Intel stealthily pulls the plug on Deep Link less than 5 years after launch

4 hours ago 7

(Image credit: Intel)

Intel has discontinued support for its Deep Link suite of technologies, as confirmed by a representative on GitHub, via X user Haze. After Intel quietly stopped promoting the feature in newer products such as Battlemage, it has now confirmed that active development for Deep Link has ceased. While you still might be able to use Deep Link, Intel has clarified that there will be no future updates or official support from their customer service channels.

Deep Link was introduced in late 2020. It allows you to harness the combined power of your Intel CPU and Arc GPU to improve streaming, AI acceleration, and overall efficiency. To utilize Deep Link, you needed an Intel 11th, 12th, or 13th Generation CPU and a dedicated Arc Alchemist GPU. The suite offered four key utilities: Dynamic Power Share, Stream Assist, Hyper Encode, and Hyper Compute.

Dynamic Power Share optimizes performance and power by intelligently shifting power resources between the CPU and GPU. Stream Assist improved streaming by offloading the task from the dedicated GPU to the integrated GPU. Hyper Encode accelerated video encoding using multiple Intel processors. Lastly, Hyper Compute leveraged your Intel CPU and GPU to accelerate AI workloads in OpenVINO.

"Deep Link is no longer actively maintained and will not be receiving future updates, meaning that there will be no changes to the features regardless of their current functionality status."

Intel representative at GitHub

These features boosted performance in apps like OBS, DaVinci Resolve, and Handbrake. The user who originated the thread at GitHub could not get Stream Assist up and running with OBS using the latest Arc B580 paired with the Core Ultra 7 265K. Following a month-long wait, a representative relayed that Intel had discontinued software development.

It turns out that even Alchemist users had a hard time getting these features working in Handbrake and OBS. It's possible that Intel considered Deep Link a niche feature and deemed the ongoing effort and investment not worthwhile. Besides, most of these features require per-vendor validation. Development was likely dropped a while back, as Meteor Lake, an architecture that dates back to late 2023, is alson't among the supported CPUs.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.

Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.

Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.

Read Entire Article