Intel GMA 950 and Windows Aero?

[kenneth_k]

A person "X" has informed me that Intel GMA 950, allegedly, is compatible with the 3D GUI in Windows Vista Business, Home Premium, and Ultimate: Windows Aero!

How can this be true? I have done some testing months back for a company with Windows Vista RC2, plus I've referred to Microsoft's own requirements and guidelines. The only thing I discovered was that Intel's built-in GMA 3000 video chip actually is capable of handling Aero, but on a notebook with the GMA 950 video card, Aero couldn't run.

So, is this guy just playing tricks with me, or is it really possible (e.g. through Intel driver tweaks) to make GMA 950 run Aero properly?

 

[DavidC1]

A person "X" has informed me that Intel GMA 950, allegedly, is compatible with the 3D GUI in Windows Vista Business, Home Premium, and Ultimate: Windows Aero!

GMA 950 is compatible with Windows Aero, but with some limitations. I think to support Ultimate, you'll need GMA 3000/X3000.

 

[kenneth_k]

Do you have any idea what those limitations are?

Remember that Windows Aero GUI is present in no less than three versions of Windows Vista...

 

[DavidC1]

Not really. GMA 950 supports up to Pixel Shader 2.0 and Software Vertex Shader 3.0, while GMA 3000/X3000 will have full Shader Model 3.0 support. Maybe there won't be a significant difference at all. After all, its an OS and there is a limitation to how much 3D effects you can show.