Intel Software Optimization: Evaluating In-Sport Efficiency With A Core i9-14900K
| Intel Software Optimizer (APO) – Free Intel APO or Software Optimization know-how is a brand-new piece of software program that Intel claims will carry an enormous efficiency carry for video games, and from what we have seen to this point, these claims appear to take a look at.
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The launch of Intel’s 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh was pretty lowkey, because it was only a minor replace of an current CPU structure. The Core i5-14600K, Core i7-14700K, and Core i9-14900K all got here with barely larger clock speeds (and in some instances extra cores), however maybe not fairly sufficient to enhance efficiency dramatically in some functions, together with video games. Nonetheless, 14th Gen CPUs do have a further trick up their sleeves for enhance gaming efficiency, and that is Intel Software Optimization. APO is a brand-new piece of software program that Intel claims will carry an enormous efficiency carry for video games, and from what we have seen to this point, these claims appear to take a look at.
What Software Optimization Is And How To Use It
Intel Software Optimization (or APO) is a brand new addition to Intel’s Dynamic Tuning Know-how (or DTT) suite, which is a hardware-specific driver that helps enhance efficiency and effectivity. For the second, APO is targeted on delivering higher gaming efficiency, with as much as a 16% larger framerates promised. Intel hasn’t gone into an excessive amount of depth about what precisely APO is doing to attain this enchancment, apart from to say it optimizes threading and thread scheduling. In observe, it appears power the P-cores to deal with working the sport whereas the E-cores do all the pieces else. Mainly, it is Thread Director on steroids for gaming, not less than in its present kind.
So as to use APO, you want a appropriate CPU, a motherboard that has a DTT driver, and to play a sport that APO helps. On the time of this publication, nonetheless, {hardware} compatibility is sparse as solely the Core i7-14700K and Core i9-14900K assist APO, and it appears solely ASUS and MSI have launched DTT drivers for some of their LGA 1700 motherboards. In fact, even when your {hardware} is nice to go, APO will not work in all video games. Proper now it solely works in Metro Exodus and Rainbow Six Siege.
On the brilliant aspect, it is attainable that Intel’s new Core i5-14600K will get APO assist sooner or later, and we will all the time hope older LGA 1700 chipset motherboards will too. Moreover, different motherboard distributors like ASRock and Gigabyte are certainly engaged on their DTT drivers (ASRock did in spite of everything present us with a pre-release driver for this check). Intel has additionally teased numerous different video games that might be added to APO, like Hitman 3, League of Legends, and Dwarf Fortress, although there isn’t any official timeline for when that may occur.
Assuming you’ve the precise CPU and motherboard, you may want to put in your motherboard’s DTT driver, after which presumably reboot and discover the DTT choice within the BIOS to allow it. As soon as that is squared away, APO ought to simply work, however if you wish to toggle it on or off, you possibly can set up the official Software Optimization app from the Microsoft Retailer. You possibly can toggle particular person video games on or off too, however to ensure that them to indicate up, it’s possible you’ll must run them not less than one time after which restart your PC.
Testing Setup, System And Methodology
For testing these two video games utilizing Intel APO, we used a PC geared up with an Intel Core i9-14900K ($578 on Amazon), ASRock’s Z790 Taichi Lite, 32GB of DDR5 reminiscence, and a Dell Alienware GeForce RTX 4090. All efficiency enhancing choices for the CPU had been enabled the place obtainable within the BIOS, together with Dynamic Tuning Know-how, and the system’s DDR5 was clocked to five,600MHz with timings of 40-76-76-76. The RTX 4090 was stored at its default frequencies and energy restrict.
All of the testing was carried out on a recent set up of Home windows 11 Residence working on a Corsair MP600 Professional NH 2TB drive. All software program and the OS used for testing was up to date as of November 1, together with the DTT driver, which is a pre-release model. We used the APO app within the Microsoft Retailer to toggle APO on and off within the examined video games. Every sport was benchmarked 3 times, and the efficiency graphs under present the info from the median run.
Since there have been solely two video games to check right here, we determined to run them at two totally different high quality settings: one at 1080p with low-medium graphics settings, and one other at 4K with maxed out settings. Since APO enhances CPU efficiency, it should not actually assist for those who’re GPU-bound, which often occurs if you’re working at very excessive in-game graphics settings. Nonetheless, at extra reasonable settings with larger framerates, you are extra more likely to run right into a CPU bottleneck, which is the place APO can enhance efficiency.
Gaming Efficiency Outcomes With Intel APO
With a ten% and 6% enhance respectively to the common and 99th percentile framerates, APO definitely proved to be helpful in Rainbow Six Siege when taking part in at 1080p with the Medium preset. Though this uplift did not fairly match as much as Intel’s declare of 13% higher efficiency, a ten% larger body fee without spending a dime is a reasonably whole lot. No monitor to this point can present you just about 800 frames per second, however having such a excessive framerate crucially lowers enter lag. For aggressive gaming, extraordinarily excessive framerates are a bonus, and it seems to be like APO will be capable of ship that, however hopefully in additional sport titles quickly.
At 4K with the Extremely preset, efficiency was roughly the identical whether or not APO was on or off. That is a transparent indication that even at 400 or so FPS, Rainbow Six Siege is so optimized that APO would not assist a lot. It could be a unique story for Intel’s Core i7-14700K or different CPUs, nonetheless.
Intel Software Optimization For Video games: First Impressions
Intel’s Software Optimization, or APO, is not a gimmick or overhyped. Up to now, it genuinely works, and works properly when a sport can benefit from it. Whereas new optimized GPU drivers can considerably enhance efficiency in particular video games, it is considerably uncommon to see a chunk of software program enhance efficient CPU efficiency so considerably until it is some kind of bugfix. Within the case of APO nonetheless, it is clear that there is numerous efficiency to be tapped into with Intel’s hybrid CPU structure.
That is not utterly a superb factor although, as a result of we all know now that Intel may very well be much more aggressive with AMD’s X3D-enabled processors in terms of excessive framerate gaming, however its CPUs are seemingly held again in some functions by sub-optimal scheduling and useful resource allocation. This has been a problem since Intel’s twelfth Gen chips had been launched, however now we’re seeing the complete scope of the problem. It is nice that Intel APO provides an answer that brings significantly better efficiency to its CPUs in video games, however it has vital {hardware} and software program limitations, not less than presently.
APO might foreshadow good issues for sport efficiency with Intel’s CPUs transferring ahead. Hopefully, Intel is dilligently working to carry the advantages of APO to as lots of its platforms as attainable and maybe working with Microsoft to construct the mandatory performance into Home windows. Regardless of the case could also be, we hope the extra sport efficiency afforded by APO seamlessly makes it approach onto extra platforms and that works with extra video games and probably different functions. For the second, AMD has the gaming pole place, because of its Ryzen X3D CPUs with 3D V-Cache, however APO might tip the scales with broader {hardware} and sport compatibility.
