
Alike its predecessor it does not have a dedicated graphics memory, but, can access the Level-3 cache of the CPU (which is now called ' Last Level Cache' - LLC) of up to 8 MB, depending on the CPU. In addition, a desktop reference system with Core i5-2500K and also HD Graphics 3000 was available for further tests.Ĭontrary to the GMA HD, Intel HD Graphics 3000 is directly integrated in the processor core of the Sandy-Bridge processors. This article covers the performance of the HD Graphics 3000 inside the Intel Core i7-2720QM CPU. In our test we used a laptop with Optimus solution, the Asus N53SV. and the Intel HD graphics 3000 GPU can be used together with an Nvidia graphics card by means of the Nvidia-Optimus technology (later this year perhaps also with a similar AMD solution).the laptop can solely use a discrete graphics card from AMD or Nvidia while the Intel HD 3000 in the CPU is deactivated,.an additional dedicated GPU can be completely left out,.At the time of writing there are three options: Whether the integrated graphics is actually used, depends on the manufacturer of a specific laptop. Accordingly, all Sandy Bridge CPUs have it built-in. The Intel HD Graphics 3000 goes a step further and is now directly on the die. Replacing the GMA 4500M HD with the GMA HD, which is integrated in the CPU, Intel could already clearly improve the performance. However, also the requirements of games increased continuously. (de)coding of videos, and could therewith disburden the CPU. At the same time there was also a trend to laptops with dedicated graphics card, which, besides 3D-calculations, also took over more and more other tasks, e.g. They proved to be sufficient for displaying the desktop in 2D, watching HD films and even simple games. the Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) HD in the Arrandale chips or the GMA GMA 4500M HD chipset graphics of the previous Penryn systems, were designed for typical office tasks. So far, laptops using Intel's integrated graphics solutions, i.e.
