming performance, ending up to 12% faster than the top Core Ultra 9 285K at gaming (1080p). The company then announced that it has identified possible reasons why gaming performance of "Arrow Lake" ended up below expectations, and that it's working on a microcode-level update to the processor.
A discussion in the ASUS ROG Forums sheds light on what this microcode update could be. Allegedly, it's called the Intel 0x114 Microcode Update, and you can expect it soon in a beta UEFI firmware update from ASUS and other motherboard vendors, which makes it possible that we see a public release of the microcode either by yearend, or in Q1-2025. There's still no word on the extent of gaming performance gain from this microcode, but if we were to speculate, Intel wouldn't bother with such an update if it didn't at least bring "Arrow Lake" to the same gaming performance level as "Raptor Lake," if not higher.
Source:
HotHardware
A discussion in the ASUS ROG Forums sheds light on what this microcode update could be. Allegedly, it's called the Intel 0x114 Microcode Update, and you can expect it soon in a beta UEFI firmware update from ASUS and other motherboard vendors, which makes it possible that we see a public release of the microcode either by yearend, or in Q1-2025. There's still no word on the extent of gaming performance gain from this microcode, but if we were to speculate, Intel wouldn't bother with such an update if it didn't at least bring "Arrow Lake" to the same gaming performance level as "Raptor Lake," if not higher.
49 Comments on Intel 0x114 Microcode Could be the Magic Gaming Performance Fix for "Arrow Lake"
If P-core (where main threads of the game shoud run) wants to talk to other P-core, there are at least 5 hops (4 E-cores, then P-core) which is a latency that any microcode update cannot overcome.
They simply messes the arch in chasse of better thermals by spreading P-cores around the sillicon. Better luck next time Intel.
:p
Still won't catch AMD but at least it will be a viable choice for all-rounder builds.
Half assed products come on the market, and consumers are used as tester, then they are fixed on next gen releases, cars, motorbikes, mobile phones, notebooks, tv-s etc etc, and no one is held responsible.
Consumers just raise their concerns on various social media, and thats it. No lawsuits, no changes in the laws, no punishment for manufacturers, and we as idiots continue to buy defected products.
No one cares
It is not P-core- to E-core to E-core to E-core to E-core to P-core.
It is P-core to E-core cluster to P-cores
Same with the headline which is by all indications a baseless clickbait.
Sure, the gaming performance is a little below previous gen. But considering how many (half)cores were lost in the transition, I say that's still a strong showing. I mean, if I were building for scratch and decided for Intel, I would build around Arrow Lake.
Yes I know e-cores on Arrow Lake being Skymont are a lot stronger, but they still are not as strong as Intel claimed (LMAO Raptor Cove IPC lol, well maybe in cherry picked tests of IPC but not all rounder), so e-cores still not as good and cramming clusters in middle of p cores was a bad design choice.
And I do not think this update will help gaming that much. The tile based latency is real and its not gonna magically make it better or even on par with Raptor Lake which is a monolithic die that has a faster ring clock and P cores better in FP IPC and not far off in Integer IPC with as fast or faster clocks.