MSI “Up to 40% performance improvement with claw, driver and BISO updates”

MSI’s Claw looks similar on the surface to several PC-based gaming handhelds released last year to compete with Steam Deck. However, there is a uniqueness hidden within it that matches the form factor of Intel CPU and integrated GPU. Intel’s new Arc GPU can improve performance with a few software tweaks, and MSI claims that the latest update can significantly improve the Claw’s performance.

According to a recent MSI forum post, Claw users should install both the latest BIOS for their custom mobile system (Core Ultra 5-135H) and the latest drivers for Intel Arc Graphics. This can increase game performance from 10.3% (based on Helldiver 2) to a whopping 43.5% (based on F1 23).

The benchmarks released by MSI may seem somewhat optimistic. But it may not be a complete bluff. We have previously seen dramatic performance improvements with new drivers in Intel’s Arc external GPU, and Claw is a new product equipped with an Intel-based mobile form factor. In addition to the Claw, the Core Ultra 5-135H CPU is only installed in a few commercial products, including some of the latest Dell Precision laptops.

It’s possible that Intel tuned the software enough to see this level of performance improvement, or that the initial release of Claw shipped with suboptimal software. Either way, it’s definitely an improvement you’ll want to check out. New drivers can be downloaded from Intel’s website or Claw’s drive update tool, and the BIOS update tool can be downloaded from the MSI website.
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