Intel X3100 users rejoice! It's finally here! New Pre-Beta Drivers

what bugs me is the 15.xx series were supposed to be the vista T&L series, but so far we only have a bit of T, and no L

I'm sure it will get there some day, it's just frustrating having drivers so tragically behind the actual hardware.

 

I hope you get to read this post. BTW, I have XP and it reports same thing with 3dmark. 3dmark runs on software VS mode because it runs faster than hardware mode. It really tells nothing about T&L support by running 3dmark.

WoW frame rates are HEAVILY dependent on your CPU, at least for this GPU. With same GMA X3000, my frame rates increased by 3x in average by going from Celeron D 2.53GHz to Core 2 Duo E6600. I have not noticed any improvements in WoW gaming performance with driver updates.

 

Does anybody have Vista, Core 2 Duo, and Intel branded motherboard?? Laptops don't count for Intel branded motherboard because Intel doesn't make motherboards for laptops.

I have XP, but I have genuine Intel board. Intel Desktop Board DG965WH.

People who do please test out your performance.

 

It will be interesting to see if it can be tricked into not realising what app is running then . Also I'm sure I read in XP the 3d Mark system info tool reports 8 hw lights with the latest drivers?

 

you have read correctly and it's from IntelUser (aka DavidC1) himself

liar liar, pants on fire

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showpost.php?p=3941678&postcount=263

 

noxxle99 : arg, arg, arg, many apologies, you were right, I'd tried it with windows in a lower rez, not games specifically, i don't know about anything else, but none of the panel fit options with the 15.6.1 drivers are making Peggle run without borders now

 

This is ridiculous. Don't some of the mods in the lenovo forum work for Lenovo? Can we convince them to relay our complaint to someone on the Vista driver team at Lenovo? Maybe we could at least get an answer as to whats taking so long.

 

what makes it even funnier (in a very sad kind of way) is this in the new release notes :

"Issues Resolved :
2254202
Issue with Center/Stretch mode for notebook display
NT - Miniport
Intel® GM965 Express Chipset"

 

oh noxxle you bring up a great point. if we can convince the people @ Lenovo who deal with Intel to bring up this point, it would be SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER than us voicing our complaints because Intel does business with Lenovo, so as a business partner, they have much more say than us end users. Even better if we can get all the big manufacturers like Dell, HP, Gateway, Lenovo etc. to bring up the issue together and I'm sure it would get Intel's arse moving and start improving the vista drivers.

 

l

Sigh, you gotta remember I am not on the beta drivers anymore and mine reports same thing as you did previously, aka no hardware lights no VS 3.0 etc. However I run games fine.

Please stop quoting on the outdated post lol.

 

I am running vista with 15.6.1 driver on my X61, NWN2 MOB is running at 10-12fps in the tutorial chapter, and the game crashes a lot so basically it is not playable. Will try to install XP when I have time.

 

What is the best OpenGl Configuration?

 

best for what

 

To play any game.

 

what's best for one game is atrocious on another, your far better off asking in game forums.
plus not a great deal of games are OpenGL anyway, from big publishers, it's mostly only games in id softwares engines.

 

I've been in contact with the Intel team. Threatened to contact the better business bureau with a false advertising claim (DX10 support with hardware T&L AND Vista/Aero compliant X3100 IGP). This is the reason I bought this laptop but I clearly don't have these capabilities. My only option for hardware T&L is to downgrade to XP, which defeats the purpose of buying a Vista Premium system. Anyway, they "escalated" my complaint to their research department, whatever that means.

Keep bit*hing and maybe we'll actually see a Vista driver solution before the end of this year.

 

I have been looking for a place at Intel or something from Intel where they state that the X3100 has those things, because as far as i remember i only learned that it supported DirectX10 and T&L etc. on 3rd party hardware sites that made reviews. So if i can get my hands on something from Intel that says that this card can do this and that, and it's one of those things that the card doesn't have at the moment because of the drivers, i can contact the place i purchased it, request that they take this laptop back, which i am certain that they will not, and then i can file a complaint at the government organization in my country who handles consumer/company disputes for virtually no money and try the case.
I find it scandalous that Intel would release this with key features not enabled and especially if it has been advertised by Intel with those features

 

I think you are looking for a scandal where none exists. Intel generally refers to the GMA X3100 as Vista Premium and Aero Glass compatible, which doesn't necessarily refer to DX10 support. The only time I remember an official Intel marketing document stating DX10 support for the GMA X3100, they were clear that it was something that will be enabled by drivers in Q1 2008. So I don't think you can make a real complaint about lack of DX10 support unless Intel fails to deliver in the next 6 months.

 

How did you get in contact with the intel team? Where can the rest of us send our B^tching?

 

According to Intel:
Hardware T&L and Shader Model 3.0 software driver support expected in August 2007
DX10 and Shader Model 4.0 software driver support expected in Q1 2008

http://download.intel.com/products/graphics/intel_graphics_guide.pdf

 

Exactly. Especially when the integrated GPU adds $3 to the cost of the chipset, and its mostly fault for Microsoft delivering a useless OS. I mean its a stupid thing people tried to sue Nvidia over not delivering good enough drivers. Why isn't same happening to Microsoft who's screwing over consumers and along with it majority of hardware manufacturers, consumers, system builders for bundling a crappy OS that does not deliver as promised??

