Investigating the Performance of Intel GMA 945 Drivers

[Fox Computers]

Hi all,

For this thread, I will test various drivers for the Intel GMA 945 Graphics Chip.

The goal is to find which performs the best, while also being stable for everyday use.

Needless to say, the results are by no means a definitive answer as to which is best for everyone, as of course everyones' setup is different - however it should be useful as a general base guiding line, which can be used for your own comparisons.

Please feel free to share your own results with these drivers!


Drivers tested:

1. Intel 8.15.10.1930
(This was the stock driver Windows 7 automatically configured after installing, it is here to provide a general baseline of what might be expected of standard, unmodified drivers)
2. Chell 1.8b
3. Chell 1.9a
4. Sherry 1.3.2 Beta

Drivers Due to Be Tested:

Sherry 1.3
Intel PHDGD
Alternative Intel Drivers


Test Hardware:

Computer Model: Acer Aspire One ZG5 Netbook
Processor: Atom N270
RAM: 1GB DDR2
Storage Drive: Seagate Momentus 5400.4 120GB 5400RPM SATA-II
OS: Windows 7 Starter SP1 32-Bit


Test Method:

Drivers will be installed following any instructions provided in the readme.txt files included if present as best as possible.

After installing, GPU-Z will checked for any possible changes.

Next, Windows Performance Index will be run.

And lastly, an activated copy of 3DMark2000 Benchmark will be run.

Display Driver Uninstaller will have been run in safemode beforehand before any of the drivers are installed in normal Windows.


Results:

Intel:
Intel1 — ImgBB,
Intel2 — ImgBB,
Intel3 — ImgBB,
Intel4 — ImgBB,
Intel5 — ImgBB,
Intel7 — ImgBB,


Chell 1.8b:
Chell1 — ImgBB,
Chell2 — ImgBB,
Chell3 — ImgBB,
Chell5 — ImgBB,
Chell6 — ImgBB,
Chell7 — ImgBB,

Chell 1.9a:
Chell1-9-1 — ImgBB (ibb.co),
Chell1-9-3 — ImgBB,
Chell1-9-4 — ImgBB,
Chell1-9-5 — ImgBB,
https://ibb.co/7khVgh6


Sherry 1.3.2 Beta:
Appears to be based off Intel 8.15.10.1930 driver.
Sherry1 — ImgBB (ibb.co)
https://ibb.co/wdD0Ynt,
Sherry4 — ImgBB,
https://ibb.co/6vpL2rR,
https://ibb.co/zmw3bRx​

 

[Fox Computers]

I will retesting all drivers in the future, (as well as trying Sherry 1.3 and PHDGD) because I have found that the results were not always the same when the 3DMark2000 benchmark was ran twice or more on the same graphics driver. This is supposedly not an issue with newer versions of 3DMark (Which we will yet see)

Since I am now aware of this issue, I am not convinced that what appeared to have been established (the trend of newer drivers [i.e. Chell 1.8 to 1.9] always performing better than prior versions) is true!

Let me know your suggestions/concerns for the next lineup of tests.

Fox Computers

 

[Fox Computers]

SECOND LINE-UP OF TESTS INCOMING

This time around I thought to run 3DMark03 and 3DMark05 in the hopes they would not give a different end result each time the benchmark was ran like 3DMark2000 was doing. Disappointingly, after running the full benchmarks 3 times I found them too to be giving different result each time. I will still be providing images of all 3 results for both 03 and 05, in case it is useful to someone, but conclude that the median result of the three is the definitive result.

Because it is very time consuming to perform these tests, and for this second line-up I plan to test more drivers, results may be posted "sporadically." I am more concerned with reporting the findings quickly than spending even more time to present them nicely as done previously for the first line-up of tests.

I would like to include some results of in-game benchmarks too. What are the communities' in-game benchmark suggestions? Let me know!

Fox Computers

- - - Updated - - -

RESULTS:

Chell 1.9a:
Image1 — ImgBB,
https:/ibb.co/2PG5SNN,
https:/ibb.co/3Ms4Y3Q,

3DMark03
Setup: 03-SETUP — ImgBB
Results:
https://ibb.co/yqcsX6F,
https:/ibb.co/JrmR1L1,
https:/ibb.co/rZvhFHy,

3DMark 05
Setup: 05-SETUP — ImgBB
Results:
05-RESULT-1 — ImgBB,
https:/ibb.co/ZHL9LMn,
https:/ibb.co/TmSr1TS (Ignore it says 340 behind, this is just the score not updating until the latest score of 341 box was closed),