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Gaming on HD3000


dr.zeissler
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Hi,

 

drivers from Intel are inside the MacOS. So they cannot be updated alone. The MacMini 2011 comes with HD3000 graphics. The VRAM is shared memory from the RAM itself. My machine has 8GB RAM, so 512MB VRAM for the HD3000. The VRAM can be upgraded via patch. But I did not get it done. It does not work, because I don't understand what exactly has to be done and what tools are needed. The process also depends on the MacOS which is used. My MacMini server comes with 2x500GB SATA HDD's standard, so it's easy to install 2 MacOS. I installed 10.13.6 and 10.7.5.

 

What is the best driver for my HD 3000 or in other words what MacOS is best. Do you have any advises for me?

 

I did some testing with mixed results.

 

Thx

Doc

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Thx, I am a Retro-Gamer and I have lot's of great games for that machine. I own two of that MacMini 2011. One ist standard, the other has RX470 eGPU. I will upgrade to newer Macmini that is not limited to 10.13+ (with dosdude-script more is possible, but I have not tried it), because I would love to play games that are ported from opengl to metal I will have to use 10.14+.

 

So I dedicated this MacMini to "retro-gaming", which means L367 Eizo 15" nativ 1024x768.

 

I did lots of testing between 2009-9400m/2010-320m/2011-3000...and in most parts the HD3000 wins.

 

Upgrading 512 to 1024 VRAM let's me choose ultra textures im D3-engine-games (D3/Q4/PREY), that's the only reason I would make this patch, but I don't understand what kext etc is. This simply tells me nothing. What tools do I need, how can this be done.

 

==8gb user==

N: com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB

F: c745bc00 000020

R: c745bc00 000040

MacOS: 10.7.x,10.8.x,10.9.x,10.10.x,10.11.x

 

"I found HD3000 got worse & buggy from El Capitan but that's just my opinion & general experience."

 

On the "retro-rig" I am mostly in 10.7.5 that was released 10/2012, the mini came out 03/2011. Without prove I am thinking that intel-drivers are supporting all features of the HD3000. in 2012 the HD4000 mini came out, so I would assume that there was no performance and feature-tweaks after 10.7.5, but I could be wrong. I read on SCII forums that there was a bug in the driver that was fixed in 10.13.2, but don't know what bug this was and if SC2 was effected in earlier versions.

 

Interestingly steam-games do not work on 10.7.x but they do work on 10.13...I have to investigate this.

 

Doc

Edited by dr.zeissler
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HD3000 Testing:

Halo 2.04 CE (Shaders and Shadows wrong)
MaxPayne3 (does not start, hangs in initializing)
Batman Arkym Asylum DVD-Version (runs only once, generates a "specifcations.xml" in application-support/feral/Batman Arkym Asylum/cache that prevents the second start. Delete this file before you start and you are good to go. Steam-Version (1.02) is not effected on this)
HL2 Series (some shaders do not look as good as on 320m)
COD4 works good, but stutters more than with 320m. Has no shadow option, 320m has shadow option
COD2 in High-Details has no stutterung, no Lags, just perfect. (some effects are missing, but I think these cause the Langs and low-framerates on all other machines with high-details on)

Can confirm the DeusEX Human Revolution is working on HD3000. Looks beautifull, but framerates are 5-20fps in 1024x768.
Bioshock1+2 are playable. Bioshock1 runs good on HD3000. Recommended settings: shaders high, reflections on, rest off. 

Listing I found in the Internet:

*Intel patch is available! It works with Lion. 

Edited by Allan
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  • 1 year later...

I know have a working solution to get the VRAM Upgrade from 512MB to 1024MB on HD3000.

I am testing my games against the HD3000 and there are some surprises.

 

RAGE 1.01 runs very good on my 2011 MacMini i7 Quadcore! I am playing in 768p and the game is really beautiful!

 

I own some games from the MAS and these require 10.10 but I only use 10.9.5. I am not sure if I will upgrade to 10.10. If there are no new/faster/better drivers for the HD3000 than I will certainly not upgrade to 10.10. 

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