Go to Nvidia driver page: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Go to Intel's driver page: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intelg965/

Notice SEPERATE driver versions for Windows XP, and Vista

Nvidia's opinion on driver delay
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=357

"For Windows XP, NVIDIA simply needed to create two main driver components; really two separate drivers. One for DirectX rendering and one for OpenGL rendering. With Vista though, things have changed, and NVIDIA now needs to develop six separate drivers. One for DX9 single card, one for DX9 SLI, one for DX10 single card, one for DX10 SLI, one for OpenGL single card and one for OpenGL SLI modes."

Hence, the reason for seperate graphics drivers are the reason why Nvidia and Intel both suffered driver problems. You can see from Intel driver release dates that Vista takes approximately one month after XP driver to come out.

 

toxic banana, thanks for that link. it was very informative. That answered the question someone had about documentation regarding t&l for the x3100. The card looks good on paper... lol. Expected drivers in August are 2 months late already! Lets get this thing working in Vista and see what it can do! i cant wait.

I am happy to see that others are concerned with this issue as well.

Imagine buying a car that drives up to 200km/h, but the manufacture tells u that u can only drive it at 50km/h until they invent the right fuel for it. haha

 

Lets all play blame game.

There are 2 lines of though here. One is called "Apple", and the other "Microsoft". You may be asking what the heck does this have to do with the X3100, but read on - I'm going somewhere with this... I think.

Apple's philosophy is to construct a complete and well engineered product that just works. In doing this they retain complete control of hardware and software.

Microsoft's philosophy (other than world domination) is to release a product that is more versatile, with less restrictions on how it can be used and manipulated (Linux takes this philosophy a step further) - this generates more third party hardware and software innovation that is prevented by Apple (I'm not saying Apple isn't innovative).

Microsoft's OS is often compared against Apples, with people complaining that Microsoft is unstable and not secure - and OSx is secure, stable, and better designed. So with Vista, MS has listened to these complaints and built a more secure and stable OS that is still open to third party innovation. Unfortunately, this balancing act has complicated the development process, creating these driver delays that we are experiencing with our graphics hardware.

So, should we be angry at MS for securing there OS, or should we be mad at Intel, nVidia, or ATI for selling incomplete products, or should we be blaming ourselves for not buying a MacBook?

Perhaps, instead we should be embracing driver delays and incomplete software as an evolution of technology. I'm not happy about Intel's deceptive marketing of the X3100, nor do I have sympathy for nVidia's whining about millions of lines of code that need to be written, but I'm not angry with them either. Lets just hope they deliver in the end.

Sorry for my ramblings.

 

I've been emailing

[email protected]

Two individuals have actually contacted me no less than 3 times and seem to be quite pro-active about resolving the issue. I have directed them to this forum for an education on user experience with the X3100 in Vista. I must say I've gone from being upset and disappointed to actually quite pleased with real people that seem to be genuinely concerned about our end-user experiences. I'm have growing confidence that the driver team at Intel will be working on Vista capabilities with the X3100/GM965 in the immediate future.

 

The thing is, the 15.6 drivers are the Vista counterpart to the 14.31 XP drivers. The problem is, the 14.31 drivers work very well compared to the Vista drivers. Experience with 14.31 drivers tell me that these are indeed the drivers promised.

I would compare to Fuel Cell cars and Hydrogen pumping stations .

 

See if you can get an eta for a vista driver that *properly* supports TnL.

 

v slightly off topic, I tried the free autodesk Maya 2008 PLE and with the last 2 releases of x3100 drivers, when in maximized window mode only, the right half of the display windows vanishes on my x3100 based system it's fine if you shrink any of the displays.
I mentioned before I hope they continue to work on the oGL drivers, and bring them to full openGL 2.0 compatability, this just compounds that wish for me more.

 

I'm wondering if i get Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, but i don't know if this card can play this game. If anyone knows if i can, can you tell me, thanks.

 

Check out my screenshots with Unreal Tournament 2007 Demo at UT2007 Demo thread!!

 

Those screen shots dont include fps. What was your fps with post processing OFF and details turned to as low as possible? Vista or xp?

 

He stated that FPS are between 10-15 FPS.

 

I did not show fps on those screenshots because its hard to benchmark with FRAPS without a benchmark utility. Though I have given you the idea of performance on the paragraph following it. You would have known that if you actually read it. Also, people who paid more attention may know I post occasionally on the threads and that I have Windows XP.

-I got 10-15 fps with FRAPS with 800x600 and both bars in advanced settings set as 1 with post processing at default. That's the barely playable level. FRAPS testing showed 12 fps.
-With bars on 3 and post processing at default I got 15-25% less frames than the minimum. It also affects performance in menus.
-I got 4-6 fps with everything high.

