MSI Claw gets another performance uplift with new BIOS and software

Why couldn’t it just be fast when it came out?

MSI has launched new firmware and software for its gaming handheld, Claw. This device has been available for over two months and has already caught attention among gamers. This launch is significant for Intel, as they are entering a market currently dominated by AMD Ryzen chips and their capable RDNA graphics.

The MSI Claw did not deliver in terms of performance at launch. The company made little effort to impose a review embargo or provide samples to well-known media outlets. Consequently, different results were posted in reviews each week, almost as if the device was still under development. This was partially true, not in terms of the product but the drivers supplied by Intel.

MSI Claw Performance uplift, Source: MSI

MSI has already announced a significant performance boost with the previous graphics drivers for the built-in Xe-LPG Arc Graphics. Today, the company is announcing an “up to 30%” increase coming strictly from the BIOS update.

The new BIOS, E1T41IMS.109 (referred to as 109), along with the recent MSI Center M 1.0.2405.1401 (referred to as 2405.1401) update, is said to heavily improve performance in games like Forza Horizon 5, Fortnite, Helldrivers 2, and others. If the BIOS and MSI’s own software can provide a performance boost, that’s encouraging and means the device still has room for improvement, apart from GPU driver updates.

MSI Claw vs ROG Ally, Source: MSI

MSI even compared their Claw handheld to the ROG Ally, claiming it is on average 26% faster. The slide and press release lack detailed information, but this is presumably compared to the Ryzen Z1 non-Extreme version, which has three times fewer cores than the Extreme variant.

With updates to MSI Center M and the BIOS, the MSI Claw can offer superior performance compared to its competitors in the top 100 most popular games on Steam. For example, in the popular open-world survival game Valheim, the Claw can provide up to 90% more FPS. Other popular games such as Euro Truck Simulator 2, World of Warships, and Dying Light also see performance advantage of over 50%, delivering a smoother gaming experience.

— MSI

It took MSI a few weeks, but the company is clearly starting to be aggressive in marketing efforts. However, for this handheld, it may already be too late. There are new handhelds coming with even more powerful GPU architectures, some of which may already be presented at Computex .

Source: MSI PR