Gaming Possible with Intel 950?

OK so I want to know. I have a DS, 360 and a gaming desktop, I really don't want need to go out of my way for a highend graphics card on the laptop.

Will games like Age of Empires III, or War Hammer 40,000 run on an Intel integrated card? How about something like Half-Life 2 or UT 2004?

If not, how well does card work with Vista?

Actually main concern is XGL and Compiz under Linux but it seems this card is ok for that.

 

If you game on the GMA 950 performance will be bad.

Vista Aero should run fine on the GMA 950.

 

Most games that are 2 years or older run OK at low settings with the exception of most MMORPGs which, even most new ones, will actually play alright on the GMA. Oh and the GMA should run Compiz fine, hear is a video of a fellow running it on an Intel GM855 which is quite a bit older than the GMA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C64UutYKMhk

 

Odd. My friends 950 doesn't run Aero very well at all. SLOOOW and Slugggish

 

How much ram do they have, the GMA steels ram like nuts so make sure you have at least 1.5GB. Also having lots of apps running in the background messes it up to.

 

Dawn of War works.

Half Life 2 and UT2004 technically work but the framerates are all over the place, regardless of settings, especially in UT2k4. Not advisable.

 

Conclusion: It'll run, but it wont be pretty.

 

1gig stick of RAM. Needs more I know but the answer is, it wont be amazing.

 

I'm still amazed at being able to play Fable: lost chapters and being able to run Medieval II: total war on my gma 950 lols

 

Yea that is true. But I think some older games run OK Stuff like Neverwinter Nights, Halo and Morrowind runs at about 20-25FPS (though Halo drops to 15FPS whn a lot of people are in the scene) and its not awful looking. But then I would not say it was all that nice looking to. One of my brothers has a X300 and just that makes a huge difference.

 

I think solitaire (spider solitaire too) will work fine on the GMA950.

Other than that, you're pretty limited. You will probably be able to run games several years old as people have posted. Since you already have several gaming platforms, I would just reserve the laptop for regular computing.

 

Erm, I would go further....what about " 3D Pinball for Windows", I think it will run amazingly well on the GMA950.

 

*Sharp intake of breath* Jeez, I dunno...

 

All you need is Sim Tower and you're set.

 

Thanks guys, I bet Half-Life 1 would run ok, and there are plenty of good games from several years ago I would play again. Diablo II, Age Of Empires, Warcraft III, Star Craft, and Worms to name a few. I was just wondering how far I could get with an intel card. It seems like I can get a nice setup with an intel 950 for around $1000, but it's $1200+ if I add an Nvidia card.

Thanks for the help.

 

WoW works fine on my notebook and this chip with 1.5gb of ram-