Intel's marketing material suggested Application Optimization (APO) could be a game changer for the blue team. According to early reports, it seems that wasn't too far off. Although it's not officially available, enthusiasts could test Intel's new CPU usage optimisation tool and share their experience online.

Intel APO is a new feature exclusively compatible with the 14th Gen Core CPUs. APO is built on insights from Thread Director, another Intel technology that optimises workloads based on the software and the core architecture best suited for the task. The technology debuted with Alder Lake back in 2021. In an interview with TweakTown, Roger Chandler, VP and GM of the enthusiast PC and workstation segment at Intel, stated that APO would succeed Thread Director. The key feature that distinguishes it is the per-app optimisations. When a game is added to the APO list, the Thread Director's policy is adjusted to achieve higher framerates, provided all features function correctly.

Reddit user LightMoisture's hard work to enable this technology showed Rainbow Six Siege and Metro Exodus (the only APO-compatible games) benefiting from Intel's new technology. The effort paid off with an increase in FPS from 273 to 339, representing a 24% improvement in Metro Exodus. As for Rainbow Six Siege, the results were even more impressive, with an increase in FPS of 31%, from 659 to 867. Note that these results are based on the built-in benchmarks. These improvements are even better than what Intel announced. For Rainbow Six Siege, Intel claimed a 13% uplift, while Metro Exodus's performance was supposed to improve by 16%.

The list of approved games is likely to expand as Intel confirms favourable APO results for other titles. Moreover, Intel plans to expand APO support to other apps besides games. However, as Intel said, not all games and apps will benefit from the technology. Currently, APO is compatible with Intel Core i9-14900K(F) and Intel Core i7-14700K(F) CPUs. Intel has not yet confirmed whether older LGA1700-based CPUs will support APO.

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KitGuru says: If APO gets broader support, it could end up being a highly used and recommended feature for both productivity apps, as well as games. 

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