Intel Graphics Teases a New Gamer-Friendly Control Panel

[btarunr]

Intel Graphics switched gears from being integrated graphics solutions for basic 2D desktop and video, to something that could appeal to gamers. The change appears to have been brought about by hiring of Raja Koduri, who led graphics teams at AMD and Apple. Intel discovered that its iGPUs can play many e-Sports games such as PUBG, World of Tanks, Warhammer: Vermitide 2, etc., and so, the company decided to do more for this segment of PC gamers that still games on iGPUs, beginning with regular driver updates that pack game-optimizations, the switch to the new DCH driver model for Windows 10, and apparently, a new Control Panel app designed for gamers.

Teased in a YouTube presentation by Intel Graphics, the Control Panel appears to show a game launcher and settings optimization tool modeled along the lines of GeForce Experience. Intel has also made big changes to the functional bits of the Control Panel, which deal with global display settings, monitor setup, etc. The new Control Panel gives us a direction of where Intel Graphics is headed: it doesn't want to leave behind gamers. The Gen11 iGPU which will be part of the company's 10 nm "Ice Lake" processors already spark rumors of massive 3D performance improvements over current Gen9.5, and reportedly have over 1 TFLOP/s of raw compute power. The company is also working on a discrete GPU lineup under the Xe brand, targeting a variety of market segments, including gamers.



The video presentation by Intel Graphics follows.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Vayra86]

Seriously? Teasing a new skin now?

Give us some hardware first, then we'll start paying attention

 

[EntropyZ]

It's something... I prefer actual functionality over form and looks. While nVidia's CP looks like a discount Win XP toolbar, at least you can manage the most important settings. What I don't like about it though is that it always takes a long time to refresh when moving through the tabs, for some reason.

I use nvidia inspector for game profiles though.

 

[notb]

Seriously? Teasing a new skin now?

Give us some hardware first, then we'll start paying attention

Hardware is already here. Many PC owners game on Intel iGPU.

 

[kings]

At least they are showing some efforts on something related to gaming.

Hopefully, this is a indicator that we will have graphics cards for gaming too, not just for the professional market.

 

[Dammeron]

Hardware is already here. Many PC owners game on Intel iGPU.

I think he meant hardware, not "hardware".

 

[Vayra86]

Hardware is already here. Many PC owners game on Intel iGPU.

Of course but let's not be oblivious to the timing and reason of this press release: Intel wants to become a gamers' brand and it wants to gain mindshare for its future GPUs. Not for its shitty IGPs, and the people 'gaming on an Intel IGPU' really aren't going to be triggered by this news. The better half probably doesn't even know where to find this control panel in the first place, and the other half doesn't really have a use for it in terms of gaming.

 

[Slizzo]

Seriously? Teasing a new skin now?

Give us some hardware first, then we'll start paying attention

Chicken or the egg. I'd rather have them working on the driver and ironing out the interface and usability/perfromance of it now, before they launch their discrete graphics products. So that when they DO release those GPUs, at least the driver will be somewhat fleshed out from day one.

Hardware is already here. Many PC owners game on Intel iGPU.

Yup.

 

[Vayra86]

Chicken or the egg. I'd rather have them working on the driver and ironing out the interface and usability/perfromance of it now, before they launch their discrete graphics products. So that when they DO release those GPUs, at least the driver will be somewhat fleshed out from day one.



Yup.

I think its not really an issue, the real point is functionality and not a skin or a new UI. I don't know about you, but I'm really not looking for auto-apply settings per game for example and since there are no discrete GPUs yet, the driver will require major updates anyway when they do arrive.

Its not a bad thing, I'm just saying, that the timing and placement of this press release is very obviously not because something's radically changed but rather for PR reasons. And it is also most certainly NOT for all those IGPs. Intel made do with their classic UI for decades despite a majority market share of IGPs.

 

[Slizzo]

Well, as said in the copy, the gen 11 graphics are supposed to be a major leap coming from what they were. These drivers are a complete redesign of what is currently out there; people on their driver team went and talked to the /r/intel community on reddit on what we'd (the users and enthusiasts) like to see in the drivers that currently isn't there. From what I see, they've a really good start on pretty much everything that was on our wishlist.

Again, getting ahead of this prior to launch of the discrete GPU will only help that launch in the long run. Making sure this is all set will allow the driver team to focus on only delivering a stable and well performing driver update for that specific GPU, rather than a completely new release from what is currently out there.

