Linux Developers Discover Intel Arc GPU Firmware Updates Require Intel Processor

In our review of the Intel Arc GPUs, we were generally impressed with their performance for the price, especially as a first generation product. But there are plenty of potential caveats for buyers, including unstable drivers, erratic performance, and a couple of odd issues that you’ll need to dig into your computer’s BIOS settings to resolve.

The Linux devs working on Arc support seem to have spotted yet another map oddity. According to developer Richard Hughes (as reported by Phoronix), firmware updates on Arc GPUs appear to be handled by the Intel Management Engine, a small microcontroller that is only included in PCs with Intel processors. Hughes has run into an issue specifically in the context of the IBM POWER CPU architecture, but it appears that the firmware update is not possible on any non-Intel platform, including those based on AMD or Arm processors.

Thankfully, these kinds of GPU firmware updates don’t happen all that often, and if they do, it’s usually to fix a specific obscure issue or add minor features – running a GPU with outdated firmware isn’t the end of the world. On the other hand, if the GPU ever needs major firmware updates sometime in the future, it will be the first generation of Arc cards, which are Intel’s first widely released dedicated GPUs and have already proven to be exceptionally rough around the edges. a bunch of other ways.

We have reached out to Intel to see if they plan to change how Arc firmware updates are installed and will update this article if we hear back.