diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e4cff01a9..fa99a8cbe 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ ComfyUI lets you design and execute advanced stable diffusion pipelines using a
 ## Get Started
 
 #### [Desktop Application](https://www.comfy.org/download)
-- The easiest way to get started. 
+- The easiest way to get started.
 - Available on Windows & macOS.
 
 #### [Windows Portable Package](#installing)
@@ -211,27 +211,19 @@ This is the command to install the nightly with ROCm 6.4 which might have some p
 
 ### Intel GPUs (Windows and Linux)
 
-(Option 1) Intel Arc GPU users can install native PyTorch with torch.xpu support using pip (currently available in PyTorch nightly builds). More information can be found [here](https://pytorch.org/docs/main/notes/get_start_xpu.html)
-  
-1. To install PyTorch nightly, use the following command:
+(Option 1) Intel Arc GPU users can install native PyTorch with torch.xpu support using pip. More information can be found [here](https://pytorch.org/docs/main/notes/get_start_xpu.html)
+
+1. To install PyTorch xpu, use the following command:
+
+```pip install torch torchvision torchaudio --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/xpu```
+
+This is the command to install the Pytorch xpu nightly which might have some performance improvements:
 
 ```pip install --pre torch torchvision torchaudio --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/xpu```
 
-2. Launch ComfyUI by running `python main.py`
-
-
 (Option 2) Alternatively, Intel GPUs supported by Intel Extension for PyTorch (IPEX) can leverage IPEX for improved performance.
 
-1. For Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics utilizing IPEX, create a conda environment and use the commands below:
-
-```
-conda install libuv
-pip install torch==2.3.1.post0+cxx11.abi torchvision==0.18.1.post0+cxx11.abi torchaudio==2.3.1.post0+cxx11.abi intel-extension-for-pytorch==2.3.110.post0+xpu --extra-index-url https://pytorch-extension.intel.com/release-whl/stable/xpu/us/ --extra-index-url https://pytorch-extension.intel.com/release-whl/stable/xpu/cn/
-```
-
-For other supported Intel GPUs with IPEX, visit [Installation](https://intel.github.io/intel-extension-for-pytorch/index.html#installation?platform=gpu) for more information.
-
-Additional discussion and help can be found [here](https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI/discussions/476).
+1. visit [Installation](https://intel.github.io/intel-extension-for-pytorch/index.html#installation?platform=gpu) for more information.
 
 ### NVIDIA
 
@@ -352,7 +344,7 @@ Generate a self-signed certificate (not appropriate for shared/production use) a
 
 Use `--tls-keyfile key.pem --tls-certfile cert.pem` to enable TLS/SSL, the app will now be accessible with `https://...` instead of `http://...`.
 
-> Note: Windows users can use [alexisrolland/docker-openssl](https://github.com/alexisrolland/docker-openssl) or one of the [3rd party binary distributions](https://wiki.openssl.org/index.php/Binaries) to run the command example above. 
+> Note: Windows users can use [alexisrolland/docker-openssl](https://github.com/alexisrolland/docker-openssl) or one of the [3rd party binary distributions](https://wiki.openssl.org/index.php/Binaries) to run the command example above.
 <br/><br/>If you use a container, note that the volume mount `-v` can be a relative path so `... -v ".\:/openssl-certs" ...` would create the key & cert files in the current directory of your command prompt or powershell terminal.
 
 ## Support and dev channel
diff --git a/comfy/cli_args.py b/comfy/cli_args.py
index 0d760d524..de3e85c08 100644
--- a/comfy/cli_args.py
+++ b/comfy/cli_args.py
@@ -132,6 +132,8 @@ parser.add_argument("--reserve-vram", type=float, default=None, help="Set the am
 
 parser.add_argument("--async-offload", action="store_true", help="Use async weight offloading.")
 
+parser.add_argument("--force-non-blocking", action="store_true", help="Force ComfyUI to use non-blocking operations for all applicable tensors. This may improve performance on some non-Nvidia systems but can cause issues with some workflows.")
+
 parser.add_argument("--default-hashing-function", type=str, choices=['md5', 'sha1', 'sha256', 'sha512'], default='sha256', help="Allows you to choose the hash function to use for duplicate filename / contents comparison. Default is sha256.")
 
 parser.add_argument("--disable-smart-memory", action="store_true", help="Force ComfyUI to agressively offload to regular ram instead of keeping models in vram when it can.")
diff --git a/comfy/model_management.py b/comfy/model_management.py
index c08f759e5..2a9f18068 100644
--- a/comfy/model_management.py
+++ b/comfy/model_management.py
@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ try:
     torch_version = torch.version.__version__
     temp = torch_version.split(".")
     torch_version_numeric = (int(temp[0]), int(temp[1]))
-    xpu_available = (torch_version_numeric[0] < 2 or (torch_version_numeric[0] == 2 and torch_version_numeric[1] <= 4)) and torch.xpu.is_available()
 except:
     pass
 
@@ -102,10 +101,14 @@ if args.directml is not None:
 
 try:
     import intel_extension_for_pytorch as ipex  # noqa: F401
-    _ = torch.xpu.device_count()
-    xpu_available = xpu_available or torch.xpu.is_available()
 except:
-    xpu_available = xpu_available or (hasattr(torch, "xpu") and torch.xpu.is_available())
+    pass
+
+try:
+    _ = torch.xpu.device_count()
+    xpu_available = torch.xpu.is_available()
+except:
+    xpu_available = False
 
 try:
     if torch.backends.mps.is_available():
@@ -946,10 +949,12 @@ def pick_weight_dtype(dtype, fallback_dtype, device=None):
     return dtype
 
 def device_supports_non_blocking(device):
+    if args.force_non_blocking:
+        return True
     if is_device_mps(device):
         return False #pytorch bug? mps doesn't support non blocking
-    if is_intel_xpu():
-        return True
+    if is_intel_xpu(): #xpu does support non blocking but it is slower on iGPUs for some reason so disable by default until situation changes
+        return False
     if args.deterministic: #TODO: figure out why deterministic breaks non blocking from gpu to cpu (previews)
         return False
     if directml_enabled:
@@ -1282,10 +1287,10 @@ def should_use_bf16(device=None, model_params=0, prioritize_performance=True, ma
         return False
 
     if is_intel_xpu():
-        if torch_version_numeric < (2, 6):
+        if torch_version_numeric < (2, 3):
             return True
         else:
-            return torch.xpu.get_device_capability(device)['has_bfloat16_conversions']
+            return torch.xpu.is_bf16_supported()
 
     if is_ascend_npu():
         return True