 

[Vayra86]

Well, as said in the copy, the gen 11 graphics are supposed to be a major leap coming from what they were. These drivers are a complete redesign of what is currently out there; people on their driver team went and talked to the /r/intel community on reddit on what we'd (the users and enthusiasts) like to see in the drivers that currently isn't there. From what I see, they've a really good start on pretty much everything that was on our wishlist.

Again, getting ahead of this prior to launch of the discrete GPU will only help that launch in the long run. Making sure this is all set will allow the driver team to focus on only delivering a stable and well performing driver update for that specific GPU, rather than a completely new release from what is currently out there.

I did not know about that, thx for enlightening me

 

[Steevo]

Chicken or the egg. I'd rather have them working on the driver and ironing out the interface and usability/perfromance of it now, before they launch their discrete graphics products. So that when they DO release those GPUs, at least the driver will be somewhat fleshed out from day one.



Yup.

We need the hardware to run and fond the issues, meaning we need the chicken to get the egg, we need to know that when two monitors are connected a mouse cursor doesn't disappear etc....

They don't have all the hardware and software to test on, so sure on new machines with only their hardware it may be great, but for the real world it's going to have problems.

 

[notb]

Of course but let's not be oblivious to the timing and reason of this press release: Intel wants to become a gamers' brand and it wants to gain mindshare for its future GPUs. Not for its shitty IGPs, and the people 'gaming on an Intel IGPU' really aren't going to be triggered by this news. The better half probably doesn't even know where to find this control panel in the first place, and the other half doesn't really have a use for it in terms of gaming.

I think you'd be really surprised.
People game on IGP because that's what they have in their PCs, most likely laptops. Some of them are very casual and may not benefit from this panel, true.
But some are really hardcore and they may have top desktops worth a fortune at home. But they can also game on their notebooks while traveling, commuting or during lunch breaks.

Intel HD is surprisingly capable performance-wise (for a chip that takes almost no space and pulls maybe 1W in idle).
Historically, the main problem with IGP was compatibility. Some games just wouldn't run on it despite not needing more oomph. I don't know the reason.
If Intel could fix this just by rewriting the driver, it would already be a huge improvement. And next gen Intel IGP could go neck and neck with Navi APUs. ;-)

 

[Rockarola]

I think you'd be really surprised.
People game on IGP because that's what they have in their PCs, most likely laptops. Some of them are very casual and may not benefit from this panel, true.
But some are really hardcore and they may have top desktops worth a fortune at home. But they can also game on their notebooks while traveling, commuting or during lunch breaks.

Intel HD is surprisingly capable performance-wise (for a chip that takes almost no space and pulls maybe 1W in idle).
Historically, the main problem with IGP was compatibility. Some games just wouldn't run on it despite not needing more oomph. I don't know the reason.
If Intel could fix this just by rewriting the driver, it would already be a huge improvement. And next gen Intel IGP could go neck and neck with Navi APUs. ;-)

Well, that song has been played before. AMD basically survived because of superior APUs, since a lot of people on a low budget still likes to game...Bulldozer should have sold about 0 units, but the APU sold those crappy CPUs.
AMD is definitely not competing in the high-end GPU market, but they have a lot of experience making great APUs, meaning that (for once) Intel needs to catch up, not just cruise.

 

[eidairaman1]

Intels focus is not on the gamer.

 

[notb]

Well, that song has been played before. AMD basically survived because of superior APUs, since a lot of people on a low budget still likes to game...Bulldozer should have sold about 0 units, but the APU sold those crappy CPUs.

Actually that's the opposite of what I said.
I really doubt people buy Intel IGP to play games. Maybe in really poor countries.

People simply buy allround computers (mostly laptops) that rely on IGP. Playing is just one of the things they use them for.
So if the IGP inside those computers can be used for gaming, why not make it good at it?

 

[Slizzo]

We need the hardware to run and fond the issues, meaning we need the chicken to get the egg, we need to know that when two monitors are connected a mouse cursor doesn't disappear etc....

They don't have all the hardware and software to test on, so sure on new machines with only their hardware it may be great, but for the real world it's going to have problems.

Intel's iGPU is out there already, and supports multiple monitors, no problem. This will work fine to iron out all those issues until their discrete GPUs launch.

 

[Rockarola]

Actually that's the opposite of what I said.
I really doubt people buy Intel IGP to play games. Maybe in really poor countries.

People simply buy allround computers (mostly laptops) that rely on IGP. Playing is just one of the things they use them for.
So if the IGP inside those computers can be used for gaming, why not make it good at it?

Sorry, I reckon I misunderstood you...no harm, no foul