For now only for new processors and selected games.
Stuttering or visible stuttering and sudden frame rate drops have been an unfortunate aspect of a number of computer games over the past few years. Basically, we could divide them into two categories: so-called Traversal Stuttering, which usually happens when the game starts loading a lot of new data, and Shader Compilation Stuttering, which happens when shaders (GPU programs) are only compiled at runtime. In this case, you will experience a jam when firing a weapon for the first time, opening a chest for the first time, and the like. The compiled shader is then stored in cache, so nothing like this will happen to you when you play it again, but playing through the game for the first time may ruin it.
While traversal stuttering is primarily an engine issue, specifically mainly Unreal Engine 5 (although Epic is trying to find a solution in collaboration with CD), shader compilation stuttering occurs in almost all games that don’t offer shaders. And although many titles now have such a function, often not all shaders are in the draft, so the stuttering persists.
The problem with shaders is that the graphics architecture can be very different and compilation actually has to be carried out for a specific video card, unlike processors, where we have direct blocks of long-term architectures (especially X86 and ARM) and the code can be compiled in advance. Thus, devices with clear components, such as consoles, where shaders can be precompiled, have the advantage of knowing exactly what the code will run on. But with a PC it’s not so simple.
However, Intel found a solution by announcing the XE3 graphics architecture. He introduced his own distribution of pre-compiled shaders that will be available for future Panther Lake laptop processors. The company must take care of finding/collecting all the shaders in the game, then compiling them for all target platforms, uploading them to the cloud and distributing them to users through Intel graphics software, which is installed along with the graphics card controls. If you install the game, shaders are downloaded and saved in the cache. In addition, after each launch of the game, you will be able to download additional shaders, if any appear in the Intel cloud.
Of course, the solution is not perfect. On the one hand, as has already been done here, only Panther Lake processors will hit the market at the beginning of next year (Intel, of course, has promised support for future architectures), and this will only be a limited selection of items that have not yet been specified. However, this is a big step forward to ensure wider distribution and significantly reduce the initial game download compared to local compilation (in worst cases, on weaker processors, it can even take tens of minutes to compile). Plus, if Intel keeps going and competition is added, we could at least get rid of this type of stuttering in a few years.
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Source : Zing
