MSI Claw gets fix for “lower than expected performance” in latest Intel graphics driver
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The MSI Claw 8 AI+ was released back in January this year and is one of the few handheld gaming devices powered by Intel's Core Ultra chips. While it’s not as popular as some of the other handhelds in the market, like the Steam Deck or ASUS ROG Ally, it still provides a solid gaming experience for those who are always on the go.
However, some users have recently run into an annoying problem that made the experience less than ideal. Keep in note that this fix is only relevant for the 8 AI+ model, not the original MSI Claw that is powered by a Series 1 Core Ultra chip. The new Polar Tempest variant will also benefit from this update.
Intel finally fixes MSI Claw 8 AI+’s audio issue
Over the past few weeks, some players using the MSI Claw started to report strange audio glitches. The biggest issue was that the handheld’s performance dropped whenever audio was playing. The issue seemed to affect MSI Claw units powered by Intel's newer Core Ultra 200V processors, otherwise known as ‘Series 2’.
After hearing from users, Intel began looking into the problem and confirmed that it was related to a bug in their graphics driver. Thankfully, the fix is now live through the latest driver update, version 32.0.101.6877.
Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel® Arc™ GPUs:
Source: Intel
- Certain handheld devices may experience audio glitches and lower than expected performance while audio is playing.
While the driver update only fixes this one issue, Intel also listed a few known problems they are still working on. None of them seem to affect handheld gaming devices, so for now, the MSI Claw appears to be in the clear. If you're using this handheld and have faced performance drops during gameplay, downloading the latest driver should help fix the problem and give you a smoother gaming experience.
Recently, at Computex, MSI announced a new AMD-powered MSI Claw, marking its step away from Intel processing power, at least for its latest model. The Claw has always been regarded as the odd one out, considering most gaming handhelds make use of AMD’s Ryzen chips, so it’s nice to see Intel still showing love to the device.
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