VIA UniChrome Pro and games.

I know this chipset is a bad choice for any kind of gaming but with the new John "system on chip" which has this graphics solution I was wondering what would be possible. Especially whether Civ4 would run. Mind you it does not have to be a stellar performance as long as it runs. FPS are out of the question from what I have been able to find (QuakeIII engines run with acceptable framerates though) but how about older games like Homeworld? Homeworld 2? Does it have Hardware T&L lighting?
I'm surprised with the lack of information about this chipset on the net but I am hoping someone here will know.

I might be in the market for an UMPC in the next six months and John looks like it will be a cheap solution with good batterylife. One requirement for me though is that it should be able to handle a few games. That is why I am asking.

Thanks in advance.

 

I do not believe it has any hardware T&L - the lack of information is precisely why: it doesn't want you to know and when you get it, you're stuck! If you get it to play on civ4 you're very lucky - most of the time the program would either check your hardware profile and determine it couldn't play due to system resource and would not install. On the off chance that it does you may experience 1 of 2 things, 1. it will play and then crash or 2. it wouldn't even play at all. You will have much better luck with Intel Integrated ones and the 945/950 GMA would be future proof for Window Vista

 

I never thought I'd hear someone recommending the virtues of the GMA 950.

Anyways, that advice is very sound. Here's the bit of information that there is on it from this forum:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=18483

The performance level is below that of the Intel Extreme Graphics 2, which is extremely embarassing.

Here are some more recent benchmarks of a Fujitsu UniChrome Pro labtop:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mobile/display/budget-notebook_25.html

Quake III should be able to run okay and Homeworld also, but Homeworld 2 would definitely be out of it's reach.

 

Thanks, looks like I will have to look for an Intel based UMPC if I decide to buy one. Now lets hope those too will become more affordable.