What exactly does Driver-Boost & Game Compatibilty Settings do?

LynxRufus · ‎02-25-2023

As title says,

the description of these 2 options found inside the Arc Control Panel are rather vague,

and regarding each of the 3 available options of Game Compatibility, there is no description at all:

in global game settings, what does Driver-Boost do, in specific ?
will Driver-Boost also work with 'Data-Collecting' turned off on the 'app-settings' tab?
global game settings > Game Compatibilty : it says, it allows for running applications with different sets of profiling.. what profiling sets? where are they stored? and why can't we control each individual setting?
for game compatibility settings, what are the differences between basic, extended, recommended ?

I looked it up on this forum, I tried to google it, simply couldn't find any answer.. is it even implemented yet? does it work? tried it with a few games wasn't able to notice any difference.

Can you name a few examples (games) where it does / or should work with any noticeable effect ?

Thx in advance.

Jean_Intel · ‎03-01-2023

Hello LynxRufus,

Thank you for posting on the Intel Communitiues. We understand that you are looking for information about the

Driver-Boost and Game Compatibilty Settings in the Arc Control.

We will do further research on this matter and post the response on this thread once available.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Jean_Intel · ‎03-06-2023

Hello LynxRufus,

We appreciate your patience.

Regarding the Driver boosts option, it will update the drivers with the latest optimizations for games/apps and it will improve the performance/stability. This applies to Intel® Integrated Graphics and Intel® Arc™ Graphics.

Also, to properly answer your questions, we want to confirm more information on which settings you want to control specifically.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

LynxRufus · ‎03-06-2023

Rearding driver boost, the description it has (in german) is as follows, see the screenshot:

if I translate that german description back to english, it basically means to me:

"Activate all available dynamic updates 'for the system' (it doesnt say 'driver' here), for receiving the most recent/latest optimizations for all identified/detected applications. "

that's why I was also asking, I was uncertain and suspected it might be just unfortunate wording/translation, because:

I would definitely NOT like to have Intel Arc Control messing with other hardware drivers, or other software / windows system settings at all.

and regarding 'driver boost' - what 'drivers' or parts of it are you referring to in your answer?

only certain game profiles for customized/tailored driver settings perhaps ?

I'm guessing, this option might be intended to be something similar what is included as a part of nvidia geforce experience / amd adrenaline .

I don't understand, anyway, why we don't get to control and manually fine tune those settings our selves,

in case for example Intel has no optimized profiles for a certain game to offer (yet).

(eg. nvidia offers a lot more settings we can just fine tune ourselves, and then there's ofc other even more powerful tools like nvidia inspector; if we had something similiar for arc, that would be great, if it is ever needed.. eg. regarding tuning for dx9/dx10/dx11 games in particular and how Intel Arc driver/hw should treat them)

When I look at the description again for Driver-Boost & Game Compatibilty right below it, I now think that it really is supposed to be your take / counterpart for nvidia's experience or amd's adrenaline, at least the part they have that offers 'automatic/optimized game profiles' for supported/detected apps:

However, the description for the game compatibility settings is the most puzzling/confusing to me:

there's 'deactivated' :

what get's 'deactivated'?

it's a setting for 'game compatibilty' , so, if I set it to 'deactivated' a game won't be 'compatible' and won't run on arc all of a sudden anymore?

I know, that's possibly not what it means but it looks like it.

I guess what it could mean, is (automatic ?) "game compatibility SETTINGS " - disabled .

but then, shoudln't you name the entire option something like automatic/custom "game compatibilty setting " rather than just "game compatibilty" ?

I'm not trying to be nitpicky and take no joy in it, sorry if I sound like I do.

it really just sounds confusing to me, and thought it might be, to others, as well..

and, as you can see, we don't get a clue what the remaining settings really do,

and especially which option we should try out, depending on the situation:

regarding the other remaining options for 'game compatibility' :

there is "simple"

"extended"

"recommended"

like mentioned in my starting post, I'd like to know more about those in particular, what is the difference beetween them,

what variables are changed, if I switch for example from "simple" to "extended" or what will be different when it's left on "recommended" ?

P1ne · ‎03-06-2023

I'm glad to see someone else posting here with the same questions : )

It seems that the moderators here are used to dealing with less technically inclined people, so they are either unable, or do not have access to the technical knowledge that we are requesting. Which IMO is frustrating. Intel should have educated them and given them technical documentation to help them answer these questions, because we all know zero hardware reviewers are recommending Arc GPUs to normal PC builders. Intel should know and understand this fact.

A new hardware architecture only attracts computer nerds. Perhaps Intel should take some notes on how AMD handled the Ryzen launch? Only enthusiasts were going to buy into that platform, and they did a pretty good job at trying to explain most of the technical aspects so users could understand and troubleshoot a brand new hardware platform.

I plan to check this thread every day until we get a technical answer, I hope you do the same, two of us asking these questions is more likely to get an answer IMO. Unless someone can get GN to bug them about it.

P1ne · ‎03-06-2023

Regarding the Driver boosts option, it will update the drivers with the latest optimizations for games/apps and it will improve the performance/stability

What does this mean specifically? This is basically the same description that's in Arc Control. It's too vague.

Are these just profiles telling the GPU how to handle running the game, or are these profiles modifying the game during runtime (e.g. dxvk)?

Are they already downloaded? Are they downloaded in real time or when Arc Control scans for games?

Why is this even an option? Is there a compatibility reason this toggle is included? If a game is running poorly should we try toggling Driver Boost off/on?

Is it GPU specific optimizations or is it architecture based?

Also, to properly answer your questions, we want to confirm more information on which settings you want to control specifically.

We are just trying to learn specifically what the driver options are, and what they do on a technical level. Most of the people buying Intel Arc dedicated GPUs are computer enthusiasts. We are interested in the technical aspects of these products. Unfortunately Intel did not include any technical documentation for Arc Control, and its still a new product so Google searches yield poor results. So we are left with asking Intel on Intel's forums about these features.

global game settings > Game Compatibilty : it says, it allows for running applications with different sets of profiling.. what profiling sets? where are they stored? and why can't we control each individual setting?

for game compatibility settings, what are the differences between basic, extended, recommended ?

You also forgot to answer these questions from OP. I am also interested in learning the answer to this.

Thanks for your time.

Jean_Intel · ‎03-07-2023

Hello everyone,

Let us look into this and we will get back to you with more details.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

P1ne · ‎03-07-2023

Thank you.

Jean_Intel · ‎03-17-2023

Hello everyone,

We appreciate your patience.

Here is information about the information you are looking for:

To answer the question about Driver Boost and what it actually does:

It enables dynamic profile optimizations (e.g. specific game settings) to be pushed remotely to the PC. Basically, we have some application profiles that can improve performance or fix issues that do not require a new driver update if this is enabled, and we can allow them to be pushed dynamically.

About the Game Compatibility option, what does it actually do?:

Game Compatibility mode applies solutions to problems we find in games when tested internally to games that Intel hasn’t tested (e.g. registry mods). It’s used to resolve functional issues, mainly crashes, and corruptions.

Regarding the difference between recommended, basic and advanced:

Advanced mode has more elaborate solutions to help resolve problems, but the changes may impact performance.

There is no list of games that benefit from these features.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Jean_Intel · ‎03-23-2023

Hello everyone,

We hope you are doing fine.

We have not heard back from you. So we will close this thread. If you need any additional information, submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards.

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.