Intel has found a way to stop its Arc users staring at loading bars like it is 2012.
Last year, Microsoft’s DirectX “AgilitySDK” picked up “Advanced Shader Delivery”, and now Intel is flipping the switch so Arc discrete and integrated GPUs can use it properly.
Intel will push “Precompiled Shader Distribution” through its Graphics Software App, cutting game launch times, reducing stutter on first launch and updating shader caches without user faff.
Chipzilla precompiles shaders in its cloud, then your driver tool spots what you play and quietly pulls down the right cache files.
You can disable it if you fancy a janky first run, and the feature is set to be off by default.
Intel says the system will keep pushing updates when shaders, games, or drivers change, and it launches with support for 13 Steam titles.
The firm’s own numbers lean hard into the marketing, with an Arc B580 “Battlemage” card claiming more than “2x Faster” loading on average across the supported list.
One of its charts claims “God of War Ragnarök” gets a 21x improvement over the base non-compiled shader setup, which is the sort of figure that screams “edge case”.
Chipzilla reckons the trick is not limited to discrete graphics, with Arc iGPUs like the B390 landing at 2x faster and the 140V hitting 3x faster.
Another chart tied to the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H with Arc B390 pushes the bragging, showing “God of War Ragnarok” at 37x, which is wild if it holds up outside a slide deck.
Intel Core Ultra 9 288V with Arc 140V has its own “Faster Loading Times” chart, too, with a claimed 24x improvement for “God of War Ragnarok” when the cache is in place.
To turn it on, you open Intel Graphics Software, head to Graphics, then 3D Rendering, and toggle “Precompiled Shaders (Beta)” to “On”.
Once enabled, the app downloads shader cache files for supported Steam games and is intended to expand the list with future driver updates.
The supported titles at launch are Black Myth: Wukong, Borderlands 4, Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6, Call of Duty®: Black Ops 7, Cyberpunk 2077, God of War Ragnarök, Gotham Knights, Hogwarts Legacy, NBA 2K26, Starfield, T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and The Outer Worlds 2.
Hardware support is limited to Intel Arc GPUs in the Intel Core Ultra 3/200V series, plus Intel Arc B-Series discrete GPUs, and you will need driver version 32.0.101.8626 or newer.
It wants Windows 10 or 11, more than 1GB of spare storage, and an active internet connection so it can keep dipping into Chipzilla’s servers.
