GMA3100 driver crap performance

Hey all,

I have recently installed Win10 on two different Dell desktops (both different models). One was an upgrade from Win7, the other was a clean install (though the computer previously ran Win7).

The computers both have the integrated Intel GMA3100 (G31/G33 chipset) graphics, the performance was more than acceptable under Windows 7, and yet in both cases, under Windows 10 (CU / 1703), the performance is ATROCIOUS.

I should make clear a couple of things:

First, I realize and acknowledge that the GMA3100 is no longer supported by Intel for versions of Windows newer than 7. Despite this, MS does provide a GMA3100 driver for Windows 10 via Windows Update (not included on the install ISO).

Second, when I talk about how bad the performance is, I need to be clear that these computers are being used in an office environment where overall graphics performance is not important. These machines are doing basic office tasks surrounding text manipulation: web browsing, e-mail, word processing. No gaming, no 3D modeling, nothing complicated. And nothing that Win7 couldn't handle on the exact same hardware.

The most obvious way in which the performance problems manifest themselves is in simply clicking on the Start button. The whole Start menu is just abysmally, unusably slow and laggy. The animation of the menu coming into view is jittery and maybe running at 4-5 FPS if I'm lucky. Tiles that animate themselves constantly stutter. Scrolling through the programs list is an exercise in frustration and patience every time.

This is clearly a software problem, though, because if I revert back from the G31/G33 graphics driver to the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter, performance on the same hardware is WORLDS better. No contest. The system is actually usable. And it has nothing to do with the configured resolution: if I do back-to-back tests of the GMA3100 driver vs. the Basic driver and I run both at the same resolution (1024x768), the Basic driver performs fine while the GMA3100 driver is garbage. And as a solution to the problem, I'd happily use the Basic driver, except that it only seems to support 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768, and none of these match the aspect ratio of the attached monitor, so that's no good.

I have tried turning off as many GUI flourishes as possible (animations, transparency, etc.), and this does help some, but the problem is still pretty evident. I don't have to turn any of that crap off for it to perform acceptably with the Basic driver.

I have also tried to use the last released version of the official Intel driver for Windows 7, which does install and work on Win10, but performance of this driver on Windows 10 is exactly the same as the Win10 WDDM driver that Microsoft supplies for the GMA3100 via Windows Update.

Anybody have any other ideas, preferably ones that don't involve adding a third-party graphics card? I'm extremely frustrated at this point, and it seems ridiculous that just to make the basic system usable for basic tasks, one would have to throw in a modern 3D graphics accelerator.

Thanks,

-- Nathan

Unfortunately I will have to say this.

Buy a graphics card.

Even the Intel GMA X4500 would do the same, I've had a GMA3100 paired with the flagship Core 2 Duo E8600 and the results aren't pretty for basic tasks.

I wonder what processor are you using with that G31 motherboard because you haven't specified the system specs.

It's a 10 yo graphics chipset, so the PC must be near to end of life. Support lasts of the order of 5 years. As far I can see Intel only supports stuff back to around 2011.
It would only cost you maybe 30 USD to put in a suitable PCI-E Graphics card.
I have had to do this on a Windows XP Desktop 12 years ago so it's hardly anything new, the requirements of Windows versions does get higher.

RoasterMen said:

I wonder what processor are you using with that G31 motherboard because you haven't specified the system specs.

If I recall correctly, one machine is an Inspiron 518 and the other is a 530; but I believe in both cases they are E2180 CPUs. So, no, they aren't screamers, but running all of the exact same software under an older version of the OS, everything worked and performed how the end-users needed (just fine).

Helmut said:

It's a 10 yo graphics chipset, so the PC must be near to end of life. Support lasts of the order of 5 years. As far I can see Intel only supports stuff back to around 2011.

The irony is that if the graphics chipset had been even older and there was ZERO driver support, the system would just run on the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter driver indefinitely and perform WAY better. So no hardware support ends up being better than some support. Please explain how that makes sense.

If there is no way to fix the performance of this GPU with the official drivers, it makes me wonder if there is a way to get the Basic Display Adapter driver to offer higher resolutions than 1024x768. If so, that sounds like it might actually be the best option.

[EDIT: Another thought...if the Basic Display driver works as well as it does, perhaps the official drivers are just so buggy that with hardware optimization on, they perform like crap? Is there a way under Windows 10 to turn off hardware graphics acceleration like there used to be on older versions of Windows? I tried the supposed registry hacks like DisableHWAcceleration and those didn't do anything; further research suggests that this registry key only influences the graphics behavior of .NET apps, not the system as a whole.]

Helmut said:

It would only cost you maybe 30 USD to put in a suitable PCI-E Graphics card.

I'd have to check and make sure that there is even an available PCI-E slot...I'm not convinced there is.

Helmut said:

I have had to do this on a Windows XP Desktop 12 years ago so it's hardly anything new, the requirements of Windows versions does get higher.

This is the thing that gets me...these users are doing the same tasks with the same machines, and those tasks used to run just fine under older OSes. Running a newer version of Windows doesn't buy them anything, and in fact just penalizes them. It's absurd.

-- Nathan

NathanA said:

...I'd have to check and make sure that there is even an available PCI-E slot...I'm not convinced there is...

G31 and G33 Chipsets come with PCI-E x16 slot. Doesn't matter if it's SFF.

Helmut said:

It would only cost you maybe 30 USD to put in a suitable PCI-E Graphics card.

Exactly, you can get a HD5450 or GT610/520 and GUI performance will improve, besides you will get more RAM available because you won't have to share it with the integrated GPU.

I'm starting to think this may be a Creators Update bug.

Slow animations and window refreshes for virtual desktops and win-tab with UWP apps open
Laggy / low FPS performance for Windows 10 UI on SurfaceBook i7 with performance base.
Laggy / low FPS performance for Windows 10
Windows animations become choppy over time in Creators Update (1703/15063.138)

Very tempted to throw a blank hard drive in one of the systems and load 1511 or 1607 on it, just to see how that performs in comparison.

-- Nathan

Have you tried installing the Windows 7 drivers in compatibility mode to see if performance goes better?
If that doesn't work, then that means the new driver model in 1703 is affecting you in unexpected ways, in my case, I had to revert back to 1511 and upgrade to 1607 afterwards, because 1703 has issues with some programs, specially if they need opengl or direct access to DX libraries.

That is either fixed with 1703 compliant drivers, or sticking with 1607 until a fix or a new microsoft driver is available... but you can always try your luck with Windows 7 drivers and see if that works...

FerchogtX said:

Have you tried installing the Windows 7 drivers in compatibility mode to see if performance goes better?

Please read my 2nd to last paragraph in the original post.

I aim to try a 1511 install on a spare hard drive this evening, and will update with my results.

-- Nathan

I think you will fare better for sure. Creators Update is a nightmare for most common graphic cards. It's pretty buggy.