Graphics Accelerators Graphics Accelerators - what are they?by Paul HsiehFor an updated version of this article check out the March/April2001 edition of.First of all, let me establish the general topic of discussion as real timegraphics rendering. That means drawing a desktop GUI, playing a game orreal time simulation or animation. Other topics such as raytracing, or imageprocessing are really not what this page is about.Graphics accelerators are coprocessors that reside in your computer thatassist in drawing graphics. GUI's such as Windows take advantage of these if a'display driver' is available to perform graphics more efficiently than purelysoftware based algorithms. If you bought an Intel based PC in the last coupleyears, chances are you have a graphics accelerator in it.A graphics accelerator assists graphics rendering by supplying primitives thatit can execute concurrently with and more efficiently than the x86 CPU. Onereason the accelerator can be more efficient than the CPU is because it livescloser to the graphics memory; it does not have to transfer raw pixel dataover a slow (relative to the speed of the graphics RAM) general BUS andchipset.
But the main reason a graphics accelerator improves overall graphicsperformance is because it executes concurrently with the CPU. This means thatwhile the CPU is calculating the coordinates for the next set of graphicscommands to issue, the graphics accelerator can be busy filling in thepolygons for the current set of graphics commands. This dividing up ofcomputation is often referred to as load balancing.Operating SystemsNote that the Apple Macintosh's older built-in graphics API does not allow forthis sort of concurrent graphics operation.
The reason is that the framebuffer was not abstracted in any way. Popular applications such as Adobe'sIllustrator and type manager access the frame buffer directly, without anyaccess arbitration. While apps that use the 32-bit QuickDraw API can leverageacceleration, the degree to which any serious applications on the Macleveraged this is a completely unknown quantity.However, in an unprecedented move to challenge the Wintel duopoly Applerecently made an astounding move. They have decided to adopt the OpenGLstandard!
Intel Game Tester
GMA 950 has support for both vertex and pixel shaders. A strange thing about GMA 950 is that in DirectX it supports shaders of version 2.0 while in OpenGL supports shaders of version 1.4; OpenGL shader support is implemented rather badly, and many shader based apps in OpenGL run with problems. DirectX apps seem to run without problems.Pixel shaders are implemented in hardware, and vertex shaders are emulated in software.As for the T&L.
Graphic Accelerator For Game For Pc
GMA has a hardware T&L module. The module is used only when running apps which don't use shaders. These are: pretty old games (like quake3, tomb raider 4 and such), and some new games.When using it's T&L module GMA950 is pretty fast.
I think it's performance can be compared to GeForce3 in this case. But when you run an application which uses shaders, performance is worse.Still you will be able to launch almost any game on the GMA 950. ( quake3, HL2, doom3, Tomb Raider Legend) run without problems. The bad thing is that in GMA oerformance is low, so you'll have to play games like HL2 or doom3 in very low quality settings. I had brought an asus laptop core 2 duo 1500 mb ram with intel gma950 graphics 224 mb, and a windows vista home premium operating system, but i got a problem running games such as call of duty 2, devils may cry 3, and other games having a directx 9.0c, are this games really not compatible with intel 950 graphics? My direct x is direct x 10 but still those games failed to run, and with command n conquer tiberium wars was installed but was beingstopinthe middle of the game, why are this happens?
Is this compatibility issue with the graphics? Games that have run on my laptop are lord of the rings 1 and 2, generals, medal of honor allied and pacific assault, nba live and tiger woods 07. Hi i have a problem with a game called lineage 2(l2) this game don`t run with my pc ( Aspire 5570-2607 with intel pentium dual core processor T2080 / intel graphics media acelerator 950)it say 'The game may not be consistant because AGP is deactived.Please Activate AGP for consistancy' someone now how to repair this problem?since now i try dowload the new driver of the vga but it didn`t worksomeone told me that the game dont work whit the intel GMA and say that it can be solucionated with a parch. Hi i have a problem with a game called lineage 2(l2) this game don`t run with my pc ( Aspire 5570-2607 with intel pentium dual core processor T2080 / intel graphics media acelerator 950)it say 'The game may not be consistant because AGP is deactived.Please Activate AGP for consistancy' someone now how to repair this problem?since now i try dowload the new driver of the vga but it didn`t worksomeone told me that the game dont work whit the intel GMA and say that it can be solucionated with a parchI have exactly the same problem. The same game, same message.My lap-top is Acer Aspire 5610Z(with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950). If someone knows how to activate the AGP(if there is one in my lap-top im not sure) please tell.Thank you! Well i only have 1 thing to say// intel graphic sucks real good OR maybe the graphic acceleration of intel devices have a bug or something.
Just what the other guy said. In a laptop with nVidia graphics, gaming is really goood. And i envy my friend that have a laptop with nvidia. Because he can play games at a very good rate. And well for me i just bought a laptop that is more expensive than his, and still gaming sucked. The The Mobile Intel GM965 Express chipset. Intel GRAPHICS is CRAP.
And no one knows how to do something about it. I have 356video memory and my friend has 128 only AND STILL HIS LAPTOP is BETTER. Hi i have a problem with a game called lineage 2(l2) this game don`t run with my pc ( Aspire 5570-2607 with intel pentium dual core processor T2080 / intel graphics media acelerator 950)it say 'The game may not be consistant because AGP is deactived.Please Activate AGP for consistancy' someone now how to repair this problem?since now i try dowload the new driver of the vga but it didn`t worksomeone told me that the game dont work whit the intel GMA and say that it can be solucionated with a parchI have exactly the same problem. The same game, same message.My lap-top is Acer Aspire 5610Z(with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950). If someone knows how to activate the AGP(if there is one in my lap-top im not sure) please tell.Thank you!
There are many games you can play, and many games you cannot play on the intel graphics accelerator.My Laptop is a Dell 1525, 3GB of RAM, 250 GB HD, Vista Home Premium, Intel Core Duo T2930 and ofcourse Intel X3100. I have the latest intel graphics driver from Dell.So far I tested the following games and come to the following results:Half Life 2: High Settings at 1024x768, Great speed, definitely playable.Theif: Deadly Shadows: Low Settings, Everything Set to low, Playable but a bit slow.Unreal Tournament 2004: Medium to High Settings, 1024x768, Definitely playable.Fable: Lost Chapters: Low to Medium settings, 800x600, definitely playable.Hitman: Silent Assassin: Medium settings, 800x600, definitely playable.Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter: Low settings, loads but definitely unplayable. I hear the engine is not optimized for PC since it was originally a console game so that could be why GRAW is older than COD4 but COD4 plays ALOT better (check youtube for actual vids).These are all the games I've tried so far.