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Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) HD Graphics

The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD Graphics, Intel HD Graphics, or GMA HD  (or GMA5700MHD) is an onboard / shared memory graphics card for laptops that is bundled in the package of the new Arrandale dual core CPUs (upcoming in Q1 2010). Depending on the CPU model, the GMA HD is clocked between 166 and 500 MHz (with Turbo Boost max. 500-766 MHz). Compared, the the CPU die, the GPU and memory controller are produced in 45nm and not 32nm.

Compared to the current GMA 4500MHD graphics adapter, the Graphics Media Accelerator HD got two more shaders leading in 12 execution units (or unified shader cores). The identically called Intel HD Graphics in entry level Sandy Bridge processors is the successor of this graphics card and offers an improved architecture and therefore faster speeds.

The performance of the new Graphics Media Accelerator HD graphics card is noticable better than the old GMA 4500MHD (due to the increased number of shaders and in some cases also clock rate). In some games, the GMA HD is even as fast as a GeForce 9400M / ION chipset. On average it should be as fast as the HD 3200 / 4200 by ATI and therefore allow the user to play older and less demanding games in low settings. The driver support is still not as good as for Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. Furthermore, Low Voltage and Ultra Low Voltage Core CPUs contain lower clocked GMA HD graphics and are therefore slower.

Furthermore, the OpenGL performance is still not very good. E.g. the old Doom 3 and Quake 4 games wont run fluently.

Similar to the 4500MHD, the GMA HD also offers hardware accelerated HD video functions in the chip. The DXVA Checker lists support for MPEG2 (VLD, IDCT, MoComp, A, C), H264 (VLD, MoComp, IDCT), WMV9 (MoComp, IDCT), and VC1 (MoComp, IDCT) in 72x480, 1280x720 and 1920x1080. A Toshiba Tecra A11 laptop with Core i5-430M CPU decoded Big Buck Bunny (1080p, H.264) using the Windows Media Player using the graphics card with only 0-1% CPU load. When using the VLC which did not support using the graphic card, the CPU load was significantly higher with 8-17% in our tests. The same was noticed with WMV videos (The Magic of Flight 1080p 3-5% versus 7-12%) and VC-1 videos (Elephant's Dream 1080p 5-8% versus 8-15%).

The Turbo Boost function of the new Arrandale CPUs also allows the automatic overclocking of the GPU core. The graphics card is only overclocked if the CPU is not fully loaded and the TDP is not fully used. 

  • High End: Core i5 520M, 540M, i7 620M: 500-766 MHz
  • Low End: Core i3 330M, 350M: 500-677 MHz
  • Low Voltage: Core i7 620LM, 640LM: 266-566 MHz
  • Ultra Low Voltage: Core i5-520UM, i5-620UM, 640UM: 166-500 MHz

It is questionable if the Turbo is really often used in current games, as most games also use a lot of CPU time. Therefore, the UM and LM versions of the GMA HD should be a lot slower because of the slow base speed of 166 / 266 MHz.

ManufacturerIntel
Graphics Media Accelerator Series

Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) HD Graphics 12@500MHz

CodenameGMA HD
ArchitectureArrandale
Pipelines12 - unified
Core Speed *500 MHz
Shader Speed *500 MHz
Shared Memoryyes
Shared Memory
DirectXDirectX 10, Shader 4.0
Current Consumption35 Watt
technology45 nm
Date of Announcement10.01.2010
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

Benchmarks

3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 119     avg: 267.6 (1%)     max: 394 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 90     avg: 202.7 (1%)     max: 299 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 994     avg: 1499.9 (5%)     max: 2119 Points
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 1093     avg: 2789.9 (8%)     max: 3429 Points
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 2681     avg: 3980.6 (3%)     max: 5007 Points
3DMark 2001SE - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 4735     avg: 8112.5 (13%)     max: 10934 Points
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 1726     avg: 3100.1 (12%)     max: 7739 Points
Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
0% 100%
min: 0.68     avg: 1.2 (1%)     max: 1.86 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 62     avg: 1719.5 (16%)     max: 3036 Points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 2.4     avg: 4.1 (52%)     max: 4.8 points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 3.2     avg: 4.9 (62%)     max: 5.3 points
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card

For more games that might be playable and a list of all games and graphics cards visit our Gaming List

No reviews found for this graphics card.

» Comparison of GPUs
Detailled list of all laptop GPUs with a short description. Classified and sorted by performance.

» Benchmark List
Sortable and restrainable list of all GPUs with benchmarks (e.g. 3DMarks).

» Notebook Gaming List
Which game can be played with my graphics card.

Class 1
GeForce GTX 590
Radeon HD 7970
GeForce GTX 660 Ti
Radeon HD 7870
GeForce GTX 580
Radeon HD 6970
GeForce GTX 570
GeForce GTX 480
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Radeon HD 6870
Radeon HD 5850
Radeon HD 7770
Radeon HD 7770
GeForce GTX 460 768MB
Radeon HD 6790
Radeon HD 5770
GeForce GTX 550 Ti
Class 2
GeForce GTS 450
Radeon HD 4850
Class 3
Radeon HD 5670
GeForce GT 240
GeForce GT 430
Radeon HD 5570
GeForce GT 220
Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5
Class 4
Class 5
Radeon HD 4350
GeForce G 107M *
Chrome9HD *
PowerVR SGX554MP4 *
Mali-T604 *
Class 6
PowerVR SGX543MP4 *
Adreno 320 *
PowerVR SGX543MP3 *
PowerVR SGX543MP2 *
PowerVR SGX545
PowerVR SGX544 *
Adreno 305 *
Adreno 225 *
Vivante GC4000 *
Mali-400 MP4 *
VideoCore-IV *
Adreno 220 *
Vivante GC1000+ Dual-Core
Mali-400 MP2 *
PowerVR SGX540 *
Adreno 205 *
Adreno 203 *
GC800 *
PowerVR SGX535
PowerVR SGX531
PowerVR SGX530
Adreno 200 *
Mali-200 *
unknown *

* Approximate position of the graphics adapter

> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > FAQ / Tips / Technics > Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards > Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
Author: Klaus Hinum (Update: 2013-01-16)