• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Intel 0x114 Microcode Could be the Magic Gaming Performance Fix for "Arrow Lake"

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,280 (7.53/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
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.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
 
Joined
Jul 1, 2011
Messages
364 (0.07/day)
System Name Matar Extreme PC.
Processor Intel Core i9-12900KS 5.2GHZ All P-Cores ,4.2GHZ All E-Cores & Ring 4.2GhZ bus speed 100.27
Motherboard NZXT N5 Z690 Wi-Fi 6E
Cooling CoolerMaster ML240L V2 AIO with MX6
Memory 4x16 64GB DDR4 3600MHZ CL15-19-19-36-55 G.SKILL Trident Z NEO
Video Card(s) Nvidia ZOTAC RTX 3080 Ti Trinity + overclocked 100 core 1000 mem. Re-pasted MX6
Storage WD black 1GB Nvme OS + 1TB 970 Nvme Samsung & 4TB WD Blk 256MB cache 7200RPM
Display(s) Lenovo 34" Ultra Wide 3440x1440 144hz 1ms G-Snyc
Case NZXT H510 Black with Cooler Master RGB Fans
Audio Device(s) Internal , EIFER speakers & EasySMX Wireless Gaming Headset
Power Supply Aurora R9 850Watts 80+ Gold, I Modded cables for it.
Mouse Onn RGB Gaming Mouse & Logitech G923 & shifter & E-Break Sim setup.
Keyboard GOFREETECH RGB Gaming Keyboard, & Xbox 1 X Controller & T-Flight Hotas Joystick
VR HMD Oculus Rift S
Software Windows 10 Home 22H2
Benchmark Scores https://www.youtube.com/user/matttttar/videos
Doesn't intel have game testers to test their CPU before release if they want to hire me, I can do that just send me the hardware and i will test them12 hours a day.
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2016
Messages
3,432 (1.16/day)
System Name The de-ploughminator Mk-III
Processor 9800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X870E Aorus Master
Cooling DeepCool AK620
Memory 2x32GB G.SKill 6400MT Cas32
Video Card(s) Asus RTX4090 TUF
Storage 4TB Samsung 990 Pro
Display(s) 48" LG OLED C4
Case Corsair 5000D Air
Audio Device(s) KEF LSX II LT speakers + KEF KC62 Subwoofer
Power Supply Corsair HX850
Mouse Razor Death Adder v3
Keyboard Razor Huntsman V3 Pro TKL
Software win11
I sure the handful of people who bought Intel 15th gen CPU will be happy :roll:
 
Joined
Dec 1, 2020
Messages
487 (0.33/day)
Processor Ryzen 5 7600X
Motherboard ASRock B650M PG Riptide
Cooling Noctua NH-D15
Memory DDR5 6000Mhz CL28 32GB
Video Card(s) Nvidia Geforce RTX 3070 Palit GamingPro OC
Storage Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen.4 1TB
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.
The fact that they don't mention gaming performance improvement mean less than raptor lake. They already lied that both are within the margin of error. They can't lie again and get ugly reviews for second time that expose their lies
 

AcE

Joined
Dec 3, 2024
Messages
121 (12.10/day)
This will probably not change much in the grand scape. Plus X3D processors are sometimes way more ahead than "just" 12%, some games scale a ton with X3D cache, so much that even 5800X3D wins against all Intel CPUs, so the "average 12%" doesn't mean that much, depending which games you play.
 
Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
3,371 (0.82/day)
Location
Athens, Greece
System Name 3 desktop systems: Gaming / Internet / HTPC
Processor Ryzen 5 5500 / Ryzen 5 4600G / FX 6300 (12 years latter got to see how bad Bulldozer is)
Motherboard MSI X470 Gaming Plus Max (1) / MSI X470 Gaming Plus Max (2) / Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3
Cooling Νoctua U12S / Segotep T4 / Snowman M-T6
Memory 32GB - 16GB G.Skill RIPJAWS 3600+16GB G.Skill Aegis 3200 / 16GB JUHOR / 16GB Kingston 2400MHz (DDR3)
Video Card(s) ASRock RX 6600 + GT 710 (PhysX)/ Vega 7 integrated / Radeon RX 580
Storage NVMes, ONLY NVMes/ NVMes, SATA Storage / NVMe boot(Clover), SATA storage
Display(s) Philips 43PUS8857/12 UHD TV (120Hz, HDR, FreeSync Premium) ---- 19'' HP monitor + BlitzWolf BW-V5
Case Sharkoon Rebel 12 / CoolerMaster Elite 361 / Xigmatek Midguard
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply Chieftec 850W / Silver Power 400W / Sharkoon 650W
Mouse CoolerMaster Devastator III Plus / CoolerMaster Devastator / Logitech
Keyboard CoolerMaster Devastator III Plus / CoolerMaster Devastator / Logitech
Software Windows 10 / Windows 10&Windows 11 / Windows 10
It seems that not just software, like games, are prematurely release in beta states, but also hardware.
 
Joined
Feb 15, 2019
Messages
1,664 (0.78/day)
System Name Personal Gaming Rig
Processor Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI X670E Carbon
Cooling MO-RA 3 420
Memory 32GB 6000MHz
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 ICHILL FROSTBITE ULTRA
Storage 4x 2TB Nvme
Display(s) Samsung G8 OLED
Case Silverstone FT04
I 'll believe it when I see it, could be.
Spongebob GIF
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Messages
134 (0.05/day)
It won’t help! That CPU is bad architectonally - the P-cores are separated by several hops over E-cores on the ring-bus!

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.
 
Joined
May 11, 2018
Messages
1,274 (0.53/day)
But if I was to speculate, Intel wouldn't bother with such an update if it didn't at least bring "Arrow Lake" to the same degradation level as "Raptor Lake," if not higher!

:p
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2021
Messages
190 (0.13/day)
Processor Core i7-12700
Motherboard MSI B660 MAG Mortar
Cooling Noctua NH-D15
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws V 64GB (4x16) DDR4-3600 CL16 @ 3466 MT/s
Video Card(s) AMD RX 6800
Storage Too many to list, lol
Display(s) Gigabyte M27Q
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Power Supply Corsair RM750x
Mouse Too many to list, lol
Keyboard Keychron low profile
Software Fedora, Mint
It won’t help! That CPU is bad architectonally - the P-cores are separated by several hops over E-cores on the ring-bus!

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.
The man's so polite, he writes his criticisms in invisible ink
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
499 (0.13/day)
Location
Cyprus
Processor 13700KF - 5.7GHZ
Motherboard Z690 UNIFY-X
Cooling ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360 (NF-A12x25)
Memory 2x16 G.SKILL M-DIE (7200-34-44-44-28)
Video Card(s) XFX MERC 7900XT
Storage 1TB KINGSTON KC3000
Display(s) FI32Q
Case LIAN LI O11 DYNAMIC EVO
Audio Device(s) HD599
Power Supply RMX1000
Mouse PULSAR V2H
Keyboard KEYCHRON V3 (DUROCK T1 + MT3 GODSPEED R2)
Software Windows 11
Benchmark Scores Superposition 4k optimized - 20652
It won’t help! That CPU is bad architectonally - the P-cores are separated by several hops over E-cores on the ring-bus!

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.
Cant you disable E cores to not go through them then ?
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2024
Messages
27 (5.40/day)
Location
Missouri
System Name Don't do thermal paste, kids
Processor Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard ASUS PRIME B550-PLUS AC-HES
Cooling AMD Wraith Stealth Cooler
Memory Silicon Power 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3200
Video Card(s) RTX 2080 Super Founders Edition
Display(s) Gigabyte G27Q
Case SAMA SV01
A wunderwaffe won't save these CPUs.
Neither would a thunder-gun at this rate. Still though, for current owners of them this could be nice. But they already killed any momentum they had, so I doubt this will save them.
 
