Intel is pushing back against a common belief in the PC gaming community that its Efficient cores reduce gaming performance, and the company now says the real issue comes from software that fails to fully use modern hybrid CPUs, which means gamers often miss out on performance that already exists on their systems.
According to an interview with PC Games Hardware, Intel’s VP and GM Robert Hallock addressed concerns around hybrid architecture and explained why E-cores are not the problem many assume.
“There were reviewers… who were observing faster performance with all the E-cores turned off.
They are virtually identical in performance…it’s about 1% difference.” — Robert Hallock
This statement directly challenges the idea that disabling E-cores improves gaming, and it highlights that the performance gap stays minimal even when comparing them with Performance cores in gaming workloads.
Software Optimization Drives Real Performance
Hallock pointed to a deeper issue that affects modern gaming performance, where game engines and operating systems still treat all CPU cores the same, which leads to scheduling problems, uneven thread distribution, and unstable frame pacing during gameplay.
“I truly believe… that the general PC gaming market and especially enthusiasts… are significantly underestimating the importance of software to the PC experience.” — Robert Hallock
He emphasized that systems rely on multiple layers such as the OS scheduler, game engine behavior, and background processes, which together determine how well a CPU performs during gaming sessions.
Hidden Performance Still Untapped
Intel believes a large chunk of performance remains unused due to poor optimization, and this gap becomes more visible on hybrid CPUs where coordination between cores matters more.
“There’s always going to be 10, 20, 30% performance hidden behind the fact that that game was just not optimized for your CPU.” — Robert Hallock
Hallock’s comments suggest that better software tuning can bring Intel’s hybrid chips closer to top gaming processors, and this also explains why raw hardware upgrades alone do not always deliver expected results in real-world gaming.
