Intel APO tech speeds up 12 more games including World of Warcraft, and benefits 12th-gen CPUs

Intel's APO (Application Performance Optimization) feature is now supported by a lot more games, boosting frame rates nicely for newer Intel CPUs.

2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the games which now supports APO (Image Credit: Rockstar Games)

By newer we mean Alder Lake (12-gen) and onwards, but there's a bit of a catch there which we'll come back to.

APO, which offers fps boosts in the order of 10%, or perhaps more - the mileage will vary depending on the game and exact Intel CPU - only originally arrived with support for two games (Metro Exodus and Rainbow 6 Siege).

Not much of a library, but with 12 more now, at least the total number of PC games has moved up to 14. The full list of supported titles is now as follows:

• Final Fantasy XIV
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• World of Tanks
• Dreams Three Kingdoms 2 (PRC)
• F1 22
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Rainbow 6 Siege
• Serious Sam 4 (VLK)
• Strange Brigade (VLK)
• Watch Dog Legion
• Metro Exodus
• World War Z
• Dirt 5
• World of Warcraft

As to the caveat with supported processors, while some 12th-gen and 13th-gen chips are now included in the mix for APO - whereas it was exclusive to current-gen Raptor Lake Refresh at launch - only those 14th-gen CPUs see the full benefit.

12th-gen support is new, in fact, and has actually been added with a new 'Advanced Mode' which also allows unsupported games to use APO, too - but the results may be variable (indeed, you could end up with worse frame rates). So, proceed with caution there.

As mentioned, only 14th-gen processors get full support in the above mentioned games, and specifically the following:

• Intel Core i9-14900K
• Intel Core i9-14900KF
• Intel Core i7-14700K
• Intel Core i7-14700KF
• Intel Core i9-14900KS

And yes, sneaking on the end of the list there is the very latest Raptor Lake Refresh CPU that only just turned up today - and the 14900KS isn't as pricey as some had feared.