Intel Graphics Media 500

[Mr_Fusco]

Hello everyone, before I start I just wanted to say I DID do a search and came up with nothing.

I have an ASUS EEE 1201HAB. I know it sucks, but it's alright for the basics. I overclocked the Intel Atom Z520 from 1.33Ghz to 1.7Ghz. I still haven't upgraded to 2GB of RAM (which I plan to do when I get the extra money). Here's my question.

We all know the drivers for the GMA 500 are complete trash, has anyone or does anyone know if there are hacked drivers for this videocard? Also from what I have read, there a "base" of 8MB video RAM and it shares the system memory, but it doesn't seem to share anything. Is there something I'm missing here?

Sadly I want to play Wizard101. My son has an account and he uses a laptop that actually has an Nvidia card and a dual-core CPU... and I wanted to use this laptop too, but the game runs roughly 3FPS.

If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be nice. Could I use something like RivaTuner? Or should I not risk it with this laptop.

Thanks again

 

[Mr_Fusco]

So all these computer people can't help me?

 

[Tegeril]

You waited 2 hours and came back with that? This isn't a customer service hotline.

That said, while I'm surprised at the low system specs required for Wizard101 (hadn't heard of it prior to this posting)...I wouldn't expect anything to run well on a GMA500. Wizard101 suggests a Geforce 2 or better. What I've have discovered laughably is that back in the day when Geforce 2 cards were in their prime they could score over 2000 in 3dMark 2001 (2001, haha). The GMA500 barely reaches 1000 in the same test.

It's not going to work.

 

[spaceman]

sell it and build cheap desktop
the gma 500 blows

 

[Mr_Fusco]

I came back in two hours because I know this is a very popular forum. Also I don't want to sell it. I use it for my fitness training. I have a lot of information on here.

It's a nice laptop for what it does do [nothing really]. I found some hacked drivers that help with the speed of the videocard. It does help.

I am in the process of building this computer.

Thanks again. I know this videocard is complete crap, but I have to do with what I have right now... so couldn't I use an overclock program

 

[IntelUser2000]

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...Product=Intel®+Graphics+Media+Accelerator+500

There are no hacked drivers for the GMA500.

I don't know if you have done it already, but download the drivers for your operating system at the link I gave above. I know few months ago they improved 2D performance and 3D a lot. Still not enough to play 3D games, but that game shouldn't lag on it.

Are you talking about "Wizard101" the mmorpg game? The graphics look similar to World of Warcraft with some lower settings. I know my Atom Z520(1.33GHz) GMA 500 system can get 5-7 fps at WoW, maybe with the updated drivers and a less demanding game you can get by.

 

[betasub]

The EEE is designed to be super-low power, hence super-low performance. Overclocking isn't going to have any tangible benefits, other than increasing power comsumption a little. Besides, you can't add hardware features just by overclocking.

It is far easier to transfer data ("lot of information") to a new system than get an EEE to do something beyond its hardware video capabilities.

 

[beginner99]

Sadly there is no such driver. Seems intel cripples perfromance on purpose. i have gma500 on an xp pc and intel isn't doing anything anymore for new xp drivers. It's sad because there is a bug which leads to bsod when using dxva...

gm500 can run doom 3 easly. With real drivers. I once saw a demo of it. So it's not an issue with the hardware itself.

 

[Mr_Fusco]

Actually I found some hacked drivers and I can play Wizard101 on default settings, and I get a good amount of FPS.

http://www.gmabooster.com/download.htm that allows you to overclock your GMA (not 500).

I also found a site that has Open GL 2.0 support. But this is where I downloaded the "hacked" drivers and I run Wizard101 fine and many other games with ease. It's night and day difference.

http://niuki.net/tag/gma500/

You may not know, but Intel has a different branch of drivers for embedded graphics chips (including GMA500). Features of these drivers (called IEGD) slightly differs from ‘consumer’ ones.
The most important differences:

• OpenGL support is there! Finally you can play Quake 3 on your netbook!
  
• 3D acceleration is much more efficient on them as well, IEGD drivers almost double score in 3DMark 2001 SE.
• Direct2D (DirectDraw) is fully supported, all these casual games from BigFish.com work without an issue

 

[hiddensniper11]

If you are only looking for FPS and don't mind a little drop in graphics quality, you can set in the Display properties/Nvidia Control Panel >> Image Settings - set to Performance from the current Quality.

Also, check if any power saving features are enabled for the GMA500.

 

[Mr_Fusco]

If you are only looking for FPS and don't mind a little drop in graphics quality, you can set in the Display properties/Nvidia Control Panel >> Image Settings - set to Performance from the current Quality.

Also, check if any power saving features are enabled for the GMA500.

You just told me to set an Nvidia control panel but yet you're talking about the INTEL Graphics Media Adapter. Hmm

Those drivers I downloaded allowed more system RAM to be used for the videocard. It went from using 8mb to 272mb. It's a huge difference. I can actually game on this laptop. Also I overclocked from 1.33ghz -> 1.7ghz as while staying at +20 celcius.

Wondering if 2GB of RAM would do anything? It's cheap enough to buy it anyway. And no, I turned off all the power saving features in the BIOS. I also told my CPU to always run at a set speed. I disabled SpeedStep.

 

[Maximilian]

You are gaming on the GMA500? How is it? I doubt 2GB extra would do anything on top of what you already done to increase the amount the GPU takes from main memory.

Im pretty sure the GMA500 was designed for mobile phones and mobile internet devices whatever they are so it was never intended for use in netbooks hence why the drivers are garbage.

 

[Mr_Fusco]

Yes I'm gaming. It's the drivers I downloaded. They really do unlock the power behind the VR chipset. Lol. I can play OpenGL games silky smooth.