- Intel has released a new Arc graphics driver
- It introduces a Precompiled Shaders feature to help supported games load faster
- This is a situational advantage, but it will apply more often than you think
Intel has introduced a new trick to some of their Arc GPUs which helps supported games load much faster (albeit only in certain situations, and I’ll come back to that point).
Wccftech reports (via Tech PowerUp) that Intel’s Precompiled Shaders feature is available with the latest Arc driver and can be used by Intel Battlemage desktop GPUs, as well as Xe2 and Xe3 integrated graphics (in Core Ultra Series 3 and 200V chips for thin and light laptops or handhelds).
How it works: Usually when you load a game for the first time, compiling the shaders can take a long time and really slow things down. So what Intel does is it precompiles those shaders and it has them stored in the cloud – so when its graphics app examines your installed games and sees one it has shaders for, it automatically downloads them and puts them in place.
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In fact, all that compilation work is done in advance, so when you start the game, it loads much faster. We’re talking about load times that are typically two or three times as fast, but some games can get massive boosts – such as God of War Ragnarok, which is 21x faster on an Arc B580 (or an astonishing 37x faster with B390 integrated graphics on the new Panther Lake flagship).
As mentioned earlier, the game needs to be supported by Intel to allow for Precompiled Shaders, and only 13 titles are right now, but more are coming in the future. Also note that the games must be installed on Steam and the current list of supported titles is:
- Black Myth: Wukong
- Borderlands 4
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- Cyberpunk 2077
- God of War Ragnarok
- Gotham Knights
- Hogwarts Legacy
- NBA 2K26
- Starfield
- STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
- The Outer Worlds 2
Note that this is Intel’s implementation of a broader technology coming from Microsoft known as Advanced Shader Delivery, which has been promised to Windows 11 gamers for later in 2026.
Intel clarified the situation for Tech PowerUp: “Intel Precompiled Shaders are purpose-built and powered by Intel. We are also working with Microsoft to launch Advanced Shader Delivery later this year. Together, both services will provide users of supported Arc GPUs with more game and game store coverage of technologies that reduce latency and in-game stuttering due to shader compilation.”
So this won’t be limited to Steam in the future as you might expect.
Analysis: a notable caveat
If you’re thinking that Precompiled Shaders – which is still labeled as a beta feature at this point – is just going to speed things up in a one-and-done way, that’s not strictly true. Yes, the game goes through this sometimes seriously demanding shader compilation process when you first run it, and it’s all done and dusted after that – well, sort of.
The problem is that the game may need to recompile shaders in certain scenarios, such as after a new GPU driver update or game update. And when a game has a particularly long compilation process, this can be a major annoyance. On top of that, compiling shaders can happen on-the-fly in the game, which can lead to stuttering, something that the Precompiled Shaders feature completely avoids.
You can see why this is a very useful advancement, even if it only applies in certain scenarios (and with supported games). And it’s also really useful for some handhelds — like the MSI Claw 8 AI+, which has an Intel Lunar Lake processor — where shader compilation can be a draining task that hits the battery hard if you’re away from a power outlet.
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