Intel Graphics HD3000 vs NVIDIA GeForce 320M/330M GT - Real Benchmarks and Comparison

[bobnugget]

Proof the new 13" GPUs are slower... in Windows

Here's an interesting benchmark from anandtech - although the 2011 systems perform similarly to the 320M in OS X, the 320M is repeatedly better in Windows for gaming - the new system is better for apps as the i5 and i7 CPUs shine. In OS X - the results are different - the 3000HD is marginally better for gaming, probably due to apples shoddy NVidia drivers:

Review

So, the rule seems to be - if you use your mac for windows gaming and don't do much video editing/encoding - get the 2010 mac, otherwise the 2011 will be just fine.

 

[Flaki]

Check the right side of my table.
There are benchmarks for two games.
They are NOT synthetic.

Thanks to Sandy Bridge CPU or not,
new Macbook Pro has a higher gaming performance than the old model (which you probably have)

I bought MBP 13" i5 like 2 weeks ago and hd3000 is NOT fine(however i didn't buy mbp for gaming).

You say higher fps? what about fps stability? HD3000 can't handle sustainable fps, not even in older games like HL2. hd3000 has MUCH lower minimum fps than 320m and therefor the gaming experience will be reduced.


Bad gaming support.
I installed Civilization V, went good so far until i launched the game...not working.

 

[ssn637]

Here's an interesting benchmark from anandtech - although the 2011 systems perform similarly to the 320M in OS X, the 320M is repeatedly better in Windows for gaming - the new system is better for apps as the i5 and i7 CPUs shine. In OS X - the results are different - the 3000HD is marginally better for gaming, probably due to apples shoddy NVidia drivers:

Review

So, the rule seems to be - if you use your mac for windows gaming and don't do much video editing/encoding - get the 2010 mac, otherwise the 2011 will be just fine.

My thoughts exactly. My 2010 13" 2.66 GHz MBP achieved a 3D Mark 06 score of 5400 at its default resolution in Windows 7 x64. The 2011 13" i7 MBP scores 3790 at 1280 x 1024 resolution. For the occasional Windows gamer the NVidia 320M is a must for medium-to-high settings. With 48 shaders compared to the HD3000's 12, I just don't see updated drivers making a difference. But the HD3000 is definitely an upgrade compared with the 2009 NVidia 9400M IGP.

 

[donkeyboyie]

How often will the intel's HD 3000 drivers be updated? it's been around 4 months since release of the new SB/HD 3000, have the drivers been updated hence? if so, did it make a difference?

 

[Wicked1]

Just confirmed what I have been thinking, going for the 2010 MBP 15" with the i7 2.66 and GT 330M, I think this is a good deal for $1569 Refurbished and I will be able to do my video work and some minor gaming in Boot Camp with Windows.

I never liked the Inted integrated GPU's and I mean never liked them in any machine, so I prefer the nVidia.

 

[ibebyi]

Just confirmed what I have been thinking, going for the 2010 MBP 15" with the i7 2.66 and GT 330M, I think this is a good deal for $1569 Refurbished and I will be able to do my video work and some minor gaming in Boot Camp with Windows.

I never liked the Inted integrated GPU's and I mean never liked them in any machine, so I prefer the nVidia.

I have that machine, and I love it very much

That said, don't expect soaring numbers when gaming. Of course you should consider overclocking if gaming on bootcamp (gives like a 10-15 fps gain in most games) and I can play dragon age medium/high settings at native res. Crysis 2 medium/high at 1200x800(?)

So it's not by ANY means a great gaming rig, but if you're just a casual gamer like me, the refurb 15" will be great for ya

 

[slikk66]

I was just doing some searching online about the new MBP 13s. I bought my 2010 13" in February refurbed for $950 after a friend told me about the refurb section of the Mac store.. then the new ones came out about 2 weeks later..

I use mine to game alot, so that was pretty much what I was hoping to do with the i7 versions.. game harder.

However, after reading this thread that the gaming performance is about the same.. makes it seem like a steal.

I've already upgraded the drive to a 640GB for only $70.. and I have:

Portal 2
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Duke Nukem Forever

installed via bootcamp, and they all actually play pretty damn good.. 1200x800 at medium-high settings, so I guess I should just be happy with that instead of spending $1300 or refurbed i7..

Good to know!

 

[clyde2801]

The question I'm wondering is what differences will different processors make on the intel's performance. Will it perform better on an i7 than an i5 or i3?

As some people are breathlessly waiting on the '11 MBA's to be refreshed and guessing at their specs and arguing over the HD3000 compared to the 320M, I'm wondering if Apple will release the new models with an i3 due to heat, battery, costs and marketing concerns. If so, would a HD3000 on a i3 chip perform worse than it would on an i7?

 

[canesalato]

with 8gb of ram, the intel hd3000 gets 512mb of (shared) vram.
Does this help with performance?

 

[jjahshik32]

I've owned the 2010 2.4GHz core 2 duo macbook pro with the nvidia 320m for about 8 months and now have the 2011 2.3GHz i5 with the HD 3000 for about a month now.

My personal experience is that the new sandy bridge i5 in the 2011 13" mbp is amazingly fast. Not only does it feel like a true desktop replacement now, it does everything so much faster than what the 2010 13" offered.

I never played games on either machines so dont notice much in the gpu department but doing everyday tasks the 2011 just leaves the 2010 in the dust.

I just cant wait to drop 8GB of RAM in this machine and hopefully an adapter that can allow me to drive 2 external monitors via thunderbolt would be great.

