Are graphics solutions on Intel DG31PR Desktop Board & Mobile 965 Board DIFFERENT?

[Krazy_About_Technology]

Hi Friends,

I am having some strange problems with my Intel DG31PR Motherboard's graphics solution. I bought this motherboard last month for my home computer along with a C2D 2.4 Ghz proccy and 2 GB of Transcend Jet RAM. Along with it, i got, for myself, a Dell Inspiron 1525 Lappy (config in my siggy). The lappy has a Mobile Intel 965 Mobo with Intel X3100 graphics. My desktop board also reports same.

The problem i am having is that the graphics solution only seems to support Pixel Shaders 2.0 standard. Laptop's graphics solution reports PS 3.0. I checked it in 3D Mark 2006.

Games like Call of Duty 4 run fine on laptop but crash with an error on desktop. Need for Speed series from EA works fine upto Underground 2 but Need for Speed Carbon gives 2 FPS on the menu. Inside the game runs at a playable speed. On lappy both menu and ingame mode run fine. Need for speed most wanter crashes randomly while switching to Free Roam mode, while runs like anything on the laptop. Also many small games crash giving error "Cannot create D3D9 device". It happens on both XP and Vista and using compatibility options dont have any effect. I also have latest update of Direct X9 installed on both operating systems.

I also have all the latest drivers from Intel including chipset, video, audio, network etc, till date.

Is their any difference between the two graphics solutions or its just a driver bug (if it is, it must be reported coz it is present in all driver versions till now ). My younger brother uses this computer at home and he is very frustrated with this problem, and in turns frowns upon me for buying this "crap" (his words) for his computer. Please help me out guys!!!

[Choto Cheeta]

Yes they are,

G31 comes with GMA 3100
GM965 comes with GMA x3100

later is better in performance like HD play back and some better gaming where in real world day to day apps such as vista and some little grfx based apps there would be much of a difference !!!!

[Krazy_About_Technology]

Thanks Choto Cheeta, i guess i'll have to buy him an external PCI Express based solution. An 8600 GT or May Be 8800 GT. Anyways, any speculation about the crashes in games? And the cannot create D3D9Device error in even small games?

[infra_red_dude]

GMA x3100 is DX10 compatible while 3100 is DX9.

[Krazy_About_Technology]

Ya, i was also thinking about that. But if GMA 3100 is Dx9 complaint then why its giving that error? I get no such errors and crashes with X3100 on my laptop. The games i have mentioned either dont start giving the error about D3D9Device creation or crash abruptly without giving any reason.

But one thing i analyzed. First, The fault occurs in the executable of the game itself, at least Windows Error Reporting tells so. But when i tried to intercept the crash with WinDBG, the Microsoft Debugging Tool with Windows Vista SP1 symbols, the crash analysis showed the last function called was something related to computing Shaders. After that the executable crashed and the cause of the crash as WinDbg pointed out, is D3D9.dll which is a core windows file for Direct X9 support. So i guess the problem is caused by Driver and not Direct X or the game.

Any inputs on my observation guys?

[mad_max]

the gfx solution on the G965 chipset has hardware acceleration,but G31 doesn't have any hardware support so there's your problem.plus neither of those are DX10
read this:Good news for Intel G965 Users who use integrated graphics
p.s don't go for a 8600 cuz your bro will most likely call that crapp too get a 9600 or hell even a used 7xxx you'll be missing DX10 but that only means a few vista games(for the time being)

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by mad_max

the gfx solution on the G965 chipset has hardware acceleration,but G31 doesn't have any hardware support...

Err.. come again?!! Either you are terribly confused or I am. What do you mean by "no hardware support"??!!

[IronManForever]

Originally Posted by mad_max

plus neither of those are DX10

Not DX 10? G965 is DX10 If Im right? Intel had announced sometime ago that DX10 support will be available will future drivers; isnt it?

[Krazy_About_Technology]

I guess he means No Hardware Transform and Lightning Support. See the meaning of this term in Direct X 9 is changed and the term Hardware TNL is replaced by harware support for Shader Versions. GM965 chipset contains the X3100 graphics chip which supports Pixel and Vertex Shaders 3.0 profile in hardware as far as current drivers are concerned. Intel's site confirms this card as a DX10 card while the G31 chipset, which unfortunately my bro is dealing with currently because of me , contains the GMA 3100 (not X3100) graphics chip which is DirectX 9.0c/Ex complaint and supports pixel shaders 2.0a and vertext shaders 2.0 profile in hardware.

All this is fine, but what i cannot understand that why are DX9 games that dont even use PS/VS 3.0 are crashing on his system? whats the deal with these errors happenin in the D3D9.dll system file. The file is generic for all graphics cards so i guess the bug is in the drivers. I think i should file this bug. Can someone tell me where can i submit a bug to intel graphics driver development team?

Any more comments on this chipset are welcome. Please share whatever knowledge you have or whatever you guess .

And yes, the link to intel's article which shows the specification of all GMA 3000 and up systems is given below :

http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/a...s/eng/1487.htm

Thanks guys for your responses. Its helping me understand the situation clearly and will certainly help many others too.