Intel Arc Revisit: 2023 driver update (Acer Predator BiFrost A770)

We take our noise measurements with the sound meter positioned 1 foot from the graphics card. I measured the noise floor to be 32 dBA, thus anything above this level can be attributed to the graphics cards. The power supply is passive for the entire power output range we tested all graphics cards in, while all CPU and system fans were disabled. A reading under load comes from running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

The main benefit to the BiFrost is that it does run a fair bit quieter than Intel's Limited Edition card. I measured it operating at just 36dBa, marking a 3dBa reduction against the LE. Weirdly though, the Turbo mode operated with the same exact fan speeds as the Default profile, peaking at 1490rpm. As we show in the video, fan control as a whole is still a bit funny on Intel Arc, even with the 4123 driver. Using Acer’s software, users can adjust fan speed in 10% steps, but even when I selected a fixed 30% fan speed, the reported fan rpm still fluctuated up and down by 100rpm, so there are still some hysteresis issues going on.

Become a Patron!

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here