Intel Acknowledges Arc GPU Performance Issues with Older CPUs; Investigation Underway

Intel has officially recognized performance degradation affecting its Arc GPUs when paired with older-generation processors, including AMD's Ryzen 2000 series and Intel's own 9th-generation Core CPUs. Following widespread user reports and a detailed analysis by Hardware Unboxed, Intel issued a public acknowledgment on its official community forum, confirming the issue and announcing an ongoing investigation to identify and address the root cause.

In its official statement, Intel noted:

"Thank you for your patience. We are aware of reports of performance sensitivity in some games when paired with older generation processors. We have increased our platform coverage to include more configurations in our validation process, and we are continuing to investigate optimizations."

The statement suggests Intel was previously aware of the problem but had not yet fully prioritized compatibility optimizations for legacy hardware configurations. Although Intel promised expanded testing and future driver updates aimed at resolving the performance gap, the company has not specified a timeline for these improvements.

Performance issues were particularly noticeable with the Arc B580 and B570 GPUs, which, despite promising hardware specifications including higher VRAM compared to competitors, struggled to match performance expectations when paired with older processors. These shortcomings have limited Intel’s competitive positioning in the budget GPU market, compounded further by ongoing availability issues.

Industry observers hope the forthcoming optimizations will enable Intel’s Arc GPUs to better compete against established offerings from AMD and NVIDIA, potentially revitalizing consumer interest.

Have you encountered these performance issues with Intel Arc GPUs on older processors? Share your experiences and expectations from upcoming driver updates below.