Intel iGPUs have historically lagged behind their Windows performance on Linux, but recent benchmarks suggest this is changing for the Arc B390 iGPU with the release of Linux 7.2. While CPU performance remained largely consistent, native Linux gaming benchmarks revealed improvements of up to 12% in certain tests.

These gains were observed in both OpenGL and Vulkan rendering, attributed to enhanced support from the Intel Xe Linux kernel driver. For instance, the open-source FPS/RTS game Unvanquished saw a 12% FPS increase at 1920 × 1200p with medium settings, and Xonotic showed improvements ranging from 5% to 6.7% across different settings.

Notably, power consumption remained identical, indicating no negative impact on battery life for handheld PCs and laptops. This suggests positive implications as the new Arc Xe kernel drivers become more widely adopted.