Intel's Next IGP Slated to Run Sims 3

Even if you're not dripping with sarcasm, you should be.
The Mac version of Sims 3's minimum requirements:
ATI X1600 or NVIDIA 7300 GT with 128 MB RAM or Intel Integrated GMA X3100
WoW on PC:
32 MB 3D video card with Hardware T&L or better
Battlefield Heroes:
DirectX compatible 64 MB graphics card with Pixel Shader 2.0 or better

As far as I'm concerned, their X3100 already hits all of their targets. Congratz.

my 4500mhd cant even run runescape, europa universalis 3, and most basic games without serious lag. i hate it and regret going integrated.

What does Intel mean by "run". So far their definition of "run" seems to encompass a slideshow with minimal graphic quality. I mean sure they can "run" a game but who wants to play at 10 fps and watch their character bounce randomly around the screen or watch a blu-ray movie and miss half of the dropped frames?

Sounds like an invitation for jeers but intel's actually doing good work here.
Integrating better minimalist gpus into mainstream machines will ensure a leveled entry-level standard for pc gaming. Comparing these things with nvidia or amd gpus is like comparing a stock camry engine with an aftermarket custom ordered bmw supertech engine.

There's a huge population of people who go for the cheap computer using an IGP and would never think of buying separate parts just for gaming. An improvement on the performance of those machines would create a wider userbase for a ton of titles that are conservative on requirements... PC gaming would benefit way more from a moderate bump in gpu performance of 90% of the low-end beaters out there than an extra bit of performance on the 1% very high end gpus. Think of upcoming titles like starcraft2 or diablo3 where the fun isn't just in the eye candy; if these titles run correctly on these chips, I'm sold.

At the moment, for the most part, you can only get Intel integrated graphics with Intel CPU's and you might get a choice with AMD CPU's as Hypertransport is a little more open than Intel's FSB/QPI. So, what Intel is really trying to do is up their performance so that even the low end Nvidea and ATI GPU's don't have a market anymore. Still if you're into gaming and want integrated, better off with AMD, at least you get some choice.

I wonder how Intel defines the word "run". I define run as you can play it on your PC whether it is smooth or not. I define "playable" as at least 30 FPS. Also what resolution are they using because even my laptop using an AMD IGP can play crysis on 800x600 on low settings, but it is still choppy in parts.

You'll always have the kiddies that don't really understand games, and throw around gay terms like "eye candy" so they sound cute, but the reality is fancy graphics don't make a fun game. If you are complete moron, sure. If you're a simpleton, you bet. If you're completely superficial ...

That stuff is relatively easy. But, actually making a mentally stimulating game is quite hard. It's not about resolution, it's about thought. There were old games that were completely text based that were fun. Ms. Pacman was a Hell of a lot more popular than any modern title, although I never fancied it. Defender and Gauntlet were atrociously addicting arcade games, that by today's standards would be ancient. Defender would even slow down the game at certain points, that became one of the charms of the games.

One thing is clear though. Power hungry, noisy, ovens that run in computers are never desirable. They are expensive to run, and are unpleasant to be around, and cost a lot of money. For some people, they're worth it, but for the vast majority of people, Intel solutions are more than they need. You can play a lot of really fun games, without paying massive amounts of money for your computer, or electrical bills, and not having a noisy oven in your office.

Also keep in mind, Intel IGPs of today are just as fast as old discrete cards that played games you thought were really fun years ago. Did those games suddenly become less fun? They didn't change, and human nature doesn't change so fast, so they're still plenty fun.

I still like playing games from the 1980s.

So, if Intel can boost performance without boosting cost, power use, and noise, it's a really good thing for way more people than ATI producing a $500 card that runs like a raped ape. Both are good, of course, it's just that the Intel solution will effect more people. It's not a trivial improvement. Counter-intuitively, the barn burners from ATI and NVIDIA are, since they effect relatively so few people.

Larrabee is dead... another flimsy integrated gpu.... well if they could work with Nvidia for hybrid SLI thatwould be great.... hybrid sli that can actually change between gpgpu processors without having to reboot.. if they could do this in an efficient manner without having to tax the processor or the gpu while switching then this would be great. I dont think Pcie2.0 is capable of that though...

Good gawd ta152h, you won't get any sympathy around here with your pathetic tirade of excuses for your slow antiquated excuse for modern hardware. You don't like to play games from the 80's.., you ARE from the 80's!, put away your Flock of Seagulls CD's, Deloreon posters and step into the modern world.

I understand what you're saying, but I think it's a bit unnecessary to call everyone who likes new games simpletons while trying to preach equality for the actual content of the game over superficial qualities. There's horrible looking, horrible playing games as well. Everyone has their things.

But can it play Crisis..!?!?!

Yes just because ET on the 2600 had horrid graphics does not mean it was a great game...

I agree graphics are only a small portion of a game and an old game can still be tons of fun (example Asteroids on the 2600 or Jungle Hunt or Mario Bro's) but with out the newest $500 dollar graphics your low end PC graphics would still be CGA... Its the upper end and the desire to have that new pretty that drives tech forward not the low end barely runs checkers at 20fps.

Sure some games are all flash and no content but thats nothing new (first thing that comes to mind is Space Ace or Dragons Lair, almost not games at all but they sure looked pretty in the 80's)

Now for the actual article, I pray Intel delivers something substantial this time (note that for the usual business machine they where just fine) for some one who buys a computer at Walmart or Bestbuy this could be a decent deal for them maybe pull the bottom end up finally. It seems like integrated graphics have been stuck at the same level for quite some time.