 

Don't get your panties in a twist. You said:

"The game is barely playable at 800x600 resolution and putting both settings to 1. It gets around 10-15 fps with Post Processing at Default. Though there are no graphical glitches."

I didn't know what settings at "1" meant, and the only setting you have listed with no post processing was at "3". You say its barely playable at 800x600 resolution with both settings at "1" but don't mention if that was with post processing. PLEASE EXCUSE ME for not knowing you use xp! I was just confused by your post. RELAX

 

that's the standard intel customer support email. glad u've been getting good results though, they seem have stopped responding to mine

 

Sadly, OpenGL 2.0 compatibility might be a lost cause since Intel has said the maximum OpenGL capability they plan on supporting with the GMA X3100 is OpenGL 1.5. OpenGL 2.0 is the new feature of the yet to be released desktop GMA X3500 and will prosumably come with the mobile version (GMA X3600?) in Montevina in Q2 2008.

 

It's good to read such an informed conversation about the state of the x3100.

My girlfriend just recently bought a new Thinkpad R61 with the x3100. I suggested it because of the reason most of you have been mislead on - the fact that it should be a very decent gaming card (especially on a Core 2 system). We're running Vista Business 32-bit, and I've been running around with drivers all weekend.

I upgraded to 15.6.1 (the latest driver), and didn't see any improvement. I noticed, however, that the package I downloaded has vga BIOS files - and one for the GM965. It is version crl_1533.exe, crl_1533.bsf, and crl_1533.dat.

I've flashed my own ATI VBIOS before, but I needed a third-party program to do so. The Intel Graphic Properties dialogue reports the VBIOS is still at 13xx, and I don't know how to verify what the hardware is actually reporting.

My question is

A) Is it worth flashing the VBIOS right now, in this point of driver development? Will it cause problems?

B) How do I flash a Thinkpad's GM965 VBIOS? What kind of boot-CD do I need to make?

Thanks.



___________________________________________

[1] SiS 648FX | P4 3.10Ghz HT | 2GB DDR-2 667Mhz | ATI-Sapphire X800 PE TOXIC 256MB | SB Audigy 2 ZS | XP Pro SP2
[2] Apple MacBook Pro | 2.16Ghz Core Duo | 2GB DDR-2 | ATI X1600 256MB | OSX 10.4.X [+] XP Pro SP2
[3] IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad R61 7733 1BU | 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo T7300 | 1GB DDR-2 667Mhz | GMA965 Express Chipset | Intel X3100 (128MB?) | Windows Vista Business 32-bit
___________________________________________

 

I just Installed Prince of Persia: Sands of time (2003) and the game runs a little bit slow, even with every setting in low.

 

atwixtor - video bios flash - no idea, and can't find any info about it online anywhere.
If they deem it important enough to be done, and they deem the customer return rate from damaged during flash systems negligible enough, your notebook manufacturer will release a flash update tool in the same way as a system bios update I'd imagine.

 

As far as i was told by Intel, the drivers updates the bios when installed.

 

If that was the case, then the information panel in the intel display options would be reporting the new video bios version then.

 

The VBIOS is updated when you update the BIOS version, at least its true with my DG965WH board. It doesn't come with the driver.

 

As stated, as far as I know of, no integrated graphics solutions have a discrete VBIOS, so in order to update the VBIOS your OEM would have to decide to release a new BIOS version that includes the newer VBIOS.

 

So how much can a VBIOS bring to the table? I'm worried that because my laptop is build by Acer only for the danish market which is a pretty small market compared to a laptop build to be shipped internationally, the support in regards of OEM drivers and BIOS for this laptop is not gonna be high on their to-do list, which is already obvious to me because it's "big-brother" which is essentially the exact same laptop just with a 15" screen and is sold internationally, has already gotten 3 BIOS updates where mine still runs on the stock BIOS and I figured I'd be smart and flash the "big-brother" BIOS onto my laptop since the 15" screen is the only thing that sets them apart and as far as i know that wouldn't screw things up, but the flash-utility does a model check and denies

 

i think i'll just dual boot XP. thanks

 

How can i install the latests X3100 driver on my Dell d630? when i run the install it says this driver isnt validated..

Im running a fresh Xp-pro install (got vista home basic with the laptop)

 

so the most recent driver for the X3100 running with Vista is

"FINAL 15.6 VISTA DRIVERS..." right?

 

Found a solution for it, just had to manually select the .inf file in device manager to get by the validation, now i can install CoH opposing fronts

 

during system refresh or installation, the computer blue screens and restarts, dumping the physical memory...
why is this??? im running in safe mode now...

i attempted to install this driver:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...OSs=164&OSFullName=Windows Vista* 32&lang=eng

i have Vista Home Premium, 32 bit...

 

I can't say for sure, but the .zip format is supposed to be for developer use only. Intel says consumers should be using the .exe version.

And the latest Vista driver is 15.6.1 not 15.6.

 

it should be noted however, if you plan on playing games, do not use the 15.6.1 drivers. whatever changes they made to the 15.6.1 vista drivers, I can confirm that the new drivers completely destroy gaming performance BIG TIME!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2528572&postcount=136
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2526117&postcount=124