Intel Iris Xe G7 graphics isn't so bad, but it still has a long way to go in terms of drivers and compatibility

[Redaktion]

There's one thing that Nvidia has arguably always been better at than Intel or AMD: graphics drivers. Though the new Iris Xe G7 is inching pretty closely to the GeForce MX series, the more mature drivers from Nvidia essentially guarantee better compatibility and optimization for the latest titles.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Iris-Xe-G7-graphics-isn-t-so-bad-but-it-still-has-a-long-way-to-go-in-terms-of-drivers-and-compatibility.496142.0.html

[Ciro]

Unavoidable teething problems. Bar is quite low, just needs to beat AMD whose official drivers actaully are slower than windows 10 default on my AMD laptop. Intel has the resources to get these drivers polished and this is gen 1 of Xe, it can only get better from here and I hope they put enough in the driver support to rival Nvidia, but they are going to need a couple years in the market to improve and demonstrate that.

[Lecro]

There's one thing that Nvidia has arguably always been better at than Intel or AMD: graphics drivers.
Linux users: **visible confusion**

[Very bad.]

It's nice that Intel is working with OEM's to produce nicer laptop in general. (90 hz, non-16:9 aspect ratio, lighter form factors, bigger batteries due to there being more space now because the TigerLake PCB/motherboard is much smaller)

It's also nice that Intel seems to be pricing much more competitively. Last year with the few Ice Lake laptops which were available last year, most started at 1.5k for very limited storage and ram and went up to 2k if you actually wanted decent storage/memory amount. (especially when you add the additional VAT tax of certain regions/countries)

That being said, this is very bad. Intel drivers and compatibility are a mess for new games. This in itself wouldn't be a big deal since I don't think anyone is getting Xe to run Cyberpunk well or something. But when you consider for a fact that Intel's drivers are an even bigger mess for older games, is there any point anymore?

And Nvidia isn't any better. Nvidia on Desktop is good/ok. Nvidia mobile are a completely different case. Allot of the featureset that Nvidia brings to desktop has been removed in Optimus drivers (probably in an effort to reduce driver bloat so that they can optimize power delivery more). You can't even run older games on mx350/450, they're forced to run on Intel. So I'd argue, for mobile, Nvidia Optimus is even worse than Intel/AMD.

[Fvnngvv]

First of all, for a first gen gaming focused architecture, this is quite good. Even AMD and Nvidia and especially AMD have issues like these in games even 1 year after launch (see navi driver issues).
Second, Intel is known for their quality drivers and software in other departments so I don't think they are not able to replicate that on gpus.
Third, I have a 6700hq and quite frankly I played most of the older games like nfs, gta, midnight club, total overdose, etc etc and I haven't had any problem with the drivers like someone says here that older games won't work. They work just fine. Newer games are the problem. And that is something Intel is working on.

[James Jimmy]

The public driver was released 3 days before this article was published. Feeling a bit lazy, are we?

[Spunjji]

Unavoidable teething problems. Bar is quite low, just needs to beat AMD whose official drivers actaully are slower than windows 10 default on my AMD laptop. Intel has the resources to get these drivers polished and this is gen 1 of Xe, it can only get better from here and I hope they put enough in the driver support to rival Nvidia, but they are going to need a couple years in the market to improve and demonstrate that.

1) Nice double-standard. When Intel screw up it's "unavoidable". 🙄
2) Who do you think wrote the "default" drivers? If you're going to lie, at least do so in a way that doesn't contradict yourself.
3) Intel have had *decades* in the market to get their driver support together. They have yet to manage it. Xe isn't even that new - it's very much an iteration on the previous "Gen" graphics.

Same comments go for all the other shills who show up with excuses for Intel while bagging on AMD. Have you noticed the difference in size between these companies?!

Kinda cute that this article goes from mentioning "70-90% increase in performance in 3D Mark" to talking about compatibility issues without stopping to mention that those sorts of increases are *never* seen in actual games. 😑