Joined
Dec 1, 2020
Messages
487 (0.33/day)
Processor Ryzen 5 7600X
Motherboard ASRock B650M PG Riptide
Cooling Noctua NH-D15
Memory DDR5 6000Mhz CL28 32GB
Video Card(s) Nvidia Geforce RTX 3070 Palit GamingPro OC
Storage Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen.4 1TB
Cant you disable E cores to not go through them then ?
This won't change the physical distance between the cores
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
10,814 (1.73/day)
Location
Austin Texas
System Name stress-less
Processor 9800X3D @ 5.42GHZ
Motherboard MSI PRO B650M-A Wifi
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO
Memory 64GB DDR5 6400 1:1 CL30-36-36-76 FCLK 2200
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 FE
Storage 2TB WD SN850, 4TB WD SN850X
Display(s) Alienware 32" 4k 240hz OLED
Case Jonsbo Z20
Audio Device(s) Yes
Power Supply Corsair SF750
Mouse DeathadderV2 X Hyperspeed
Keyboard 65% HE Keyboard
Software Windows 11
Benchmark Scores They're pretty good, nothing crazy.
12% is good, some windows updates would be good too.

Still won't catch AMD but at least it will be a viable choice for all-rounder builds.
 
Joined
Nov 12, 2021
Messages
14 (0.01/day)
Location
Croatia
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Motherboard Asrock B550 Pro 4
Cooling Be Quiet Silent Loop 2 280
Memory Kingston HyperX 16GB 3200Mhz
Video Card(s) Gainward GeForce RTX 3060Ti
Storage XPG Spectrix 1TB NVMe
Display(s) Philips 328E1CA
Case Be Quiet Silent Base 802
Audio Device(s) Corsair HS70 Pro WiFi
Power Supply Be Quiet Dark Power 12 850W
Mouse Razer Pro Click
Keyboard Logitech K780
It seems that not just software, like games, are prematurely release in beta states, but also hardware.
Yeah, its a trend in last 10 years in all areas.

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
 
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
995 (0.59/day)
System Name S.L.I + RTX research rig
Processor Ryzen 7 5800X 3D.
Motherboard MSI MEG ACE X570
Cooling Corsair H150i Cappellx
Memory Corsair Vengeance pro RGB 3200mhz 32Gbs
Video Card(s) 2x Dell RTX 2080 Ti in S.L.I
Storage Western digital Sata 6.0 SDD 500gb + fanxiang S660 4TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2
Display(s) HP X24i
Case Corsair 7000D Airflow
Power Supply EVGA G+1600watts
Mouse Corsair Scimitar
Keyboard Cosair K55 Pro RGB
It won’t help! That CPU is bad architectonally - the P-cores are separated by several hops over E-cores on the ring-bus!

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.
Stopping at E-cores isn't 4 added stops, it's one because they all share a single slice of L3 cache to a cluster or 4 E-cores.

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
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 3, 2017
Messages
3,782 (1.32/day)
Processor Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard ROG STRIX B650E-F GAMING WIFI
Memory 2x16GB G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5-6000 CL36 (F5-6000J3636F16GX2-FX5)
Video Card(s) INNO3D GeForce RTX™ 4070 Ti SUPER TWIN X2
Storage 2TB Samsung 980 PRO, 4TB WD Black SN850X
Display(s) 42" LG C2 OLED, 27" ASUS PG279Q
Case Thermaltake Core P5
Power Supply Fractal Design Ion+ Platinum 760W
Mouse Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro SE
Keyboard Corsair K100 RGB
VR HMD HTC Vive Cosmos
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.
That is a very baseless speculation. Sure they would. Performance increases are a good thing in any case, no?

Same with the headline which is by all indications a baseless clickbait.
 
