Gaming problems with onboard Intel GMA 3000 on G965 motherboard

Tweet

Hi. First of all, yes, I know, onboard graphics and games just don't mix well, but please bear with me. I just built a new system with the specs listed below, but unfortunately I kinda ran out of money and I couldn't buy a nice after-market graphics card. So, I figured the onboard graphics could hold me off until some cheaper DX10 compatible cards are released by ATI and nVidia. Even though I've got some of the latest hardware available, I'm running into problems trying to play many games, even some that are 2 years old!! Some games like Silent Hill 4 and Star Wars: Battlefront 2 give me error message(s) stating "Programmable Vertex/Pixel Shader support not detected" or "Hardware Transform and Lighting (T&L) not detected." The games do not start, or crash soon after starting. The technical specs for the Intel G965 Express Chipset state that it has Hardware Pixel Shader 3.0 and Vertex Shader Model 3.0 support. I have the latest graphics driver version (6.14.10.4704 released on 10/6/2006) installed.I have also read the webpage "Solution ID: CS-011910" on the Intel website addressing the Hardware Transform and Lighting (T&L) issue.Does anyone know if the latest driver fixes this issue, or is it still not supported in the current driver release? http://support.intel.com/support/graphics /sb/CS-011910.htm Also, even though I have the Intel G965 Express Chipset, in the Display Properties (under Settings -- Advanced -- Adapter) it shows the Chip Type as Intel GMA 3000. Shouldn't my motherboard have the X3000 version? Is this normal, or is there some sort of fault in my motherboard? Any help you can give me in this regard is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Here are the specs of my new machine: Motherboard: Intel D965RYCK Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 Ghz dual core, 4 MB L2 cache) Memory: 1 GB DDR2 667 Mhz (Corsair) Video: Onboard Intel Extreme Graphics GMA 3000 -- 128 MB (increased to 256 MB through BIOS)Sound: Onboard 6.1 Harddisk: Hitachi 160 GB SATA (8 MB cache) Optical drives: Asus 16x DVD+-RW, LG 48x CD-ROM Monitor: Hitachi 21"