Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Review

Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Review

After having the Core i5-2500K – I came to a sudden realization that I haven’t benchmarked the HD 3000, although I have been using it for some Guild Wars 2 session when I’m without a graphic card. So here it is.

The GPU

Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Review

The Performance

Seeing it’s an onboard GPU, the tests were confined to 720p. 2 tests of 720p tests were done, one with the usual details as was used in other graphic card review, and the other is on lowest setting to see how the onboard GPU copes with it.

Metro 2033

Settings (right side for LOW)
Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Review

Card Average FPS Average FPS (low)
Intel HD 3000 7.0 16.5

Heaven 3.0

Settings (right side for LOW)
Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Review

Card Average FPS Average FPS (low)
Intel HD 3000 6.2 12.5

As you can see from both tests above, going from the usual settings to LOW settings didn’t help at all but I can’t say this applies to every case. Lost Planet 2 and Alien vs Predator refused to run at all when they detected the HD 3000 so it’s really bad there. 🙁

All is not lost though, I’ve personally played Guild Wars 2 with the HD 3000 at 1680×1050 on lowest of details and it still looks decent. Don’t expect the same for other games out there.

Conclusion

So there you have it. The onboard GPU just doesn’t cut it for games. Even at the lowest settings, it’s unplayable at 720p so this means you have to go for an even lower resolution to play. Imagine how blocky would the graphic be at 640×480 on a HD or Full HD screen.

If you want to play some games, consider spending on something like say the HD 6670. It’s below RM 300 now and allows you better in-game display quality.

🙂 Whether or not you want this GPU is not of your choice, as long as you bought an Intel processor that has the system embedded, you already have it!