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

Whats going on with the new drivers. They better get it right soon...

 

the general consensus is that they are a big disappointment.

 

so is everyone having problems load up games with the new drivers? i don't want to waste the time installing them and then re-installing 15.4.4 if i don't have to. more user comments on the new drivers pls?

 

lemonade, you can always install the new drivers, and force certain games to run in software mode (i.e. 15.4.4's only mode).

see this post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=190646

 

Would someone be willing to install the vista sp1 rc and tell us if it resolves the TnL issue?

 

no other vendors have problems producing TnL drivers for Vista, it's nothing a service pack is going to fix, it's entirely Intel's problem.

 

I just downgraded to XP from Vista and I'm getting roughly the same performance on both operating systems. I downgraded thinking that the XP performance would be leaps and bounds over Vista but it's not. Is there a difference between game genre performance? For example do FPS games run faster than older RPG or Action Adventure games because of the shaders and all that mess? Any help is appreciated because I'm honestly quite frustrated.

 

What's your laptop spec??

"I agree, once our finals is done (2nd Week of Dec) I'll switch back to XP... I can't enjoy CS:S anymore with the 20 - 35 fps @ dxlevel 81 @ 1024x768 on de_dust2 rate unlike the usual 35 - 60fps on de_dust2 @ 1280 x 1024 @ Dxlevel 90 w HDR...!!"

The first result is with Vista, and second is with XP.

Same guy:

"Call of Duty 2 Does not run at this Driver Version in Vista, don't know why.. though this game works in XP (14.31.1)
I can run Command and Conquer 3 at this Driver Version (Haven't Tested 14.32) although I have to say that running this game in XP is faster.. the slow fps's occur more frequent in Vista than XP. (using the 14.31.1 Drivers)"

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=129343&page=82

Here's Anandtech's benchmarks with Vista:
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3117&p=7

From that review, and from my experience with XP and X3000, here's what I know.
-Bioshock/Oblivion runs on XP, not on Vista
-I did test of Facry, not too demanding, but with some action, got 62 fps with FRAPS, Anandtech's test with X3100 and Vista got 32-33 fps with 1024x768 and low settings. I get 25-30 fps with everything High(water delay low though because I have demo and can't patch it).

 

T2310 Dual Core Processor
2GB PC5300
X3100 (14.31.1 in XP and 15.4.4 in Vista)

Running FRAPS I averaged 28-35 with low/medium settings on Far Cry in both XP and in Vista. And both operating systems run Neverwinter Nights 2 at unplayable levels even using all of the tweaks at lowest settings. Knights of the Old Republic also chugs along at an astonishing 15fps outside on low settings under both operating systems.

I even tried running 3dMark03 to see if there was a huge difference and the difference was negligible. 1282 under Vista and 1308 under XP. I've played the same games on both operating systems and there's just basically no noticeable difference (VERY VERY tiny edge to XP...maybe 1-2FPS here and there). I honestly don't understand this considering everyone raving about the XP drivers compared to those on Vista.

I'm running a Vaio VGN-NR110E btw and it comes pre-loaded with Vista and is a pain downgrading to XP because of model locked drivers that you have to work around. Would my sub-par performance in XP be due to something in the bios or any other part of the computer because of how I had to downgrade?

 

maybe it's time to start asking people to report their Video BIOS version when they comment on performance differences.

 

Where can i find my video bios version?

 

right click desktop and select graphics properties, the Intel control panel will pop up, hit the Information button, on the first tab (System) scroll the bar down and you'll find it under the "* Accelerator Information *" section.

1436 here btw.

 

My bios version is 1471. Would the bios really make a dramatic difference though?

 

1471 here, specs in sig. XP performance is significantly better than Vista performance, up to 3x in some cases. For example, in Halo:CE I get between 30-60 FPS in Blood Gulch (XP) and 12-25FPS in Vista.

 

I've also got 1436. Will this be the same if I switch from vista to xp?

 

Here mine:
===
WinXP Pro
Driver Version: 6.14.10.4864
Video BIOS: 1436
===
How can you have the 1471 VBIOS?