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
1,669 (0.23/day)
Location
Maribor, Slovenia, EU
System Name Core i9 rig / Lenovo laptop
Processor Core i9 10900X / Core i5 8350U
Motherboard Asus Prime X299 Edition 30 / Lenovo motherboard
Cooling Corsair H115i PRO RGB / stock cooler
Memory Gskill 4x8GB 3600mhz / 16GB 2400mhz
Video Card(s) Asus ROG Strix RTX 2080 Super / UHD 620
Storage Samsung SSD 970 PRO 1TB / Samsung OEM 256GB NVMe
Display(s) Dell UltraSharp UP3017 / Full HD IPS touch
Case Coolermaster mastercase H500M
Audio Device(s) Onboard sound
Power Supply Enermax Platimax 1700 watt / Lenovo 65watt power adapter
Mouse Logitech M500s
Keyboard Cherry
Software Windows 11 Pro / Windows 11 Pro
It would be great if the microcode update would improve the performance.
 

bug

Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
13,828 (3.96/day)
Processor Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard Asus H670 TUF
Cooling Arctic Freezer 34
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage 500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s) Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard G.Skill KM780R
Software Arch Linux + Win10
Stopping at E-cores isn't 4 added stops, it's one because they all share a single slice of L3 cache to a cluster or 4 E-cores.

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
Not even that, because the middle 8 P-cores still sit next to each other.

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.
 
Joined
Dec 24, 2010
Messages
575 (0.11/day)
Location
mississauga, on, Canada
System Name YACS amd
Processor 5800x,
Motherboard gigabyte x570 aorus gaming elite.
Cooling bykski GPU, and CPU, syscooling p93x pump
Memory corsair vengeance pro rgb, 3600 ddr4 stock timings.
Video Card(s) xfx merc 310 7900xtx
Storage kingston kc3000 2TB, amongst others. Fanxiang s770 2TB
Display(s) benq ew3270u, or acer XB270hu, acer XB280hk, asus VG 278H,
Case lian li LANCOOL III
Audio Device(s) obs,
Power Supply FSP Hydro Ti pro 1000w
Mouse logitech g703
Keyboard durogod keyboard. (cherry brown switches)
Software win 11, win10pro.
So they tune the microcode for benchmarks, fails.., tune it for gaming, GOLD, success, plaid Speed!…
 
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
2,711 (0.54/day)
Location
Greece
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 5600@80W
Motherboard MSI B550 Tomahawk
Cooling ZALMAN CNPS9X OPTIMA
Memory 2*8GB PATRIOT PVS416G400C9K@3733MT_C16
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon RX 6750 XT Pulse 12GB
Storage Sandisk SSD 128GB, Kingston A2000 NVMe 1TB, Samsung F1 1TB, WD Black 10TB
Display(s) AOC 27G2U/BK IPS 144Hz
Case SHARKOON M25-W 7.1 BLACK
Audio Device(s) Realtek 7.1 onboard
Power Supply Seasonic Core GC 500W
Mouse Sharkoon SHARK Force Black
Keyboard Trust GXT280
Software Win 7 Ultimate 64bit/Win 10 pro 64bit/Manjaro Linux
With Win11 24H2 official for a month now, the difference in performance between 9800X3D and 285K is more than 20% and not 12%. So, whatever improvement that firmware update brings to the table, the newest flagships are solar systems apart, at least in CPU sensitive game engines.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2022
Messages
375 (0.42/day)
Stopping at E-cores isn't 4 added stops, it's one because they all share a single slice of L3 cache to a cluster or 4 E-cores.

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

And that design sucks. Why bork what wasn't broke and worked so much better on Alder Lake and Raptor Lake where the P cores were together and e-cores on the side with still good latency even going to e-core though not as good and excellent. That way P cores were prioritized and e-cores the great secondary auxiliary threads kicked in when needed and it worked very well. And for stuff that scaled to infinite threads it did not matter.

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.
 
Top