Hi Everyone
The Intel GMA X3100... a waste of space? Maybe
When I bought my laptop I was sincerely disappointed to find out that this chip was not designed for anything besides the occasional game of solitaire on an extreme PowerPoint presentation. No way, I decided, there must be some way to play games as my old laptop had a 32 MB dedicated card and was able to play Half Life 2. Yes I know that the X3100 is an integrated card but it does have 358 MB shared memory, Hardware TnL and it supports pixel shader 3.0 with the possibility of 4.0 with future driver updates.
With this in mind, I set about trying to find out which games would work, and how well they would. Please note that all games have been tested on
• Windows VISTA (Important)
• Intel Core 2 Duo T5670 @ 1.8 GHz
• 2 GB RAM
• Intel GMA 965 X3100 with 358 MB Shared Memory
This is on a Dell Vostro 1510 Laptop.
So without further ado...The List
Note: For some of these you will need to download the program “3DAnylize”.
• Battlefield 2 and 2142: Runs fine in default settings and will allow you to raise some settings that will not sacrifice too much performace. Average 25 FPS
• BioShock: Unfortunately, I have not found out a way to make this game playable. On lowest settings,dx9 mode and 640x480, the frame rates are unbearable low. Using 3DAnylize will make the FPS higher but will cause you to lose all textures and colours.
• Call of Duty 4: This was a hard one to optimise but I have found no way to make single player enjoyable. For some reason, when looking in certain areas, the frame rates drop to unbearably slow levels, even if the area being looked at is a wall. Multiplayer is completely playable except for some hiccups in Ambush and Killhouse. All settings on low with textures on high and custom config files. If you want the config files, email me.(below) Around 15-25 FPS
• Command and Conquer 3 - Tiberium Wars: This game works fine with all settings on low with no major tweaking. Turning pretty much anything above low results in a major performance drop. 18 FPS Average
• Company of Heroes: The default settings work fine although turning the settings down will increase performance during large battles. 20-30 FPS
• Crysis: Sorry...will not work at all. I have tweaked the hell out of the config files but with no luck. Maximum FPS I got is 12, mostly around 8 with textures all screwed up.
• Counter-Strike Source: Will run fine in 800 x 600 with recommended settings. Averages around 22 FPS
• Dawn of War and all expansions: Will run fine with defaults but you can afford to turn most settings up a bit. 25-35+ FPS
• Doom 3: Works better on higher settings and resolution. Turn the dynamic lights off in the console for better performance as the lighting plays a huge part in the FPS. In some places the game is unplayable for an unknown reason such as tunnels.
• Half-Life 2 and episodes: Same as Counter-Strike Source
• Half-Life 2: Lost Coast: Will not run as well as Half Life 2 for some reason. It is barely playable outside but runs fine inside around 12 FPS outside.
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars: Will only run with 3DAnylize. Simply tick the boxes that say “emulate Hardware TnL” , “force software TnL” ,”force high pixel shader” and “force low pixel shader”. This will enable the game to run but it will crash to desktop about thirty seconds after joining a game. I have not found a way to fix this. 14-18 FPS
• F.E.A.R: This works fine on the games lowest settings. This looks really bad though. Move the settings up to the next level and the game will still run fine...but will look a lot nicer. Around 22 FPS
• Halo 2: Runs fine averaging around 18 FPS with everything on low 800 x 600. Mouse lags a bit in some places but this is manageable due to the nature of the game.
• Lost Planet: Colonies: Unplayable. With major tweaks both in game and to the config files. I averaged 5 FPS in a tightly packed room and have not bothered trying outside.
• Supreme Commander: Runs with a bit of lag with the default settings so just turn them down a bit for better performance. 23 FPS
• Unreal Tournament 2004: Works fine on default around 25 FPS
Any game that requires an nVidia 6200 or Ati Radeon x550 or less should run with no problems. Anything higher will require config tweaking. Any game you have questions about or if you want my config for COD 4. Email me at
yoshitess@hotmail.com
A Perfect (ircle