But basically the amount of performance you gain with the sandybridge i5 vs the core 2 duo EASILY outweighs the supposedly slight loss of speed on the GPU department.

 

[Ungibbed]

I'm happy with my 320m powered 13" MBP. Knowing more games I throw in it via bootcamp or even OS X, the Nvidia shader model and tech will be far more compatible than Intel GPU's.

I may not have the fastest Mac on the block, but it's one I'm quite happy with.

 

[Philflow]

I haven't read the whole thread but here are lots of in game benchmarks:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

Select Nvidia 320 and Intel 3000 and you'll see Nvidia comes out faster most often.

 

[tbobmccoy]

with 8gb of ram, the intel hd3000 gets 512mb of (shared) vram.
Does this help with performance?

This is something I'd like to see some tests on...

 

[accessoriesguy]

I still hoped the air and the mini would have those extra GPU's like a mini-turbo on a car.

I mean its great 2nd gen intel with its integrated GPU. But some more power would have been nice. The battery life however is still about the same, so I guess that these CPU/GPU already consume a lot of power.

It is also a more efficient combo. Idk if it justifies the price however, the new boards should be smaller and cheaper, and apple would not be purchasing parts from 2 manufacturers but only one.

I was hoping they would fuse the macbook and air, some awesome integrated motherboard with flash, with a CPU and GPU combo not integrated so it would have a great kick to it.

Then the macbook pros would be handy because of their GT processors. while the macbook/air hybrid would rock the non-hard core world.

 

[Broojo02]

The HD3000 does perform slightly worse than the 320, especially when it comes to games it seems. But I'm ok with this because I still have my HP laptop I got in september and that came with the Mobility Radeon 5470 which is on a par with the 320m.

 

[h00ligan]

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Epic fail. In the links you show you see the Intel 3000 being very slow in games like black ops. The intel 3000 hd can't play anything on medium settings.

Stop saying this is real benchmarks. You are just posting from a site.

And what you didn't think about Is that in the link you posted the intel igp is running along side a high end quad core mobile sandy bridge CPU. What do you think happens when you don't have that CPU and replace with a mid end i5 dual core which you find in the 13.

Learn to read the facts

Learn to be civil.

 

[ayeying]

It says the HD3000 can't handle Grand Theft Auto 4... Even my former air with the nVidia 9400M played that on low without any problems...

 

[Risasi]

I upgraded to the 2011 MBP this past spring, that was coming off of a failed Nvidia GPU in my Dell XPS. Replaced once while in warranty, warranty ended in January (bought Jan 2009) and it was kaput by Feb. They wouldn't replace it and found a way to argue that it wasn't the Nvidia flaw. This has embittered me against Nvidia. And I actually think this is the real reason Apple moved away from Nvidia. They were sick of repairing their laptops with a higher failure rate than should be expected.

I "settled" for the 13" MBP. But after just a short time I didn't feel like I settled any more. My coworkers had a 15" 2008 MBP and a 2009 13" MBP. They were so stunned by how much my base model danced circles around theirs they had to go buy loaded 13" MBA's this summer. So I love the HD 3000, and I'm chomping at the bit to see what they do with Ivy Bridge.

I don't play many games, but what I do play runs well. And I actually installed Shogun 2 this past weekend. It ran fine on low settings (although I do have heat concerns). Color me impressed to see an IGP run a brand new game, even on low settings.
I will gladly sacrifice an inferior C2D for SnB, or pocket the extra $600-$1300 dollars in savings having to upgrade to the next tier MBP. (Or put it into a PC gaming rig or console, whatever)

The cost to jump to a "decent" graphics option is so high one could almost just buy the latest base 13" model every year instead...which I'm still contemplating doing. Maybe I'll just buy the latest 13" MBP or MBA every year. If I can't run a specific game, then tough noogies I'll have to wait until the following year.

I can honestly say this 13" MBP is the best machine I've ever owned.

 

[miker2209]

I play alot of MMORPG, would i be better off with the Intel 3000 or the 320m?

 

[alphaod]

This is great improvement! However when it comes to system updates intel is way ahead of the game.

No kidding. Nice thread revival

 

[gpzjock]

MMOs need horsepower not donkeys.

I play alot of MMORPG, would i be better off with the Intel 3000 or the 320m?

In a word, neither. Having played WoW in OS X on various laptops, my ultimate choice would be to use a much more modern discrete GPU rather than an out of date discrete one or an Intel integrated one, while impressive for a CPU robber, it isn't cut out for "proper" gaming no matter what folks say.
Looking at legacy Macbook Pros I would not use any of them for serious attempts at raiding or battlegrounds in WoW. Leveling solo maybe, but not something where others need you to be on top of your game.
Having had to raid lead on a MBP 13" with an Intel HD3000 (possible but at minimum settings and with 8 GB RAM) and watching others have their Nvidia GPUs (GT8600M & 9600M) overheat through just trying to render huge textured walls, I would not recommend any older kit than the current 6750M loaded MBP.

Passmark measure GFX cards in Windows with a broad range of tasks and come to a reasonable average score for each GPU. Their measure of notebook GPUs is comparative and shows which ones can come even a bit close to a desktop card:

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Intel+HD+3000

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GT+320M

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+HD+6750M

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+HD+6770M

At 409 and 362 points compared to 1359 from a half decent discrete card or well over 2000 points for a desktop gaming card; this is a bit like saying "Which is a better floor surface: Cream cheese or paté?".