The latest Intel graphics drivers cut the download size in half, from 1.2GB to 604MB.

In a nutshell: Back in January, TechSpot speculated why Intel’s GPU drivers are about twice as large as those of AMD and Nvidia, possibly due to less optimization time. Whatever the reason, Team Blue’s new rider has lost weight and is only slightly bigger than Team Red. The biggest load is back on Nvidia, which has gotten a little fatter lately.

The latest Intel graphics driver reduced the download size from 1.6GB to 604MB. Optimization brings GPU beginner software closer to its competitors without sacrificing features or performance.

The company attributes the achievement to improved compression, indication that the previous bloat was mainly due to a lack of experience in packaging specialized graphics drivers. Intel appears to be adapting quickly to a market dominated by two competitors that have been in the business for about 20 years.

The sheer size of Team Blue’s earlier drivers didn’t add up because they had to support a much smaller number of GPU models. Intel only has one generation in the market, while Nvidia and AMD drivers need to support multiple generations. Also, Nvidia likes to package their GeForce Experience software (which some might consider malware) with their drivers. The inclusion of Intel integrated graphics drivers also doesn’t explain the discrepancy, as AMD drivers also support iGPUs and APUs.

All three companies released new drivers this week in preparation for the just-released Resident Evil 4 remake. Nvidia and AMD also highlight The Last of Us Part 1 and the Diablo IV beta in their release notes, while Intel released their Diablo driver. IV last week. The free open beta of Diablo IV will run until the end of this weekend, with the first part of The Last of Us Part 1 coming to PC next week on Tuesday.

Intel also notes that it is still improving the performance of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Arc GPUs. The most played game on Steam still uses DirectX 9, which Arc struggled with until recent updates. It’s unclear how the Counter-Strike 2 update changes will affect Arc, but other games using the Source 2 engine have been updated to DirectX 11.

Meanwhile, Nvidia’s new drivers, which have grown to nearly 900MB, also support Cyberpunk 2077’s upcoming “Overdrive” experimental ray tracing mode. The optional graphics preset brings path tracing into the game and will likely hit GPUs when it arrives on April 11th.