Intel HD Graphics 3000 Performance Review

Test Setup: Our focus on platform cost as well as performance

Since the integrated graphics market is very far from being uniform, we've not just displayed the total frame rate generated by each platform, but also the cost of each frame per second.

We had to turn off power saving and TurboBoost states in order to obtain more consistent and reliable results. We also matched the systems in terms of their memory, storage, power and OS.

• Intel Core i5-2500K (3.3GHz) 4 core, 4 thread
  
• Intel HD Graphics 3000, 12 EU (1,100MHz and 1,700MHz OC)
  
• Gigabyte GA-H67MA-UD2H (F6a BIOS)
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,333MHz CL9 dual-channel
  
• Crucial C300 RealSSD 128GB SATA 6Gbps
  
• Seasonic X-Series 650W PSU
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64

CPU and motherboard cost: £176.70 + £100.67 = £277.37

• Intel Core i5-661 (3.3GHz) 2 core, 4 thread
  
• Intel GMA HD, 12 EU (900MHz and 733MHz)
  
• Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 (f4 BIOS)
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,333MHz CL9 dual-channel
  
• Crucial C300 RealSSD 128GB SATA 3Gbps
  
• Seasonic X-Series 650W PSU
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64

CPU and motherboard cost: £161.85 + £80.73 = £242.58

• AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (3.4GHz) 4 core, 4 thread
  
• Radeon HD 4250 (560MHz)
  
• ASRock 880GXH/USB3
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,333MHz CL9 dual-channel
  
• Crucial C300 RealSSD 128GB SATA 6Gbps
  
• Seasonic X-Series 650W PSU
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64

CPU and motherboard cost: £71.99 + £128.35 = £200.34