 

as stated in previous posts, the Video BIOS is much like the bios on your motherboard, it's on a chip, that can be flashed, but with integrated controllers (like the 965) it can only be flashed with a BIOS update (that has a new Video BIOS built into it)

Lemonade's newer bios is because he either bought newer hardware, or his manufacturer has released a new system BIOS he's installed with a new video BIOS included within that.

So no, swapping OS will not change your Video BIOS.

 

So with the manufacturer releasing this version of the BIOS and Vista it wouldn't have an adverse effect downgrading to XP? Sorry I don't know much about BIOS settings.

 

no, it's basic hardware control of the card, OS independent (unless they can tweak some dx10 hardware functions in it, but that wouldn't have any effect in XP)

 

thanks Yakumo!

 

Can i install the bios from a different manufacturer to my notebook? Is it contained in the driver package?

 

@noxxle99
If it's incompatible, it will not be possible to install the bios.
(generally It scan the bios before flashing it, to see if it's compatible).

 

ok... so where can i find a bios to test to see if it is compatible?

 

I went through this in considerable detail several posts back last week.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2689755&postcount=282

And no it is not a good idea to even attempt to flash a System BIOS from one manufacturer onto another manufacturers motherboard, only use a BIOS specifically for your make & model motherboard. Even on a similar board using the same main chipset and south/north bridge there are lots of custom components and specific settings for them that are stored in the BIOS, if by some hackery, or a lack of decent security in some flash tool you discover, and pull off loading the BIOS into the eprom chip, you WILL invalidate your warranty, and have a high chance of completely irreversibly killing your system , or at the least totally invalidate your windows installation, if it is an OEM version that came with your machine. Out of the box they are licensed with a code that activates them (that is not actually the code printed on the sticker attached to your system), without requiring a call or internet connection to MS, against a code stored in the System BIOS.

To find new System BIOS's look to the support page of your notebook or motherboard manufacturer. strictly follow the instructions word for word, and do anything you possibly can to avoid a power cut.

 

Honestly I have no fricking clue. Oh wait, maybe I have one, which is a possible reason but which I am not completely sure of. You got a T2xxx CPU, which is a Core Duo. Maybe the CPU isn't powerful enough, or the GPU is optimized for the Core 2 Duo. Or maybe in those particular games you don't benefit from XP over Vista. I don't know.

Some few users are reporting that XP isn't faster than on Vista. It sounds like its because their CPU is sub-par, but really, I can't figure that out.

 

I leave my gaming to my WinXP computer and its ATI1300 graphics card. I will be curious though how games play with vista and my new R61e thinkpad with x3100 gm965, likely though
I will pass on the games and vista and just install my favorite Linux distros, for me they were a nice upgrade on my xp machines and I can even play doom3 and quake4 in Linux

 

1471 bios here . Gateway 6815 core2duo 1.5gz laptop. Will post benchmarks after I finsih installing XP.

 

Ok, I assume the Vista is much slower than Xp, i've suffered it myself.
A game like Dungeon siege II run 10FPS slower in vista than in Xp, having installed the latest drivers in both cases.

But, ok, i can undertand that. But What about the Hardware T&L issue? Is me the only one that can't run 3DMark 2006 because the system can't detect the HT&L????
everest ultimate can't detect it neither, so i can't run games that check that. Other funny point is that the graphics card in Vista can get as much as 256MB (1GB Ram) but in Xp only 128Mb !!!

That, i guess, Is the definition of a Crapi drivers, not advise to anyone to buy a laptop with this funny card.

My laptop is a qwanta tw7, Santa rosa with a core duo2. So i guess is no about the hardware.

Until now i got critical errors in Call of Duty4, overlord Raising hell and some more games. I'm not asking for an utimate graphic card but an actually working one.

Hellgate london and Dungeon siege II works well as long as do not use to much HT&L, i guess is disabled. And that everest tells me when I check it out.

