Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 vs Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 vs Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600
► remove from comparisonThe Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 600 (also called GMA 600) is a graphics cards for embedded products (e.g. MIDs), netbooks and other small mobile devices. It is integrated in the Atom Z600 series CPUs and compared to the GMA 500 it features a twice as high clock speed of max. 400 MHz. The integrated video decoder is able to accelerate MPEG-2, VC-1, and AVC HD videos.
The graphics core is based on a licensed PowerVR SGX core and is clocked with max 400 MHz. The GMA 600 should be theoretically compatible with DirectX 10.1 and features 4 unified shaders. Because of the missing Windows BIOS support, the Lincroft SOC is currently not able to run Windows (only CE) and therefore supports OpenGL ES 2.0, Open VG 1.0, DirectX 9.L. Another restriction is the max. resolution support of 1366x768 with LVDS and 1024x600 with MIPI.
The performance wont be sufficient for playing demanding 3D games.
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900
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The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (also known as GMA 900) is an integrated (onboard) graphic chip on the Mobile Intel 915GM chipset for Intel processors. It does not support hardware T&L (Transform & Lightning) calculations (which is required for some games).
It supports DirectX 9.0 with Shader Model 2.0 (Vertex Shader are calculated in Software - by the CPU) and OpenGL 1.4. Furthermore, the chip is able to accelerate the decoding of MPEG2 videos and supports Motion Compensation.
The GMA 900 can not be described as a graphics card that is sufficient for gamers. Still Intel published a list of games that will run (not needingly beautiful) on the notebook. Some old 3D games and especially 2D games should run without problems. The advantage of integrated graphics cards, is that they have a low power consumtion and therefore save battery life. Furthermore, the laptop may stay cooler and more silent than laptops with dedicated graphics cards. For office programs and surfing the performance is more than sufficient.
Currently there are no drivers that support Aero Glass for Windows Vista.
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
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The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (also known as Intel GMA 950) is an integrated (onboard) graphic chip on the Mobile Intel 945Gx chipset for Intel processors. It is a faster clocked version of the GMA 900 and does not support hardware T&L (Transform & Lightning) calculations (which is required for some games). Compared to the GMA 900 it now supports Shader Model 3.0 (instead of 2.0) and can decode 2 HD Streams simultaneously.
It supports DirectX 9.0 with Shader Model 3.0 (Vertex Shader are calculated in Software - by the CPU) and OpenGL 1.4. Furthermore, the chip is able to accelerate the decoding of MPEG2 videos and supports Motion Compensation (2 HD Streams simultaneously). Modern HD videos in MPEG 4 or VC-1 can not be decoded with the graphics card.
The GMA 950 is integrated in the following chipsets with different rendering clock rates (that affect the 3D performance):
- 945GU: 133 MHz (Lakeport for Intel A100 and A110)
- 945GSE: 166 MHz (for Atom)
- 945GMS: 166 MHz / 250 MHz (1.05V)
- 940GML 166 MHz / 200 MHz (1.05V) - Celeron M (ULV)
- 943GML: 200 MHz
- 945GM: 250 MHz (Calistoga)
- 945G, 945GC, 945GZ: 400 MHz (Lakeport)
Using the GMABooster tool, slower variants can be clocked to 400 MHz to increase the 3D performance (use at your own risk, not supported by Intel!).
The GMA 950 can not be described as a graphics card that is sufficient for gamers. Still Intel published a list of games that will run (not needingly beautiful) on the notebook (list is for the GMA 900). Some old 3D games and especially 2D games should run without problems. The advantage of integrated graphics cards, is that they have a low power consumtion and therefore save battery life. Furthermore, the laptop may stay cooler and more silent than laptops with dedicated graphics cards. For office programs and surfing the performance is more than sufficient.
The newest drivers support Windows Vista with Aero Glass effects and according to some of our readers it should run fluently.
| Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GMA Series |
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| Codename | GMA 600 | GMA 900 | GMA 950 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Architecture | PowerVR SGX5 | Gen. 3 | Gen. 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pipelines | 4 - unified | 4 / 0 Pixel- / Vertexshader | 4 / 0 Pixel- / Vertexshader | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Core Speed | 400 MHz | 400 MHz | 250 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shared Memory | yes | no | no | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| API | DirectX 9.0c, Shader 3.0 | DirectX 9c, Shader 2.0 | DirectX 9c, Shader 2.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| technology | 45 nm | 130 nm | 130 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Features | OpenGL, PowerVR SGX Kern, Screen Tiling, Internal True Color Processing, Zero overhead AA, 32 Bit floating-point operations. | No Hardware Transform and Lightning Support (T&L), MPEG2 acceleration, Motion Compensation | No Hardware Transform & Lightning (T&L), Hardware Motion Compensation, Hardware MPEG2 acceleration | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of Announcement | 01.05.2010 | 01.03.2005 | 01.03.2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Link to Manufacturer Page | www.intel.com | www.intel.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power Consumption | 7 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Information | Windows Vista Premium Ready |
Benchmarks
Average Benchmarks Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 → 100% n=4
Average Benchmarks Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 → 152% n=4
Average Benchmarks Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 → 180% n=4
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
Game Benchmarks
The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.
Resident Evil 5
2009
Left 4 Dead
2008
Trackmania Nations Forever
2008
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark
2005
F.E.A.R.
2005
World of Warcraft
2005
Counter-Strike Source
2004
Doom 3
2004
Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo
1999Average Gaming Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 → 100%
Average Gaming Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 → 134%
Average Gaming 30-70 fps → 134%
Average Gaming Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 → 558%
| Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | ||||
| Fifa 12 | -1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Resident Evil 5 | -1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Trackmania Nations Forever | -1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| World of Warcraft | 2 | 15 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Counter-Strike Source | -1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo | 24 | 32.1 | 88 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 600 | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 | |||||||||||||||||||
| low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | < 30 fps < 60 fps < 120 fps ≥ 120 fps | 1 | | 1 | | | | < 30 fps < 60 fps < 120 fps ≥ 120 fps | | | 1 | | | | < 30 fps < 60 fps < 120 fps ≥ 120 fps | 1 | | 1 | | | |
For more games that might be playable and a list of all games and graphics cards visit our Gaming List
