I'm coming from a 2010 15" MBP with the GT330M and 256MB of VRAM. How would the IGP in the new MBA's compare in heavy gaming (civ 5, TF2, SC2, etc.)?
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Real world graphics performance
- Thread starter InternetSandman
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Im honestly not expecting it to be that great at gaming, more like hoping really badly that it's decent for gaming. I know these new Intel IGP's are leaps and bounds better than the GMA's of old, but it's kind of sad that they're still not up to par with even older IGP's from the bigger graphics players out there
from what i hear they all run fine 40-50 fps on medium, turn shadows down to low tho always fek up the fps.
they arnt really classed as heavy games, i plan to play sc2, tft, lol, hon.
from what i hear there all on 40-50 fps or higher.
cant say about the others sorry.
they arnt really classed as heavy games, i plan to play sc2, tft, lol, hon.
from what i hear there all on 40-50 fps or higher.
cant say about the others sorry.
I'm a gamer from way back, and I bought the 13" i7 for study, work and as a primary gaming machine. All I was looking for was a machine that was, as you put it, decent.
Playing SC2 on it is absolutely fine. For an IGP it may surprise you...
The HD3000 was designed to remove the stigma attached to the "integrated graphics" design. Whether they achieved this is subjective, but it's on par with the 320M of the last AIR.
The benchmarks say you're wrong. What proof do you have to back up your statements?
what benchmarks? i've seen benchmarks of the intel 3000 on stronger processors than the ones in the new MBA and the 320m with c2d still beats it. look around on notebookcheck. don't talk unless you know what you're saying. kthxbye. so wheres your proof boy?
I'm actually changing from a 2011 MacBook Pro 2.2 with the 1GB graphics card. I'm expecting the new 13" Air to arrive tomorrow. I also enjoy playing games but have already marked my XBOX for any first person shooters. I hope the Air will be fine with Torchlight (and 2 when it comes out) and Civ 5 at low settings. Even the pro encountered performance issues when the maps increased size on medium settings.
I'm changing because the 15" is a little too big to be totally portable for me so the 13" means I will be able to move about with ease.
I know the Air is not as powerful as my 2.2 Pro in terms of 2D but it's no slouch either. Look at the price difference as well, 2.2 Pro 15 ways in at £1900 odd all in, the 13" Air is £1099. That's a fair amount extra and makes my old 2.2 appear about £400 over priced.
I'm changing because the 15" is a little too big to be totally portable for me so the 13" means I will be able to move about with ease.
I know the Air is not as powerful as my 2.2 Pro in terms of 2D but it's no slouch either. Look at the price difference as well, 2.2 Pro 15 ways in at £1900 odd all in, the 13" Air is £1099. That's a fair amount extra and makes my old 2.2 appear about £400 over priced.
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to continue my last post in this thread. i just did a little more searching into the benchmarks on notebookcheck. most of the intel hd 3000 benchmarks were done on high end i5 processors that are much more powerful than the ones in the MBA. some were done on i7 processors that are once again, more powerful. I can say without a doubt that the 320m is much faster than the hd3000...especially if you boot camp and get the latest nvidia drivers (theres an extra 30% performance over the benchmarks on notebookcheck). i think ive made my point.
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To help that other guy out, here is snapshot from barefeats.com when they did their early benchmarks for the new Air:
So depending on the game, the HD3000 may be just as good, if not better.
anyway. the strange thing about that chart is that the slower i7 is outperforming the faster one by a huge margin. therefore, the site should have caught that fluke. i would seriously disregard that benchmark
o ok. so the game is basically being driven by the processor. makes sense. i have noticed that in the benchmarks, the source engine seems to favor the hd3000...but with updated drivers on my 320m, this is not the case at all
You got to admit it - the hd3200 is not such a slouch we all thought it would be - it's surprisingly fast
You got to admit it - the hd3200 is not such a slouch we all thought it would be - it's surprisingly fast
i will not admit that at all. any illusion of speed from that poor excuse of an igp is just the very impressive i5 picking up the slack.
The quad-core MacBook Pro also has a discrete AMD GPU. The game is being driven by the GPU, not the CPU. Hence the reason why the "slow" Core 2 Duo MacBook Air holds its own against the newer MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models.
While it's true that the graphics card in the Air isn't the greatest in the world, a decent amount of gaming can still be had. On my 2010 11 inch Air, I'm able to play Starcraft 2, Two Worlds 2, Dragon Age 2, Civ 5, Borderlands, etc without an issue. Sure the graphics settings aren't set to ultra high or anything, but everything I've tried is perfectly playable at low to medium. All are OS X versions.
I am curious though how the new Airs play some of these games. It seems everyone has tested the crap out of WoW or Starcraft, but it would be nice to see other games tested as well to really get a sense as to how the Intel 3000 stacks up against the 320M.
Enjoy your outdated MBA. All you do is rag on the 3000. Sure I'd like to have an integrated card, but for me BF:BC2 is running better on the 3000 vs 320. I'm not playing at full settings, but it's still running smoother. You really need to get a PC and get off this forum.