Specs:
driver version 6.14.10.4864
bios : 1471

I've sended an email to intel support, but they dind't answer me at all.. So i guess the tech are as serius as the funny drivers.

Many, many thanks for read all this, and please, forgive my poor english, i'm spaniard.

PD: Is there any known solution for this? Or should i take the laptop back to the shop and buy an AMD with an ATI card?

 

Try forcing software mode in Vista:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=190646

 

Many thanks!
But as i said i'm using Xp and not going back to vista... Because the gamming performance just drop like my standard living..

But if you tell me that applications works in Xp as well.. I'd be glad to try it!

 

oops i misunderstood your post

 

So, with the cuurent state of affairs, would it be more advisable to use Vista or XP to game with the X3100?

 

Xp, if you let me say it, you must use Xp. The aero glass only work until you change the skin, then you have to install the drivers again to get it avaliable. If not, you can't get back to that skin.

However the games work much better in Xp, the HT&L is an issue in both O.S.

So somebody knows if is possible to solve the Dissabled HT&L in Xp?

 

3dmark 06 runs fine (but slow) here on the (vista) 15.6, 15.6.1 and the 15.7 drivers (I can't remember the version number of the ones before that also worked). the system info menu has always stated 0 hardware lights though which would explains a lot of the poor speed, unless the hardware really is so bad it's better to run software lights through the CPU

 

in vista 3mark05 and 06 are set to run in software mode by default. If you want to run them in HW mode, just rename the 3dmark.exe to something else, like "3dmark06111.exe". When you click on 'details' it should now show hw lights.

 

Andu, you are making assumptions not based on facts. It does have hardware T&L. Its just that 3dmark doesn't report it because its set by the driver to be running it on software. Know why?? Because with 3dmark software mode gets better scores.

 

so where are the new 3100 drivers? i am running vista and dont want xp .. where do i find them the ones im running say they are for the 3100 and the 950 are these the same that you all are speaking of i got them from the intel web site. thanks

 

Yea, GMA 950 and X3100 uses unified drivers so they are the same thing. 15.7 is the latest driver for the X3100 in Vista. Though I can't guarantee you'll run it well...

 

7.14.10.1329 is my current driver any idea what differs from this to the 15.7??

 

Intel uses two naming methodology for its drivers:

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/14583/ENG/readme_winvista.txt

You got 15.6.1.

Here's the release notes for 15.7: http://downloadmirror.intel.com/14962/ENG/relnotes_winvista_gfx.htm

 

However, some user are experiencing strange choke-up after installing 15.7. Some can't even run any gaming programs. The cause is still unidentifiable.

 

ah okay thanks. so is the 15.7 really any better than what i have now?? and i see these are for the 945gm boards as well so that means it works with the gma950 also than i guess right??

 

Yes... All you need to do is try out and see how it goes.

 

Hey would you mind explaining Intel's naming methodologies? WTF do they use 2? It is very confusing for an end user (me anyway).

 

I'm not assuming anything, i know the card is supposed to have HT&L, but i can't get it working.
No even with any game.
I guess that is the Xp drivers. But in Vista the FPS drops a lot in any game, so it isn't a good idea play them in that O.S.

But the drivers in Xp are de 14.31 (i didn't see the 14.32 thought) and i get error directx9.0c (can't create objets by hardware) every single time i try (in 3dmark2006).

So i guess it's only me??

 

ta for the release notes, it's nice to know they're still adding to openGL, I hope they have full 2.0 support one day. soon.

 

Well, Intel say they are going to eventually add OGL 2.0 and SM 4.0 support to the X3100. But yes, speed in driver releases would be awesome.

 

right now, considering only games use SM4, but some apps (video compositors, graphics packages) use OpenGL 2.0, I'd really like to see them get at least basic support for it in asap. And then look to improving performance all round before adding features that wont really benefit anyone, sm4 is dx10 only, and all experiences of dx10 atm have shown it runs considerably slower than dx9 on all hardware, often with no visual improvement (see the dx10 effects, but faster, in dx9 mode hack for crysis)

 

Yes, fix TnL before implementing sm4!

