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Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 vs Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 vs Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500

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) X3100

► remove from comparison

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 is an integrated (onboard) graphic chip on a Mobile Intel 965GM (with 500 MHz core speed) and 960GM (400 MHz) chipset (for Merom = Core 2 architecture). It is the successor of GMA 950. Most interesting is the integration of a fully programmable pipeline. Due to the integration of DirectX9 and DirectX 10 features (with drivers later than 15.9.0.1472), HDR and Hardware Transform & Lighning (T&L) - predecessor only had Software T&L - should be ready for Windows Vista Premium (support Aero Glass fully). Respective the data, the peformance should be clearly better than GMA 950.

The 13.5 Watt current consumption is relatively low, because it includes all chipset functions (therefore, this value is not compareable to dedicated graphics cards).

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) 900Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500
GMA Series
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4700MHD 10 @ 0.64 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD 10 @ 0.53 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M 10 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 8 @ 0.5 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 4/0 cores @ 0.25 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 4/0 cores @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 4 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 4 @ 0.2 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4700MHD 10 @ 0.64 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD 10 @ 0.53 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M 10 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 8 @ 0.5 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 4/0 cores @ 0.25 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 4/0 cores @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 4 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 4 @ 0.2 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4700MHD 10 @ 0.64 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD 10 @ 0.53 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M 10 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 8 @ 0.5 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 4/0 cores @ 0.25 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 4/0 cores @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 4 @ 0.4 GHz
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 4 @ 0.2 GHz
CodenameGMA 900CrestlineGMA 500
ArchitectureGen. 3Gen. 4PowerVR SGX5
Pipelines4 / 0 Pixel- / Vertexshader8 - unified4 - unified
Core Speed400 MHz500 MHz200 MHz
Shared Memorynonoyes
APIDirectX 9c, Shader 2.0DirectX 10, Shader 3.0DirectX 10.1, Shader 4.1
technology130 nm90 nm130 nm
FeaturesNo Hardware Transform and Lightning Support (T&L), MPEG2 acceleration, Motion CompensationTransform and Lighting Hardware Support, 32 Bit Floating Point Precision, 16xAF, Occlusion Query, Hardware Clipping, DX10, DirectX9, OpenGl 2.0, Hardware MPEG2 und WMV9 acceleration, 300 MHz RAMDAC, 2 25-112 MHz LVDS Transmitter, 2 DVO Encoder, TV Encoder
OpenGL 2.0, PowerVR SGX Kern, Screen Tiling, Internal True Color Processing, Zero overhead AA, 32 Bit floating-point operations.
Date of Announcement01.03.2005 09.05.2007 01.11.2008
Link to Manufacturer Pagewww.intel.comwww.intel.comdownload.intel.com
Power Consumption13.5 Watt

Benchmarks

3DMark 2001SE - 3DMark 2001 - Standard
min: 1726     avg: 3330     median: 4000 (4%)     max: 4264 Points
min: 2012     avg: 4319     median: 4117 (4%)     max: 6839 Points
3DMark 03 - 3DMark 03 - Standard
min: 289     avg: 736     median: 877.5 (0%)     max: 900 Points
min: 751     avg: 1520     median: 1600 (1%)     max: 2916 Points
3DMark 05 - 3DMark 05 - Standard
min: 200     avg: 234     median: 223 (0%)     max: 279 Points
min: 446     avg: 805     median: 848 (1%)     max: 997 Points
3DMark 06 3DMark 06 - Score Unknown Settings + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900
3DMark 06
min: 54     avg: 57     median: 57 (0%)     max: 60 Points
3DMark 06 - Score Unknown Settings + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
min: 411     avg: 499     median: 479 (1%)     max: 603 Points
3DMark 06 - Score Unknown Settings + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500
min: 72     avg: 75.5     median: 75.5 (0%)     max: 79 Points
3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
3DMark 06
min: 177     avg: 444.9     median: 430.5 (1%)     max: 583 Points
3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500
68 Points (0%)
3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x800 + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
3DMark 06
min: 243     avg: 488.4     median: 539.5 (1%)     max: 594 Points
3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x768 + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
3DMark 06
min: 426     avg: 488.3     median: 506 (1%)     max: 533 Points
3DMark 06 - Standard 1024x768 + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
3DMark 06
min: 413     avg: 528     median: 527.5 (1%)     max: 642 Points
3DMark 06 - Standard 1024x768 + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500
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: 3.3     avg: 3.4     median: 3.5 (51%)     max: 3.5 Points
min: 2.4     avg: 2.7     median: 2.7 (40%)     max: 3 Points
Windows Vista Experience Index - Windows Vista Leistungsindex - Grafik
min: 3.1     avg: 3.3     median: 3.5 (51%)     max: 3.5 Points
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) 900
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit)
149 Points (0%)
Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
min: 76     avg: 647     median: 665 (0%)     max: 1143 Points
Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) + Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500

Average Benchmarks Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 → 100% n=5

Average Benchmarks Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 → 390% n=5

Average Benchmarks Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500 → 56% 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.

Fifa 11

Fifa 11

2010
low 800x600
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
-1  fps
Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead

2008
low 640x480
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
6  fps
Trackmania Nations Forever

Trackmania Nations Forever

2008
low 640x480
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
48.6  fps
high 1024x768
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
2  fps
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark

Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark

2005
high 1024x768
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
1.6  fps
F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R.

2005
low 640x480
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
43 44 47 47 48 50 50 51 56 56 70 75 ~ 53 fps
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500:
16  fps
med. 800x600
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
8 8 8 8 10 10 10 11 11 13 14 14 ~ 10 fps
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500:
2  fps
high 1024x768
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 ~ 3 fps
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 500:
1  fps
Quake 4

Quake 4

2005
low 640x480
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
14  fps
med. 800x600
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
12  fps
World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft

2005
low 800x600
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
19  fps
Counter-Strike Source

Counter-Strike Source

2004
low 640x480
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
30  fps
high 1024x768
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
4  fps
Doom 3

Doom 3

2004
low 640x480
100%
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900:
2.8  fps
357%
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
5.2 8 8 8.4 8.7 9.6 9.7 12.6 12.6 13.4 15 ~ 10 fps
med. 640x480
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
8.5 9.9 13.3 ~ 11 fps
high 800x600
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
8.4 9.8 12.2 ~ 10 fps
ultra 1024x768
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
7 8.2 9.5 ~ 8 fps
Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo

Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo

1999
high 1024x768
100%
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900:
32.1  fps
227%
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100:
43.6 52 53.9 58 62.6 65.3 67.1 68.5 70 73 77.7 81 82.1 82.6 83.4 101.7 120.9 ~ 73 fps

Average Gaming Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 → 100%

Average Gaming 30-70 fps → 100%

Average Gaming Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 → 292%

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100lowmed.highultraQHD4K
Fifa 11-1
Left 4 Dead6
Trackmania Nations Forever48.62
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark1.6
F.E.A.R.53103
Quake 41412
World of Warcraft19
Counter-Strike Source304
Doom 31011108
Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo73
< 30 fps
< 60 fps
< 120 fps
≥ 120 fps
4
3

3


5

1
1








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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Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)