Intel has officially acknowledged performance issues when its Arc GPUs, particularly the Arc B580, are paired with older-generation processors. This confirmation follows months of user reports and independent testing highlighting significant frame rate drops and stuttering in certain gaming scenarios.
In a recent statement on the Intel Community forum, a company representative addressed the concerns, stating, “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 performance issues were initially brought to light by Hardware Unboxed in January 2025, where tests revealed that the Arc B580 underperformed when used with older CPUs like AMD’s Ryzen 5 2600 and Intel’s 9th Gen Core i5-9600K. For instance, in games like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, the Arc B580 delivered significantly lower frame rates compared to competing GPUs when paired with these older processors.
One of the technical factors contributing to this issue is the requirement for Resizable BAR (ReBAR) support, which allows the CPU to access the entire GPU frame buffer, enhancing performance. Many older systems lack ReBAR support, leading to suboptimal performance with Arc GPUs.
Intel’s acknowledgment and ongoing investigation are crucial steps toward resolving these compatibility issues. The company aims to optimize driver support and expand validation across a broader range of hardware configurations. However, no specific timeline has been provided for when these improvements will be implemented.
For users considering upgrading their graphics cards, it’s essential to ensure that their systems support features like ReBAR to fully leverage the capabilities of Intel’s Arc GPUs. In the meantime, Intel continues to work on enhancing compatibility and performance across diverse hardware setups.
As Intel delves deeper into this investigation, the tech community remains hopeful for timely solutions that will enable a broader range of users to benefit from the performance and value propositions of the Arc GPU lineup.