 

I finally made a chart of my 3dmark2001se benchmarks (Vista) and it seems the 15.6+ drivers have lower DX8 performance. Can anyone confirm the decrease in performance in the real world with DX8 games? I believe most of these games are DX8 (some are OpenGL...wow this brings back old gaming memories lol):

2002 FIFA World Cup
Age of Mythology
Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne
Airborne Assault: Red Devils Over Arnhem
Airfix Dogfighter
Aliens vs. Predator 2
America's Army: Operations
Anachronox
Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura
Arx Fatalis
Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings
Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty
Austerlitz: Napoleon's Greatest Victory
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
Baseball Mogul 2002
Battle Realms
Battlefield 1942
Beyond Atlantis II
Black & White
Blade of Darkness
Capitalism II
Celtic Kings: Rage of War
Championship Manager: Season 01/02
Chessmaster 9000
Civilization III
Clive Barker's Undying
Colin McRae Rally 2.0
Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin
Command & Conquer Renegade
Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
Commandos 2: Men of Courage
Conquest: Frontier Wars
Corporate Machine, The
Dark Age of Camelot
Dark Age of Camelot: Shrouded Isles
Deadly Dozen: Pacific Theater
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
Disciples II: Dark Prophecy
Divine Divinity
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
Dungeon Siege
Earth & Beyond
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The
Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal
Emperor: Battle for Dune
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
Empire Earth
Etherlords
Europa 1400: The Guild
Europa Universalis
Europa Universalis II
EverQuest: Shadows of Luclin
EverQuest: The Planes of Power
F1 2001
F1 2002
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
FIFA 2002
FIFA Soccer 2003
Fighter Ace 3.5
Freedom Force
Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4
Global Operations
Gothic
Grand Theft Auto III
Hegemonia: Legions Of Iron
Heroes of Might and Magic IV
High Heat Major League Baseball 2002
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising
Icewind Dale II
IL-2 Sturmovik
Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos
Jumpgate
Kohan: Ahriman's Gift
Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns
Links 2003
Madden NFL 2003
Mafia
Magic: The Gathering Online
Max Payne
MechCommander 2
MechWarrior 4: Black Knight
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
Medal of Honor Allied Assault
Medieval: Total War
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002
Microsoft Train Simulator
Monopoly Tycoon
Moon Project, The
MoonBase Commander
Myst III: Exile
Myth III: The Wolf Age
NASCAR Racing 2002 Season
NASCAR Racing 4
NBA Live 2001
NBA Live 2003
Neverwinter Nights
NHL 2002
NHL 2003
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way
Operation Flashpoint Gold Upgrade: Red Hammer
Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis
Operation Flashpoint: Resistance
Out of the Park Baseball 4
Patrician II
PureSim Baseball
Ragnarok Online
Rails Across America
RalliSport Challenge
Rally Trophy
Red Faction
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood
RoboForge
Rowan's Battle of Britain
Screamer 4x4
Season Ticket Baseball 2003
Serious Sam: The First Encounter
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
Shattered Galaxy
Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition
Sid Meier's SimGolf
SimCoaster
Sims: Deluxe Edition, The
Sims: Hot Date, The
Sims: Unleashed, The
Sims: Vacation, The
Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix
Soul Reaver 2
Spider-Man: The Movie
Star Trek: Bridge Commander
Star Trek: Starfleet Command III
Star Trek: Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Starships Unlimited: Divided Galaxies
Startopia
Strange Adventures in Infinite Space
Stronghold
Stronghold: Crusader
Sub Command
Summoner
Syberia
Thing, The
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Desert Siege
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Trainz
Tribes 2
Tropico
Tropico: Paradise Island
Typing of the Dead
Ultimate Ride Coaster Deluxe
Uncommon Valor: Campaign for the South Pacific
Unreal Tournament 2003
Uplink
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Warlords Battlecry II
Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Battle
Wizardry 8
Worms World Party
Xtreme Air Racing
Zeus Official Expansion: Poseidon