Intel keeps the GPU driver train rolling, latest one is optimized for Battle for Azeroth

We have to hand it to Intel, the company is getting into the good habit of releasing more frequent GPU driver updates than before, as dictated by new game launches. The newest GPU driver from Intel is optimized for the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Battle for Azeroth, and also The Walking Dead: The Final Season.

Whether or not you are playing games on integrated graphics, as opposed to using a discrete graphics card, is a different story. If you are, the new driver package will bolster performance and deliver "playability improvements" on Intel's UHD 620 and higher IGPs.

"In addition, get ready to fight your way through 1980s Japan in Yakuza 0, play as Adol in Ys: Memories of Celceta, create your own world in Stonehearth, explore the high seas in Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion, run your own sheriff’s department in This is the Police 2, avoid the living dead in The Walking Dead: The Final Season, and prepare to get served in Overcooked 2 with Intel UHD Graphics 620 or better," Intel states in the driver's release notes (PDF).

Whether you are running integrated graphics or not, it's nice to see Intel embracing this kind of GPU driver release cadence. It's a good habit to get into as it works towards delivering its first modern discrete GPU, reportedly set to arrive in 2020. It's not known if the initial offering will be a gaming card, but it's widely expected that Intel will eventually launch one.

In case you missed it, AMD's former graphics boss, Raja Koduri, joined Intel after taking a sabbatical following the launch of Vega. In the past few months, he's assembled a graphics team, including some former players at AMD, to "expand Intel's leading position in integrated graphics for the PC market with high-end discrete graphics solutions for a broad range of computing segments."

Intel also brought on board Tom Forsyth, an engineer who previously worked at Intel and was largely responsible for Larrabee.

You can download Intel's latest IGP GPU driver here. Intel will have some recommended settings to share for Battle for Azeroth on its gaming portal when the game launches next week.

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).