Intel releases new driver for EOL Kaby Lake G though this one isn't for Windows 11

News broke recently that Intel was working on a new driver that will bring compatibility of its discontinued Kaby Lake G platform for Microsoft"s upcoming Windows 11 OS. The hardware is officially supported by Microsoft and these Intel-AMD hybrid APUs are among the very few processors from the Kaby Lake family which are Windows 11-ready.

Earlier today, it seems a driver was indeed released although its changelog does not list support for Windows 11. So it is possible a future driver is also being prepared that will add compatibility for the next-gen OS once we get closer to its launch on October 5.

And Intel has clearly noted that the new driver version 21.10.03.11 is valid for the following NUC models:

  • NUC8i7HNK
  • NUC8i7HVK
  • NUC8i7HVKVA
  • NUC8i7HVKVAW
  • NUC8i7HNKQC

So the product may or may not work on the other Kaby Lake G products.

The new driver adds game support for the following titles:

  • Metro Exodus – Enhanced Edition (DX12 – RT only)
  • Resident Evil Village (DX12)

And it adds feature support for the following:

  • Key Program supported
    • AMD Big Software 7.0
  • Big Software 7.0 and other general fixes and improvements to improve user experience with our Radeon Software.
  • Additional 21.10 feature improvements/additions delivered in this release
    • Microsoft PlayReady AV1 decode Support
    • RSX branding updates

It has been mentioned that "additional functional and security updates" will be released in future driver update in March 2022.

Intel has also noted the following issues:

  • PlayReady is not working with Edge browser. Playback shows AVC instead of HEVC
  • TDR /System restart on closing Blender after "bmw27" sample render; probability 4/6 times
  • Vudu playback error "Unable to start playback" is observed
  • Corruption on rendering Blender bmw27 sample

To download the new Intel driver 21.10.03.11, head over to the official website via this link. Both the RX Vega M driver and the general HD graphics driver must be installed since, at its core, Vega M is still an AMD Radeon GPU.

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