... this is IGPs we're talking about. Nobody expects Intel to do anything with discrete graphics, but ATI and Nvidia both have moderately powerful and cool-running integrated chips that run circles, squares, and icosahedrons around anything from Intel. (well Nvidia did before they threw in the towel since Intel locked them out of the IGP market for Intel boards) There's no need to compare modern IGPs to the discrete cards of eight years ago, the aging 780G chipset is nearly as powerful as a budget gaming machine from TWO years ago. That's Intel's competition here, and AMD hasn't stopped developing integrated chips. By the time Intel's product is out I'm willing to bet we'll see ATI Radeon HD 4400something graphics that will once again spank Intel's offerings up and down the charts from gaming to HD video. Hell, I bet a 780G would still do it. You can get motherboards with these chips for fifty/sixty bucks, new. I know someone who plays Sims 3 on one today with an Athlon X2 5050e, a total power sipper based on old architecture! That's the kind of step backwards Intel is reaching for with graphics if this slide is real. There's nothing stopping you from playing old games with this hardware, but now you have the choice to actually play more recent games if you want.

That's games, though. It's not just gravy for casual gamers, HD video is better, and you get a better eye-candy (whoops, there's that gaytalk!) experience in Window's Aero interface using them than Intel's graphics.

oh no... my "But Can it Play C*****" sense is tingling?
...sigh...
Who's gonna say it?

Every in house GPU Intel develops (or announces) is crap and is just a minor hardware update to support newer APIs but can't actually play any games that require the more modern Shader Models.

I wish AMD and Nvidia would make their IGP chipsets cheaper for notebooks just to keep GMA 900/950/3100/4500 garbage out of notebooks.

Also, why has AMD not integrated a GPU onto their mobile CPUs yet? They certainly have the ATI expertise to do so and you can't upgrade notebook GPUs anyway so who cares if the GPU is on die.

There wouldn't be nearly enough room for even an Intel-level GPU on the CPU die, especially since AMD's mobile CPUs are all still at 65nm as far as I know.

resident evil designed for class leading cpu/visuals ? thats a joke compared to everyone knows what ... lol

Makes perfect sense, why not have IGP that can run the run of the mill games with no issue... Cant be that hard to do and even though it will not please the enthusiast or hardcore gamer, it might just serve the other 75% of the computer gaming community.

Intel, bringing next-generation stop-motion graphics to everyone.

WoW already ran fine on my extensa 5230M.
Though i dont have the laptop any more i am pretty sure it ran on a Intel GMA X4500HD.

Sure it did not run with all setting set to high but no where near low either.
I dont get what the big deal is since even my Netvista 8309-15G was able to run WoW on its IGP and that used to run on intel Extreem.
(be it on low setting with a frame rate of about 26 in raids).

Since WoW runs on nearly everything i think it is not really a selling point.

wow played on 7300gt? this is a joke, i have bad times with 7900gt and quad core 2,6ghz. wow needs plenty of resources specially in town where hundred of players are around

rofl @ intel

They never said where you can run it. I bet in the middle of nowhere, where no player runs around, you could run it with no problems at all.

Of course if you want to run in the towns, you might need a more beefy system. And well I wonder if it's really your computer that can't take it or just the server who can't.

Am i missing something here? you really think Ms. PacMan can hold a candle to the 12+ million WOW subscribers?

While I certainly see their point from a volume perspective, this sounds like Intel is crowing about an IGP that they hope might end up being as good as AMD/ATi's old HD3200.

Intel + Graphics = FAIL. It's just that simple.

Intel is learning from Nintendo... casual gaming can get you pretty far. A majority of the people out there don't want to play Crysis at high resolutions with 16XAA turned on... most people are content to play popular games like WoW, the Sims and online flash-based games. Not saying that'd work for me... but it would for most people.

perfect example of a low quality game being "fun" to so many people.

BTW you can have a good game with great graphics. The half life series being my example. And when those kinds of games come out i want to see it in 60 frames 2600x1200 and ill spend the $500 for it. TA520th might not understand why but i want large screen high end graphics with my well made games. Sure i still play the old 70's 80's games and alot of 90's games but yes i do say looking at the graphics for me at least does start to take from the game to a degree but the game its self is still fun. While not what makes a game it does polish off a good game. even if it cant make a bad game good.

... intel needs to put the results of larrabee R'n'D somewhere...

The Intel IGP chips have been such a huge disappointment, it would be nice for them to take it seriously at some point. Knowing a bunch of people into The Sims, I can see exactly where this is coming from. I know someone with a modern Macbook with a C2D at 2GHZ and a GMA x3100, and they try to use it for Sims 3. It runs like total crap at the native res of 1280x800. On the other hand, I know someone with a single core Athlon 64 at 2Ghz and an ancient Geforce 6100 card (a rig that cost maybe $250 to build over two years ago, and it can easily run Sims 3 or similar games at 1280x800 or higher.

Why on earth is an ancient GPU that could easily be minimized to work in a laptop so so SO much more powerful than anything Intel can manage to squeeze on there? Are they really not trying at all?

Intel will never make it in the Graphics market. Simple as that. I'll stick with my Nvidia 260
Also. Tom's Hardware should make a poll. Such as whoever says "Will it play Crysis?" will be banned. So annoying. I'm not here to waste time reading that one line every new news post.

As others have already pointed out I'm sure, this means squat. They could easily be referring to 640x480 resolution with all the details turned down. Whoop-de-do I should hope they could already play those titles in this manner. I know nvidia and ATI gfx can at least.