Topic on Glossary talk:Graphics card
This page shows the changes between two versions of a post by Mirh in the topic "Custom drivers" on Glossary talk:Graphics card.
You can see other versions of this post at its history page.
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
Original hosters are down or discontinued by now, though [http://www.guru3d.com/files-categories/videocard-drivers.html mirrors] [https://web.archive.org/web/20170212055625/http://donotargue.com/2014/03/20/dna-drivers-database/ are] [http://www.ngohq.com/?page=Files available] | Original hosters are down or discontinued by now, though [http://www.guru3d.com/files-categories/videocard-drivers.html mirrors] [https://web.archive.org/web/20170212055625/http://donotargue.com/2014/03/20/dna-drivers-database/ are] [http://www.ngohq.com/?page=Files available] | ||
---- | ---- | ||
| − | ''Thankfully'' Intel graphics is still so slow and buggy that compilations are a must. <br />Putting aside the famous '''[https:// | + | ''Thankfully'' Intel graphics is still so slow and buggy that compilations are a must. <br />Putting aside the famous '''[https://web.archive.org/web/20160612013505/http://www.intellimodder32.com/download/ intellimodder]''' ([https://retrosystemsrevival.blogspot.com/2019/11/intel-modded-phdgd-driver.html old] [https://old.reddit.com/r/lowspecgamer/comments/7c84f4/phdgd_drivers/ mirrors], caution it screws with power plans), you have: |
* <SM4.0 GMA: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/71161501714/permalink/10156865926406715/ Trixarian's Chell] | * <SM4.0 GMA: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/71161501714/permalink/10156865926406715/ Trixarian's Chell] | ||
| − | * D3D10 GMA: [https://www.tenforums.com/graphic-cards/ | + | * D3D10 GMA: [http://worldintelmoddriver.blogspot.com/ IncrediblE] (which is a modernized [https://teknogods.com/?p=966&author=10 Royal BNA]) or [https://www.tenforums.com/graphic-cards/130380-custom-driver-intel-gma-4500-mhd-extreme-plus-nighmayor.html Extreme Plus] |
* Embedded GMA: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130328164802/http://9xxssf.info/topic/1017-intel-embedded-graphics-driver-1040-release/ 9xx Soldiers Sans Frontier] | * Embedded GMA: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130328164802/http://9xxssf.info/topic/1017-intel-embedded-graphics-driver-1040-release/ 9xx Soldiers Sans Frontier] | ||
| − | * PowerVR GMA: [https://web.archive.org/web/20160510230128/www.intellimodder32.com/modded-drivers/gma-3600-windows-10-compatibility-fix/ W10 fix] | + | * PowerVR GMA: [https://web.archive.org/web/20160510230128/www.intellimodder32.com/modded-drivers/gma-3600-windows-10-compatibility-fix/ W10] [https://github.com/srctfux/gma3k6_win10_patch fix] and [https://github.com/jonrp/GMA500Helper also] |
| − | * 5th-gen (aka 1st-gen HD graphics): [http:// | + | * 5th-gen (aka 1st-gen HD graphics): [https://web.archive.org/web/20160809175555/http://brenton.nom.za/forum/showthread.php?tid=2 Modded Quantic] |
* <7th-gen (aka 3rd-gen HD graphics) on W10: <strike>[https://github.com/LWJGL/lwjgl/issues/119#issuecomment-262090230 fixed OGL] - [https://web.archive.org/web/20160319024837/http://leshcatlabs.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1120 updated sw OCL]</strike> [https://github.com/pal1000/save-legacy-intel-graphics here] | * <7th-gen (aka 3rd-gen HD graphics) on W10: <strike>[https://github.com/LWJGL/lwjgl/issues/119#issuecomment-262090230 fixed OGL] - [https://web.archive.org/web/20160319024837/http://leshcatlabs.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1120 updated sw OCL]</strike> [https://github.com/pal1000/save-legacy-intel-graphics here] | ||
| − | For anything from Ivy Bridge and above instead (dx11 igps), really, don't bother. Some slight overclocking or setting | + | For anything from Ivy Bridge and above instead (dx11 igps), really, don't bother. Some slight [https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3hjonw/psa_you_can_overclock_intel_hd_graphics_for/ overclocking] or setting Windows to high performance energy profile is the most optimization you can reasonably get. |
| + | |||
| + | <small>EDIT: in fact, I think I just now figured out the functional basis of all the hacks that have ever been. Intel older igps were so shitty, that despite them having in-hardware support for some features (such as [https://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/white-paper/vertex-processing-selection-capability-paper.pdf SM3.0] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110607033741/http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/common-misconceptions-of-intel-processor-graphics/ T&L]), you [https://web.archive.org/web/20070820070825/http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2007/08/gaming_on_integrated_graphics.html might] actually get them offloaded to the cpu and ''increase'' your performance. Because whatever the obvious overhead this operation has, it was still faster than tasking the potato gpu with yet another operation (or maybe vertex processing is just straightaway quicker on a 200€ cpu of the time, compared to a 2€ graphics adapter). | ||
| + | |||
| + | Anyway, for these reasons the driver has a registry whitelist codenamed "Enable3DContexts" (and I don't even want to think to that [https://web.archive.org/web/20120817231356/http://techlegend.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/55 can] of software worms that Gen3 was). In my testing with a X4500 and the latest [https://web.archive.org/web/20160608190242/http://downloadmirror.intel.com/22166/a08/Win7Vista_64_151719.zip 2869] stock drivers, I found out that after [http://trixarian.net/reg_modders.zip setting] Mass Effect's exe to ''1'', frametimes improved by more than 10% (benchmarks and a bunch of newer applications seemed to have the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130411234401/http://9xxssf.info/topic/33-igrm/ mysterious] value of ''2'' OOTB, mileage may vary on what's the best one). | ||
| + | |||
| + | Once accounted for that, there was no other difference in ME1 and HL2 across all the 4 modded drivers. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160810045447/http://brenton.nom.za/forum/showthread.php?tid=18#pid133 DODSQE] maybe is the only other thing with a possible 3D speed impact, but I couldn't confirm. | ||
| + | |||
| + | So.. I believe that a fair TL;DR would be that at least if you are on a desktop, using the proper Windows version the official drivers were released for, there's no need to install anything else. Even though in 2020 it's probably easier to find and download a hacky community driver, than the actually latest version from the intel website. | ||
| + | |||
| + | I guess W10 (though there is the question of why even using that if you are low-end-gaming hard) or laptops are different story instead. The original .infs might even have been explicitly disallowing "forward-compatibility", and for example <small>''Display1_EnableDynamicScaling''</small> is allegedly among the requirements for metro (thus UWP?) applications to work properly. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Let alone laptops, whose silicon may even be identical, except that they have been heavily [https://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/07/laptop-gma-gaming-accelerator/ down binned] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20090420053655/http://downloadmirror.intel.com/17397/eng/relnotes_winvista_gfx.htm quirked]. And then there's all the LVDS voltages and timings, or that god forbid OEMs let you had a nice BIOS with all the right memory settings.</small> | ||