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Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 vs Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500

► remove from comparison Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500

The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500 (also called GMA 500) is a graphics card for embedded products (e.g. MIDs), netbooks and other small mobile devices. It is usually paired with an Intel Atom CPU and designed for video playback tasks (even HD content). The integrated video decoder is able to accelerate MPEG-2, VC-1, and AVC HD videos.

The graphics core is based on a licensed PowerVR SGX core (Power VR SGX535 as in the Apple A4) and is clocked with 100 (UL11L) or 200 MHz (US15L, US15W chipset). The GMA 500 is compatible with DirectX 10.1 and features 4 unified shaders. Still the performance wont be sufficient for playing 3D games.

The chipsets that integrate the GMA 500 (UL11L, US15L, and US15W) support

GMA 500 chipset comparison
UL11LUS15LUS15W
Core Speed100200200 MHz
Max RAM512 MB1024 MB1024 MB
max Displays122
PCIe Slots122

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900

► remove from comparison Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900

The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (also known as GMA 900) is an integrated (onboard) graphic chip on the Mobile Intel 915GM chipset for Intel processors. It does not support hardware T&L (Transform & Lightning) calculations (which is required for some games).

It supports DirectX 9.0 with Shader Model 2.0 (Vertex Shader are calculated in Software - by the CPU) and OpenGL 1.4. Furthermore, the chip is able to accelerate the decoding of MPEG2 videos and supports Motion Compensation.

The GMA 900 can not be described as a graphics card that is sufficient for gamers. Still Intel published a list  of games that will run (not needingly beautiful) on the notebook. Some old 3D games and especially 2D games should run without problems. The advantage of integrated graphics cards, is that they have a low power consumtion and therefore save battery life. Furthermore, the laptop may stay cooler and more silent than laptops with dedicated graphics cards. For office programs and surfing the performance is more than sufficient.

Currently there are no drivers that support Aero Glass for Windows Vista.

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900
GMA Series
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4700MHD compare 10 @ 0.64 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD compare 10 @ 0.53 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M compare 10 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 compare 8 @ 0.5 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 compare 4/0 cores @ 0.25 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 4/0 cores @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 compare 4 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 4 @ 0.2 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4700MHD compare 10 @ 0.64 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD compare 10 @ 0.53 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M compare 10 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 compare 8 @ 0.5 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 compare 4/0 cores @ 0.25 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 4/0 cores @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 compare 4 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 4 @ 0.2 GHz
CodenameGMA 500GMA 900
ArchitecturePowerVR SGX5Gen. 3
Pipelines4 - unified4 / 0 Pixel- / Vertexshader
Core Speed200 MHz400 MHz
Shared Memoryyesno
APIDirectX 10.1, Shader 4.1DirectX 9c, Shader 2.0
technology130 nm130 nm
Features
OpenGL 2.0, PowerVR SGX Kern, Screen Tiling, Internal True Color Processing, Zero overhead AA, 32 Bit floating-point operations.
No Hardware Transform and Lightning Support (T&L), MPEG2 acceleration, Motion Compensation
Date of Announcement01.11.2008 01.03.2005
Link to Manufacturer Pagedownload.intel.comwww.intel.com

Benchmarks

min: 1726     avg: 3330     median: 4000 (4%)     max: 4264 Points
min: 289     avg: 736     median: 877.5 (0%)     max: 900 Points
min: 200     avg: 234     median: 223 (0%)     max: 279 Points
3DMark 06 3DMark 06 - Score Unknown Settings + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500
3DMark 06
min: 72     avg: 75.5     median: 75.5 (0%)     max: 79 Points
3DMark 06 - Score Unknown Settings + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900
min: 54     avg: 57     median: 57 (0%)     max: 60 Points
3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500
3DMark 06
68 Points (0%)
3DMark 06 - Standard 1024x768 + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500
3DMark 06
88 Points (0%)
Windows 7 Experience Index - Win7 Gaming graphics
min: 2.3     avg: 2.4     median: 2.4 (30%)     max: 2.4 Points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Win7 Graphics
min: 2.9     avg: 4.2     median: 4.5 (57%)     max: 4.5 Points
Windows Vista Experience Index - Windows Vista Leistungsindex - Grafik (Spiele)
min: 2.4     avg: 2.7     median: 2.7 (40%)     max: 3 Points
Windows Vista Experience Index - Windows Vista Leistungsindex - Grafik
min: 4.5     avg: 5.2     median: 5.2 (76%)     max: 5.9 Points
Cinebench R10 Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500
Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900
149 Points (0%)

Average Benchmarks Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 → 100% n=5

Average Benchmarks Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 → 276% n=5

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R.

2005
low 640x480
100%
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500:
16  fps
med. 800x600
100%
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500:
2  fps
high 1024x768
100%
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500:
1  fps
Doom 3

Doom 3

2004
low 640x480
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900:
2.8  fps
Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo

Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo

1999
high 1024x768
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900:
32.1  fps

Average Gaming Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 → 100%

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500lowmed.highultraQHD4K
F.E.A.R.1621
< 30 fps
< 60 fps
< 120 fps
≥ 120 fps
1


1


1











Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900lowmed.highultraQHD4K
Doom 32.8
Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo32.1
< 30 fps
< 60 fps
< 120 fps
≥ 120 fps
1






1










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

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show all (including archived), 2024, 2023
v1.26
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Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)