Recent Intel graphics drivers have rendered games very unstable

[Xillvion]

Starting from DCH version 30.0.101.1631, any games, even those that aren't hard to run, will crash after few minutes of playing and when that happens, the graphics driver becomes unstable by making the display go out of sync or cause graphical artifacts. If I use the OEM driver of DCH 30.0.101.1404 for my Acer laptop, it works well.

I can't ask my OEM, Acer, for updated drivers, they appear to only allow requesting drivers up to Windows 8.

Rather a shame that a issue with fullscreen optimizations in games that I reported few months ago got fixed in 30.0.101.1960 but other problems that weren't there in previous driver releases made it impossible for me to use those ones.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Xillvion, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.

For this scenario, it is important to mention that the Intel® graphics drivers are generic. That means that they do not have the customizations provided by the OEM and so they might not work as expected. Still, I will send your feedback to the proper department for them to be aware of your comments and suggestions in order to keep improving the customer's experience while using Intel® products.

For the reason above, we always recommend to install the graphics driver provided by the manufacturer of the computer, since that driver was customized by them to work with your specific platform.

You mentioned, "If I use the OEM driver of DCH 30.0.101.1404 for my Acer laptop, it works well.", That is great, that is the proper driver for your computer, tested and validated by Acer, and it is also the driver that you should be using on this specific device.

I looked on Acer's website and the latest graphics driver version they have available is 27.20.100.8439, for Windows* 11, released on 2021/10/25. For testing purposes, you can try a clean installation of that driver following the instructions in the links below:

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/8614

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005629/graphics.html

If the are any problems with that driver version, then the next thing to do, even though you explained you have already contacted them, will be to get in contact directly with Acer Support, to check with them if they are planning a new driver release that might contain a solution for this issue. If there is a fix that they need to add to their customized driver they will work with Intel® internally on trying to add a fix to the driver that is available on their website. It is important also to check with them that the latest BIOS version is currently installed on your machine or, if necessary, to gather the instructions on how to update it:

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support

Any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Xillvion]

My previous 10th gen Intel UHD Graphics laptop, also from Acer, never suffered from these problems. I got that in March 2020 and updating the graphics drivers using the generic ones work very well unlike the OEM version, basically the opposite.

There's something to point out and it's the fact the OEM released a firmware update few weeks ago for my laptop that added support for the Micron onboard memory, but shouldn't the support be added after product manufacturing?

Either way, I shouldn't be using older graphics drivers, wouldn't that pose a security risk to the system? I already tried that driver and it gave too many problems due to being not a supported Windows 11 driver.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Xillvion, Thank you very much for letting us know those details.

"My previous 10th gen Intel UHD Graphics laptop, also from Acer, never suffered from these problems" Every computer is different, what works fine in one system does not necessarily mean that will work fine on another one. The Intel® drivers being generic actually indicates that they might or might not work depending on the computer being used. Their use will depend on the BIOS, board, and processor and even if two different machines have those same components still there is no guarantee that they will work on both of them. For that reason, it is important to install the drivers provided by the OEM, because those drivers contain the customizations done by them in order to comply with the functionality advertised for your specific device.

"There's something to point out and it's the fact the OEM released a firmware update few weeks ago for my laptop that added support for the Micron onboard memory", It is very important to install all the updates provided by the OEM since they were tested and validated by them specifically for your platform.

"but shouldn't the support be added after product manufacturing?", that is something that we recommend to check directly with Acer.

"wouldn't that pose a security risk to the system?", no there is no security risk. Microsoft also provides driver updates that you can also install but, still, if once you do that you notice some issues with the laptop, then to install the OEM driver will be the proper thing to do.

 "I already tried that driver and it gave too many problems due to being not a supported Windows 11 driver.", If you are referring to driver version 27.20.100.8439, that driver was tested as fully compatible with Windows* 11 by Acer, once you install it there is no reason why the computer should be affected. 

Once their graphics driver gets installed, If you see any problems, then the next thing to do will be to get in contact directly with Acer support, to check if they have a fix for that situation, if there are going to release a new updated driver with fixes for different issues, to verify if they can replicate the issue using the same exact computer/board being used, to confirm if a physical inspection of the machine will be needed and for further assistance on this matter. All the BIOS, firmware, and driver updates should be provided and supported, in this case, by Acer.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician