[dalooter]

Where can I download this? On the site it says there are boosters available for 500, but in the section of download, I only see 900 and 950. Thank you in advance!

[aszu]

Well, there is no such thing and it looks like there won't be any soon.

However, I was playing around with this GMA500 recently and found some interesting thing.
Looks like Intel recently has released "Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers (IEGD)" pack, dated on 10/23/2009. This is pack intended for developers, but it also contains the latest driver for GMA500 (10.2.0.1447). Sadly, it is XPDM driver (not WDDM) so Vista/7 are not supported (it works, but there are some glitches, also forget about Aero).

I extracted this driver from the pack and uploaded it here: http://www.niuki.net/GMA500-10.2.0.1447.7z
Please feel free to test.

My experience with using this driver on Win7 (don't have XP to test it):

- MASSIVE 3D performance improvement - 3D Mark 2001 score went from 931 to 1912(!) points. And this is under Software T&L mode (there is no other option available in this driver - at least on Win7).
- DXVA doesn't really work well - artifacts are present.
- Google Earth is much faster, even with 3d building on.

Please note this is unconfigured, generic driver and I am not sure how stable it is. Also, some features might be not available on it. Nevertheless I still believe it is worth to check it. Clearly looks like GMA500 has a very big potential and we just need proper drivers to make the best from it.

I really hope that Intel will release proper WDDM 1.1 (less memory usage, hardware 2D acceleraton) driver soon. This should make Aero finally usable.

[aszu]

Has anyone else tested it? It made Quake3 finally playable on my netbook

Anyway, looks like new official Win7 driver has just been released - version 8.14.10.2015 (the old one is 8.14.10.2011). It is available here:

intel drivers pour chipsets Graphiques

Unfortunately, looks like this is just a minor bugfix release.

Oh Intel, we humble servants are falling to our knees and begging you - bring us a proper WDDM 1.1 driver!

[mknawabi]

I'm super thankful for the IEGD drivers. Hopefully they get DXVA working on a normal driver soon. It's odd how Windows 7 worked with DXVA (but win7 was a little sluggish), but XP drivers crash when playing DXVA.

[aszu]

I do WANT this driver on Windows:

Netbook with Moblin Linux, GMA500 graphics run Quake III and HD video easy | Eee PC - Blog

MOAR!

[jembot]

Originally Posted by aszu

Well, there is no such thing and it looks like there won't be any soon.

However, I was playing around with this GMA500 recently and found some interesting thing.
Looks like Intel recently has released "Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers (IEGD)" pack, dated on 10/23/2009. This is pack intended for developers, but it also contains the latest driver for GMA500 (10.2.0.1447). Sadly, it is XPDM driver (not WDDM) so Vista/7 are not supported (it works, but there are some glitches, also forget about Aero).

I extracted this driver from the pack and uploaded it here: http://www.niuki.net/GMA500-10.2.0.1447.7z
Please feel free to test.

My experience with using this driver on Win7 (don't have XP to test it):

- MASSIVE 3D performance improvement - 3D Mark 2001 score went from 931 to 1912(!) points. And this is under Software T&L mode (there is no other option available in this driver - at least on Win7).
- DXVA doesn't really work well - artifacts are present.
- Google Earth is much faster, even with 3d building on.

Please note this is unconfigured, generic driver and I am not sure how stable it is. Also, some features might be not available on it. Nevertheless I still believe it is worth to check it. Clearly looks like GMA500 has a very big potential and we just need proper drivers to make the best from it.

I really hope that Intel will release proper WDDM 1.1 (less memory usage, hardware 2D acceleraton) driver soon. This should make Aero finally usable.

How do you install this on Windows 7? I already tried in normal and safe mode (using twe device manager), it is not recognized by Windows 7. Uses default VGA driver instead. Can you provide a step by step instruction?

Thanks. Im using Win7 RTM 7600

[aszu]

Originally Posted by jembot

How do you install this on Windows 7? I already tried in normal and safe mode (using twe device manager), it is not recognized by Windows 7. Uses default VGA driver instead. Can you provide a step by step instruction?

Thanks. Im using Win7 RTM 7600

This should be simple, just unpack this archive somewhere (with 7zip).
Then, in device manager, for your video card:

1. Right click -> "Properties" -> "Driver" tab -> "Update driver.."
2. Select "Browse my computer.."
3. Select "Let me pick.." on the next screen
4. Click "Have disk"
5. Click "Browse" and navigate to the directory where you extracted this driver, select "iegd.inf"
6. Select device and ignore any potential warnings about incompatibility etc.

BTW: This driver includes OpenGL support (latest GMA500 Win7 driver doesn't have this features) so you can play Quake 3 (or Quake Live) with it


However, if you just need stable, proper driver with Aero, DXWA, backlight regulation etc. support, just download official Win7 GMA500 driver from Dell:

ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/R238726.exe

It is mislabelled on the Dell page as a driver for "945GSE/GM965", but in fact it is for GMA500.

[jembot]

Originally Posted by aszu

This should be simple, just unpack this archive somewhere (with 7zip).
Then, in device manager, for your video card:

1. Right click -> "Properties" -> "Driver" tab -> "Update driver.."
2. Select "Browse my computer.."
3. Select "Let me pick.." on the next screen
4. Click "Have disk"
5. Click "Browse" and navigate to the directory where you extracted this driver, select "iegd.inf"
6. Select device and ignore any potential warnings about incompatibility etc.

BTW: This driver includes OpenGL support (latest GMA500 Win7 driver doesn't have this features) so you can play Quake 3 (or Quake Live) with it


However, if you just need stable, proper driver with Aero, DXWA, backlight regulation etc. support, just download official Win7 GMA500 driver from Dell:

ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/R238726.exe

It is mislabelled on the Dell page as a driver for "945GSE/GM965", but in fact it is for GMA500.

Thanks for the reply. That's exactly what i did for both normal and safe mode.

Maybe because it's not for my device, i was hoping your driver is device independent as long as it's using GMA500. I'm using Viliv S5 UMPC. Is it cmpatible w8th it or only for Dell?

Also with the official dell driver, can i use it onmy device? What are the improvements over the windows update gma500 version?

Thanks!

[aszu]

Originally Posted by jembot

Thanks for the reply. That's exactly what i did for both normal and safe mode.

Maybe because it's not for my device, i was hoping your driver is device independent as long as it's using GMA500. I'm using Viliv S5 UMPC. Is it cmpatible w8th it or only for Dell?

Also with the official dell driver, can i use it onmy device? What are the improvements over the windows update gma500 version?

Thanks!

This IEGD driver should be device independent, what exactly error do you get? Some features (like backlight control) might not work though.

Both drivers - from Dell site and Windows Update - are the same version. I thought that your GMA500 is not detected at all by Windows 7 and you just need any driver to get it running.

Anyway, Dell driver should work with your device - it is just generic GMA500 driver , provided by Intel.

[jembot]

Originally Posted by aszu

This IEGD driver should be device independent, what exactly error do you get? Some features (like backlight control) might not work though.

Both drivers - from Dell site and Windows Update - are the same version. I thought that your GMA500 is not detected at all by Windows 7 and you just need any driver to get it running.

Anyway, Dell driver should work with your device - it is just generic GMA500 driver , provided by Intel.

GMA500 hardware in my device is working fine. I was just trying to enable OpenGL by using the driver you provided..But for some reason it won't work. The closest i had of getting it recognized was upon boot-up, the screen was all white but you can still hear the boot sound. I was forced to reboot in safe mode to uninstall the IEGD driver and revert back to the one provided by the latest windows update for GMA500.

I had no problems using similarly-produced GMA500 driver (IEGD) when my device had Windows XP on it. But on Windows 7, it's another thing.