The fact that the graphics drivers from Nvidia and AMD must support almost two decades’ worth of legacy software and hardware makes sense. Despite being the newest participant in dedicated GPUs, Intel has the most significant driver download.
Intel’s entry into the market for dedicated graphics cards led to some unexpected findings about GPU driver size. Intel’s software is significantly oversized as compared to its rivals.
Nvidia’s GeForce Graphics Driver 528.02, released on January 5, has a 788MB size. AMD’s Adrenalin 22.11.2 from December 8 is 546MB in length, and version 23.1.1 from January 11 (for the Radeon RX 7000 series) is 590MB. Both are even smaller. Unexpectedly, the 1.2GB download for Intel’s Arc Graphics driver version 31.0.101.4034 from January 13 is significant. Additionally, each driver version’s support for a different set of hardware and software only partially matches up to those versions’ relative sizes.
Nvidia’s drivers would be more significant than AMD’s, given that each download includes the GeForce Experience app from the team in green. It offers practical features, including streaming capabilities, the company’s Ansel snapshot tool, and various techniques for improving gameplay efficiency. However, customers frequently complain that updating drivers requires logging into an account.
Strangely, AMD’s Radeon 7000 drivers are more significant than the ones for any of the earlier supported GPUs. Therefore it might not be the most effective bundle.
For several factors, the difference with Intel’s drivers is a mystery. Since Arc Alchemist is the first generation of Intel’s dedicated GPUs, Arc driver 31.0.101.4034 only needs to support it. In contrast, Team Red’s drivers claim to be compatible with every card made after the HD 7700 series. Like Nvidia, their history dates back to the GeForce GTX 600 series.
Additionally, the two former adversaries continue to support Vulkan, OpenGL, and other graphics APIs in addition to DirectX versions 9 through 12. The lack of support for DirectX versions before 12 in Intel Arc graphics driver is undoubtedly one of its main flaws. It seems curious that it needs to be twice as large to download. Intel’s solutions for outdated APIs lead to more code rather than less.
Another possibility is that Intel ships Tiger Lake and Raptor Lake processors with drivers for Intel’s Xe-integrated graphics. Given that AMD’s download also supports its integrated GPUs and APUs, we may disprove that idea.
The most straightforward explanation is that Intel needs more time to optimize its download size and performance drivers. Since it is new to the industry, this problem might become better on its own eventually. We’ll have to wait and watch how Intel Arc Battlemage’s release affects the company’s driver support.
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