The “Real” Mobile Sandy Bridge

Performance: Graphics Intel GMA 2000/3000HD

3DMark 2006

3DMark Vantage (Entry Setting)

From the two 3D Mark tests above, you can tell that the new Intel IGP is finally able to keep up with –and even surpass- the performance of lower-end discrete graphics from both NVIDIA and ATI. Driver update yields another significant increase in speed. These results indicate that the integrated graphics on the Sandy Bridge should be powerful enough to actually run some real games, so we decided to proceed with the game benchmarks. However, since both the Intel GMA 2000 and 3000HD only provide support for DirectX 10.1 features, we did not include DirectX 11 titles in the tests.

Left4Dead

Using medium graphics settings with the screen set at its native resolution of 1366×768, Left 4 Dead ran beautifully. We could increase the graphics details a bit further to “high”, but the frame rate suffers a significant drop, occasionally falling below the 30 FPS mark. Some compromises are required if the game is to be played with acceptable frame rate.

Left4Dead 2

Somewhat more demanding in its graphics processing, Left 4 Dead 2 puts a heavy strain on the on-board Intel HD 3000. Based on our test, the game is only playable at resolutions below 1024×768, under compromised detail settings. With hundreds of zombies running around and a ton of various objects, the outdoor areas are especially tough on the graphics processor.

Resident Evil 5

In Resident Evil 5, the Intel GMA graphics processor on our mobile Sandy Bridge sample performed fairly well, constantly producing more than 30 FPS at 1024×768 under medium graphics setting in both DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 modes. The Intel graphics performs a bit better in DirectX 10.

Dirt 2 – DX9

Dirt 2 forces the Intel GMA graphics to its knees. The only acceptable frame rate was obtained at 800×600 with “low” graphics settings. If you’re willing to drop the resolution and graphics that low, the integrated graphics processor on the Sandy Bridge would still be enough.