My Radeon 345M IGP

BaroqueJim

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Joined
15 Jun 2004
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I have this graphics card in my Compaq Presario 2500, with 256MB RAM (192 because of the 64MB shared) and a 2.8Ghz Celeron.

I know it aint going to be the best for games, but I was suprised at it's low score on 3DMark 2001- the highest I got was 1256. Four of the tests it wouldn't even do, like "nature".

I ran Battlefield 1942 on it and it seemed kind of OK but not great. Medal of Honor though sucks badly - really jerky.

Should I be getting a higher score with this card? And if so, is there anything I can do to tweak it? If I put another 512MB RAM in my notebook, will this affect the graphics performance at all?

Anyway, on to drivers (sorry this is so long). I installed the Omega drivers after reading they were better and that they worked with all Radeon cards. I did try to find the latest drivers for the card at the ATI website, but after selecting "XP" then "graphics drivers" then "Radeon family" all that came up was the Catalyst drivers; supposedly suitable for all Radeons, but when I tried to install them it said I didn't have the correct hardware for the components, or something like that.

Actually, there was another option on the ATI site when entering my OS specs etc - "Motherboards/IGP drivers", then "IGP family". Going with this brought up the GART driver and the same Catalyst driver which I already tried without success, but reading about the GART thingy told me that :

"The Graphics Address Relocation Table (GART) is needed to allow the AGP graphics controller to work correctly. It is extremely important that the correct GART Driver is installed before operating your system. The ATI installation program will install the GART Driver that matches your system's chipset. However, should you experience any display problems after the installation of the GART Driver; ATI recommends that you contact your motherboard manufacture."

Are these the drivers for my IGP card? And if I install this GART thing will the Catalyst drivers then install? Contacting the HP helpline was no good - I got this Indian guy who I could hardly understand and he just kept saying "sir, you can not update any drivers for this Presario machine".

Lastly, how do I uninstall the Omega drivers fully (if this is the best way forward)? When I tried, the drivers seem to have gone but all the Omega options are still there on advanced display properties.

Thanks in anvance for any advice! :)
 
you should have the proper drivers on the CD that came with your notebook. You cannot use the radeon drives with a mobile card. IIRC HP/Compaq and Sony supply the correct driver updates through Windows Update.
 
The Omega drivers can be installed for your mobility system no problem. Check out Omegacorner.com.
 
try 3dmark from 2000 or 1999 (if they had one)

the card you have is dx7 so naturally the score will be lower in 3dmark2001 since some of the test are dx8 and pixel shader related...

generally you will probably be able to play older games ok but anything dx8 and newer will cause your gpu to have a brain-freeze...
 
In short. That computer is NOT a gaming machine. It will play some of the 3-4 year old games ok but forget anything newer.

-The celeron is terrible for gaming at any clock speed.
-Too little RAM and your video RAM is shared (i.e. bandwith is choked to death). Even adding more RAM won't help because the video is shared.
-The video chipset is 2 generations out of date.
 
isnt the 345M = Radeon 9100 IGP? Surely it *should* be able to play Medal of Honour smoothly?
 

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