Intel ARC Feature Reduces Shader Compilation Time in Games

Sometimes it takes a long time for games to load. There is ample time to leave before a game like The Last of Us is ready to play on PC. It can happen when the hardware is outdated and slow. But much of the delay is due to the game itself. There is often a progress indicator that shows the game isn't ready yet since it needs to assemble shaders first. This is largely a problem for PC gamers because consoles don't typically pause to prepare the game before it starts.

Shader optimization is part of the game download because consoles have fixed hardware. Many different types of hardware can be used in a PC, thus developers can't make their software work perfectly on all of them. Because of this, shaders are compiled as the game starts or even while you're playing.

Intel Releases a Shader System That Has Already Been Compiled.

Intel released a beta version of its precompiled shader technology. Shaders are already available, so games load without having to compile them. Intel's own statistics show that load times have improved by 2 to 3 times on average. In extreme situations, like God of War Ragnarok, they have gotten 21 times faster.

This function only works with certain games and hardware. You need Intel Battle Mage GPUs and the most recent Intel graphics software. It only works with Steam games, though. Once turned on, the system gets shaders from Intel's cloud and puts them on the local machine.

We tried out the feature on an Intel ARC B580 machine. The CPU was a Ryzen 9850X3D with 128 GB of 5600MT/s RAM and a Gen4 NVMe SSD. These circumstances guaranteed that there were very few CPU or storage constraints.

We timed how long it took for games to reach the main menu after shader compilation finished. Cyberpunk 2077 launched in 41 seconds without preloading, though it doesn't show shader compilation very well. Starfield took less than two minutes. It took over three minutes to play Hogwarts Legacy. Oblivion Remastered took about 4 minutes. It took over 6 minutes to play Black Myth Wukong. It took more than 10.5 minutes for God of War Ragnarok to finish shader compilation.

After enabling the option and reinstalling the system to clear any cached shaders, the improvements were evident. Oblivion Remastered had the smallest improvement, cutting load time by 39 seconds.

Black Myth Wukong went from almost 6 minutes to 2 minutes and 52 seconds. Cyberpunk 2077 cut its original delay from 41 seconds to 8 seconds. Hogwarts Legacy became better, going from 3 minutes to 53 seconds. Starfield got rid of the shader compilation screen entirely, so it only took 35 seconds to reach the main menu instead of almost 2 minutes.

The biggest alteration was in God of War Ragnarok. The game got to the main menu in 20 seconds instead of the usual 10.5 minutes, and there was no shader compilation screen.

The feature only works with 13 games right now. The selection will likely grow, although for now it isn't very useful. 

Battle Mage GPUs are the only ones that will work with this hardware. 

The benefit is mostly for the first time the game is released. After shaders are compiled, they stay in memory. Shader compilation is often skipped even after reinstalling games because of cached data. To return the system to its state at the start of testing, the entire system must be reset.

After the first launch, load times are almost instant, no matter the feature. This is because the SSD speed is more important than the CPU processing speed. But making the first shader compilation time shorter makes the first time you play a game better.

Aside from hardware limitations, there aren't any direct drawbacks for users. The functionality shows that Intel is working to improve its GPU environment. Intel didn't wait for bigger solutions; instead, it made its own version, which showed that it was still working on its graphics software.

In supported games, precompiled shaders significantly reduce load times. There are some problems with hardware and game support, but it's clear that first-time launch performance has improved. The long-term effects on PC gaming will depend on how well it works with other games.