Intel GMA 3150 Review and

Benchmark
Is the Intel GMA 3150 really a piece of shit? Is it as bad as what most
people are saying when it comes to gaming? Read on to find out.

This review has been viewed 949 time(s)

By Simon Graham
on 6/13/2010 10:32:55 AM in Graphics Card
Last updated on 6/13/2010 7:01:25 PM

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This is Part 2 of my review of the HP Mini 210.

In this review, there will be a shift of focus to the GMA 3150, the integrated graphics found in the
HP Mini 210 and almost every other netbook.

The Test
This review will benchmark the GMA 3150 and observe its compatibility with games. All tests and
benchmarks are performed on a standard HP Mini 210 with 1GB of RAM. I am using FRAPS 3.2.2
to benchmark the games. I have also disabled all power saving features while performing these tests
to assess the full capabilities of the GMA 3150.

The Benchmark
Title Resolution Min Avg Max Playable Remarks

Dues Ex 800x600 7 20 40 Yes Details = High

GoTY

Baldur's Gate 800x600 24 Very Details = High, 3D Acceleration

2 enabled

Morrowind 800x600 10 15 35 Barely Details = High, view details and

shadows minimal. Data shows FPS in
6 10 18 the indoors and then outdoors.

Blade of 1024x600 22 40 60 Very Details = High

Darkness

Jedi Knight 2 800x600 15 22 45 Yes Details = High

3D Mark 2788 Marks at default settings
2001SE

Freespace 2 800x600 16 25 42 Very Details = High

The Sims 800x600 15 22 45 Very Details = High

Descent 3 800x600 18 40 55 Very Details = High

Icewind Dale 800x600 15 18 20 Yes Details = High

2

Gish 800x600 22 24 26 Very N/A

Freelancer 800x600 16 28 38 Yes Details = Default (near Max). In large

battles the FPS drops to below 20.

Mechwarrior 800x600 22 26 36 Yes Details at High in Autoconfigure

4 Vengeance

Total 1024x600 - - - Very Details = Max. Somehow FRAPS

Annihilation didn't work with this game but even
with 2 enemies and lots of units, the
game was as smooth as it started. FPS
should be around at least 50.

Quake 3 800x600 22 30 57 Yes Details = Max. This must be one of

Arena the most disappointing benchmarks. I
was expecting frame rates reaching an
average of 60.

Homeworld 800x600 18 32 46 Very Details = High

Catalysm

Half Life 800x600 42 68 72 Very Details = Default

Blue Shift

Myth 2 800x600 22 24 25 Yes Details = Default

Operation 800x600 11 15 21 Barely Details = Autodetect
Flashpoint
GoTY

Soldier of 800x600 6 14 18 No Details = Medium

Fortune 2

System 800x600 26 43 60 Very Details = Default

Shock 2

Shogun Total 800x600 24 26 35 Very Details = All Features Enabled

War

Heavy Gear 2 - - - - Failed Game failed to start.

Silent Hunter - - - - Failed Game failed to start.

2

Alpha - - - - Failed Crashes to desktop upon loading the

Centauri game screen.

Power Saving
The drivers for the GMA 3150 come with power saving features which I experimented with. There
are several predefined levels of power saving or you can customise the settings yourself.

With the 'Best Battery Life" mode, I ran 3D Mark 2001SE and got a score of 2734. A second test
got me a score of 2738 which averages to 2736. This is merely a 2% drop in performance in when
compared to the 2788 marks with 'Best Performance" mode enabled.

So how does this correlate to the battery life? I ran a battery stress test using the infinite loop feature
of 3d Mark to see how long the netbook lasts with full battery. Results show that on "Best Battery
Life" the netbook's battery lasts 10% longer than when on "Best Performance Mode". On my HP
Mini which lasts an average of 6 hours of gaming, this is equivalent to only an additional 36
minutes. The power saving feature is a nice to have but not too useful in my opinion considering
that the amount of power saving is only negligible.

Overclocking
There aren't any built in settings to allow you to overclock the GMA 3150 at the moment. There is
one application GMA Booster which is said to increase the performance of the GMA 950 but as of
writing of this review, the GMA 3150 is yet to be supported by this application.

Conclusion
The GMA3150 is said to be faster than a GeForce 2 MX. The 3d Mark scores proved that, but not in
real gaming benchmarks. I swear I remember having to play Operation Flashpoint smoothly on my
old GeForce 2 MX but the GMA 3150 barely runs the game. This could be due to the lacking
"Hardware Transform and Lighting (TnL)" feature in it.

GMA 3150 and netbooks for that matter, aren't meant to play Crysis or Call of Duty Modern
Warfare 2. They are built with portability in mind, and lived up to expectations. People bash the hell
out of the Intel GMAs because they compare these integrated graphics with modern discrete
graphics card.

I was never a fan of the Intel's GMAs but the GMA 3150 is a very able integrated graphics card, at
least for games released in 2001 or before. Aside from some compatibility issues, what other
machine allows you to play your favorite classic games, surf the internet, do a little of work at
anywhere you like without giving you a pain in the shoulders? Besides, there is a whole lof of
classic games out there, all which you can get for a price of a drink.

If you are getting a netbook with an Intel GMA 3150, with the right expectations, the GMA 3150
will serve your needs well.

Tried playing other games on this chip? Share with us if they play well.

Republished with permission from author.

Review is first published on FICKLEpeople.com.