“Once we switched to 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processors, suddenly we had all the FPS (frame per second) we needed,” said the 20-year-old member of the Overwatch* League’s Philadelphia Fusion team. “Soon, we’ll get Intel® Optane™ memory into our systems, for way faster loading times, and the gameplay will get even smoother."
Desktop and notebook computers that combine 8th Generation Intel® Core™ processors with Intel® Optane™ memory give gamers like Boombox performance for smooth gameplay at high settings, and launch games and load game level faster than similar systems without Intel® Optane™ memory.
Boost from Intel® Optane™ Memory
Intel® Optane™ memory is a smart, adaptable system accelerator that speeds responsiveness by preloading and accelerating access to frequently used applications and files. It remembers those things even after the system is turned off.
Some new games take up to 90 or more gigabytes of storage space, limiting the number of games that can fit on small but fast solid state drives (SSD). A computer with Intel® Optane™ memory allows game collections installed on a slower, large capacity hard disk drive (HDD) to play at SSD-like speed. This eliminates the need of swapping large game files from smaller SSDs in order to get the best gameplay performance.
A computer with Intel® Optane™ memory allows entire game collections installed on a slower, large capacity hard disk drive(HDD) to play at SSD-like speed.
Intel testing shows games can launch up to 98 percent faster2 3 and game levels can load up to 4.1X faster2 4 on desktops powered by 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor with Intel® Optane™ memory vs. the same system without Intel® Optane™ memory.
Similarly, Intel testing of notebook systems powered by an 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processor and Intel® Optane™ memory vs. non-Intel® Optane™ memory-based systems equipped with only a hard drive for storage showed games launch up to 2.9X faster2 5 and game levels load up to 4.7X faster2 6 off the data drive.
Rather than pay to step up from 8 GB to 16 GB or more of system memory (RAM), a user might only install 8GB and then add 32 GB of Intel® Optane™ memory. Intel® Optane™ memory can deliver more performance benefits in game loading and other applications, allowing data to remain in Intel® Optane™ memory rather than filling the DRAM.
Performance to Up Your Game
“System performance matters so much,” said Josue “Eqo” Corona8, who left Israel last year to play for the Philadelphia Fusion team.
He had an Intel® Core™ i3 processor and said it wasn’t powerful enough for Overwatch.
“My aim wasn’t smooth and nothing felt right,” he said. “Things like that give you a huge disadvantage against other players and can impact your career.”
Recently he upgraded to an 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor.
“I started to hit more shots and improved a lot,” he said. “There was nothing stopping me from having that ‘mind connection’ to the game, so I know that if I move my mouse to a spot, it’s going to react how I want. That’s where having a strong processor matters. And if I die and need to respawn, my teammates can’t afford to wait for me.”
Gamers who need smooth gameplay at high settings, and the ability to launch games and load game levels faster get the performance they need from desktop and laptop systems powered by 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 processors featuring Intel® Optane™ memory.