The Movies Game and the GMA 950

Probably the most current game I'll play. Will the GMA 950 be able to handle it or should I go to the x1400 or will it even matter (E1705/E1505)?

Here's the min req's:
·English version of Microsoft® Windows® 98SE/ME/2000/XP
·Pentium® III 800 MHz or Athlon™ 800MHz processor or higher
·256MB RAM
·8x Speed CD-ROM drive (1200KB/sec sustained transfer rate) and latest drivers
·2.4 GB of uncompressed free hard disk space (plus 500MB for Windows® swap file)
·100% DirectX® 9.0c compatible 16-bit sound card and latest drivers
·100% Windows® 98SE/ME/2000/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest drivers
·DirectX® 9.0c (included)
·Updated Windows Media® Player 9 Codecs (included)
·800 x 600 Monitor Resolution
·3D Hardware Accelerator Card required - 100% DirectX® 9.0c compatible 32MB Hardware T&L-capable video card and latest drivers*

ATI™ Radeon® series (7000 or better)
7000, 7200, 7500
8500
9000, 9200, 9500, 9550, 9600, 9700, 9800
x300, x600, x700, x800, x850

NVIDIA® GeForce® series (GeForce 3 or better)
GeForce 3, 3 Ti
GeForce 4, MX, Ti
GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5900, PCX 5300, 5750, 5950
GeForce 6600, 6800
Important Note: *Some 3D accelerator cards with the chipsets listed here may not be compatible with the 3D acceleration features utilized by The Movies™. Please refer to your hardware manufacturer for 100% DirectX 9.0c compatibility.

 

well the GMA isnt listed, and it is not a very good card..at any rate, i think you would be better off with an x1400..MUCH better card then the GMA, and it will be able to play other games if you decide to.

pb,out.

 

I'd say the GMA950's performance is a little more than that of the GeForce 4 MX, at least in benchmarks. . considering that the GF 4MX is on the lower-end of the requirements, you will probably have to turn the settings down. I also recommend getting a real dedicated graphics card. GMA950 is not good for gamign at all.

Chaz

 

Hmm why do people slate it so much? i think its great for integrated? the only thing i can assume is none of you have had one on a recent system. Cause it does play games just at low settings. if graphics aint mega important for you it's fine. My desktop is for my ultimate graphics

 

It plays decent on my x600 (which is slightly below the x1400). I would definately recemmend a dedicated GPU for this game, but I suppose that you could get by with on board graphics. Its a pretty good looking game with the settings cranked.

 

The game requires hardware t&l, this doesnt exist in Intel's integrated graphics., The requirements you posted has a list of supported chipsets- GeForce and Radeon. I Currently own a Dell with GMA 900. The Movies squeaks by, but always crashes during certain portions of the game, making in unplayable. Most other games that only support GeForce and Radeon cards wont even start up. Take my advice... read the requirements that you posted....on the game box or website it clearly marks what chipsets are supported.... Intel not being one of them.

 

mram is right.
T&L hardware...Direct X 9.0C or later capable....blah blah.
Intel never could do video card's very good. They still have not caught the edge.

 

Get the X1400. Just get it, get it, get it.

I've been suffering with a GMA 950 in an otherwise extremely specced out review laptop and I can't get the dang thing to play the Icetomb level in UT2K4 at a reasonable clip. And Far Cry? ForGET it.

The GMA 950 can't even play my source port of Doom II properly. It's awful and inexcusable for any but the most rudimentary of gaming.

 

The GMA950 should run the movies fine. Its, as others say, a pretty poor card but for older and/or less demanding games its not the worst, certainly 10x better then Intels Extreme cards and its surprisingly miles better then the Radeon Xpress 200m Shared model at rendering OpenGL which alot of the best older games use (The xpress 200 absolutely murders it in direct3d though which most new games use).

Even though it doesn't support HW T&L it will still run games that require it fine.

As a guide, my friend runs Halo, Pariah, Wolfenstein and Command and Conquer Generals on his GMA900 on 800x600 with options on medium and with a decent frame rate, for these games and pretty much any game from >2003 the GMA is fine, if you plan playing anyway new games the GMA950 simply won't do at all.

The X1400 is a pretty weak card but compared to the GMA its leaps and bounds ahead.

PS - In Benches the GMA900/950 is comparable to an fx5200 in some areas and even better in others. However, apply this to real world and what you get is crap framerates in games the fx5200 can run with no problems. In theory the GMA950 is roughly the equivilent to a Geforce 4 MX - however, in real world gaming tests, the Geforce 4 MX will easily outperform the GMA at most if not all games with higher resolutions and better framerates.