Old Games On Integrated Graphics

Lorek

So I'm thinking of picking up some GOG plane simulator games for my Dad for fathers day. I've never had a computer without a dedicated video card though, so I have no idea if these will run on his PC though. I snuck over and managed to get a DxDiag and it gave me this:

Chip type: Intel(R) HD Graphics (Core i3)
Display Memory: 1755 MB
Dedicated Memory: 128 MB
Shared Memory: 1627 MB

IL-2 Sturmovik is probably the most intensive game I'd get him; it lists requirements as 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 8 (compatible with DirectX 9 recommended). Can these non-dedicated cards even use DirectX? Would they run decently?

TychoCelchuuu

With the exception of IL-2 you don't really have to worry, but with IL-2, I'm not really sure: you certainly have DX9 capabilities with that laptop, but given that it's the cheapest type of mobile Intel processor, you might have issues. How sneaky can you be? Can you install the demo and try? My hunch would be that you're fine (as long as you buy him a joystick...) but I can't say with any certainty in either direction. Perhaps someone else knows.

Hahnsoo1

According to the chart:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-game-performance-radeon-hd-6670,2935-7.html

Intel HD Core i3 is about equivalent to a Radeon 9600 Pro or GeForce 4 Ti 4600. Looking at the benchmarks, it would have pretty abysmal performance if you had FSAA on or any resolution above 1024x768. If he runs the games at that resolution with few or no bells and whistles, it might run okay.

corky842

I found some benchmarks, and that integrated gpu should run IL-2 just fine.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/11

Edit: Also, the Steam store page says these are supported/min. specs:

* Supported Video Cards at Time of Release: ATI® Radeon™ 7000/8000/9000/X families, NVIDIA® GeForce™ 256/2/3/4/FX/6 families, Matrox Parhelia™, Intel® GMA 925X/915P/915G chipsets
(Laptop models of these cards not fully supported.)
These chipsets are the only ones that will run this game. Additional chipsets may be supported after release.

41Quisp

People have a tendancy to state with enthusiasm that integrated graphics are no good. I've owned 2 computers with them and they work fine. I currently have a PC with 6gb of ram, an Intel HD Graphics driver, and i3 processor and can run IL2 at 1680x1050 resolution. It runs smooth. I've enabled 3d gunners and island palm trees (both of which are supposed to hurt your frame rate). I can also play Fallout 3 and New Vegas with no problem.

bowen

It's more an issue with laptops.

They're still terrible, but less so on full fledged desktops. On laptops you might as well get a mouse to draw you pictures.

Feral

Intel's integrated graphics chipsets got better with the 900 series. Prior to the 900 series, there was a good chance that an Intel integrated chipset might not run a game at all. The Intel 815, for instance, didn't support hardware transform and lighting - it could not do some of the basic mathematics necessary to actually render and light a 3D object. It offloaded most of those tasks to the CPU. If your game ran at all, it ran abysmally.

The newer integrated chipsets, like the 950, are 'real' graphics processors. They can perform the basic functions that a contemporary nVidia or ATI chipset can do - just slower and using less power. They'll play most 3D games, just at a slower framerate with settings turned down. Your HD core is more like the latter category than the former.

Melinoe

If you can manage to get to the computer again you can try www.systemrequirementslab.com, they don't have a ton of older games but I checked and they at least have the one that you mentioned.

Esh

bowen wrote:

It's more an issue with laptops.

They're still terrible, but less so on full fledged desktops. On laptops you might as well get a mouse to draw you pictures.

My 2010 MacBook Pro with integrated graphics disagrees vehemently with you. The newer Intel HD processors aren't bad either. They're not gonna do the work of a dedicated card, but they're absolutely nowhere near what you keep going on about.

MrDelish

Esh wrote:

bowen wrote:

It's more an issue with laptops.

They're still terrible, but less so on full fledged desktops. On laptops you might as well get a mouse to draw you pictures.

My 2010 MacBook Pro with integrated graphics disagrees vehemently with you. The newer Intel HD processors aren't bad either. They're not gonna do the work of a dedicated card, but they're absolutely nowhere near what you keep going on about.

I agree: my Dell with an Intel HD 3000 runs Skyrim on lowest settings with a pretty decent framerate. Sure, it's not as great as my SLI 460 desktop but it works well enough.

bowen

Esh wrote:

bowen wrote:

It's more an issue with laptops.

They're still terrible, but less so on full fledged desktops. On laptops you might as well get a mouse to draw you pictures.

My 2010 MacBook Pro with integrated graphics disagrees vehemently with you. The newer Intel HD processors aren't bad either. They're not gonna do the work of a dedicated card, but they're absolutely nowhere near what you keep going on about.

Yes an expensive laptop that has an option for a dedicated card probably will be a bit better quality than a 500 acer at best buy running Intel shitfuck version crapsauce.

That's why I used, "more an."

Esh

bowen wrote:

Esh wrote:

bowen wrote:

It's more an issue with laptops.

They're still terrible, but less so on full fledged desktops. On laptops you might as well get a mouse to draw you pictures.

My 2010 MacBook Pro with integrated graphics disagrees vehemently with you. The newer Intel HD processors aren't bad either. They're not gonna do the work of a dedicated card, but they're absolutely nowhere near what you keep going on about.

Yes an expensive laptop that has an option for a dedicated card probably will be a bit better quality than a 500 acer at best buy running Intel shitfuck version crapsauce.

That's why I used, "more an."

And we're talking about stuff from GoG, so integrated graphics are just fine. What are you talking about expensive with an option for dedicated? That wasn't even discussed. Honestly, if you're just gonna keep up with the unwarranted and unsubstantiated bile in here...

TychoCelchuuu

This thread is from June 2011, everyone. I think anything this person was buying for Father's Day has been purchased.