Intel APO support expands for Core Ultra 200 Series CPUs, boosts FPS by up to 14%

Intel's Application Optimization (APO) support for its Core Ultra 200S processors expands with 15 new games, improving average FPS and 1% low performance.

Intel APO support expands for Core Ultra 200 Series CPUs, boosts FPS by up to 14%
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TL;DR: Intel's Application Optimization (APO) enhances thread scheduling on Intel Core Ultra 200 Series CPUs, boosting gaming performance and 1% low frame rates. APO now supports 15 new titles across genres, delivering up to 14% performance gains, especially with flagship CPUs and GPUs, requiring Windows 11 and updated drivers.

Intel's Application Optimization (APO) optimizes thread scheduling for select CPUs to ensure efficient resource allocation. When paired with games with Intel APO profiles, the direct result is improved performance across average frame rates and the all-important 1% lows. Recently, Intel announced that it has expanded APO support to include 15 new games, covering a wide range of genres.

Intel's Application Optimization (APO) support now covers a wider range of games, image credit: Intel.
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Intel's Application Optimization (APO) support now covers a wider range of games, image credit: Intel.

As APO is available for Intel's current desktop lineup of Intel Core Ultra 200 Series CPUs, the company has provided internal benchmarks showing that with APO enabled, game performance can be improved by up to 14%. According to the chart, you can see that when APO is paired with the flagship Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and a GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, performance in the ray-tracing-heavy Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition improves by 14%.

Of course, this is on the extreme end of the scale, with popular multiplayer title World of Warships only seeing a 3% increase in performance and single-player sci-fi horror title The Callisto Protocol seeing a 4% increase. On the plus side, the APO improvements also improve 1% low performance, which, for World of Warships, improves by a respectable 9%.

Intel APO support expands for Core Ultra 200 Series CPUs, boosts FPS by up to 14% 3
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The 15 titles that APO now supports include: 7 Days to Die, Assetto Corsa, Cities: Skylines, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Dyson Sphere Program, EA Sports FC 24, God of War, Kerbal Space Program 2, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, The Callisto Protocol, Wolfenstein Youngblood, World of Warships, and Shushan: The First Chapter.

Intel notes that performance improvements will vary depending on the system's configuration. To take advantage of APO, you'll need a supported CPU, Windows 11, an updated BIOS, and chipset drivers, including Intel Dynamic Tuning Technology (DTT). Once you're set up, APO is automatically enabled in supported games. There's also an optional Intel APO UI for managing APO settings on a per-game basis.