MSI Claw sees massive performance updates thanks to Intel’s new drivers
Finally, some good updates for the Claw.
The Claw has already seen price cuts of up to 25% from its original price. This gaming handheld simply isn’t up to the task of competing with AMD-powered handhelds, which offer superior performance and are often sold at lower prices. The Claw is powered by Intel architecture using the Meteor Lake processor with built-in Arc Alchemist graphics. While these graphics are indeed a substantial upgrade over last-gen Xe-LP GPUs, they still don’t match the power of RDNA3 in low-power systems.
The good news is that MSI is working on updating their handheld to offer a smoother experience and higher performance. The new BIOS, labeled “106,” has been released, which also enables easier updates in the future. Gamers will no longer have to use USB flash drives to install the new BIOS, something you’d really expect from a portable gaming device at this point. The company is not mentioning any other changes.
101.5445 vs. 101.5333 driver, Source: MSI
More importantly, MSI is happy to announce Intel’s new Arc GPU driver capability, which, as you remember, delivers impressive performance gains across many DX11 games (story here). The 101.5445 driver is essentially an improved and WHQL-certified version of that driver, with optimizations for Manor Lords.
MSI claims that the Claw delivers ‘smooth play’ among the top 100 most popular games on Steam. With the new driver, gamers could expect up to a 150% increase in games like 7 Days To Die or a 50% increase in Cyberpunk 2077 or Monster Hunter World.
Additionally, MSI is publishing their recommended game settings that should be used across most games, if possible:
- User Scenario: Extreme Performance
- In-game Resolution: FHD (1920*1080)
- In-game Graphic Quality: Low
- XeSS (Xe Super Sampling): Performance (if applicable)
- V-Sync: OFF
- FPS Limitation: OFF
Source: MSI PR
