List of games that work well on intigrated graphics and how to optimize them

Everyone here has helped me out alot on getting the most out of my new notebook so i decided to finally make a contribution to the community. Enjoy

All are tested with an m11x R2 with the games executable told to run on the intel gpu. The notebook is also running on battery with the power saver scheme.
i7 u 640@160fsb
4gb ram
The following settings are used in the intel graphics control panel on all test unless otherwise stated.
Texture Quality: Quality
AF: 16x
Vertex Processing: Default settings
vysnc: On
Power: Maximum battery life
It should also be noted I am running throttlestop with custom settings on battery. These settings keep the cpu around 1.2-1.4ghz so people running the c2d R1 m11x should see similar fps.

First person shooters:
Counters Strike 1.6
Counters Strike condition zero
Counters Strike condition zero deleted scenes
Half-Life
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Opposing Force
Team Fortress Classic
Ricochet
Day of Defeat
Deathmatch classic
Runs at the lcd’s native aspect ratio with a resolution of 1280x720 in d3d mode. Even though vsync is enabled in the intel control panel the game sometimes goes over 60fps however I saw no tearing. The fps ranges from 50-100 most of the time but can drop into the mid-30s briefly in complicated scenes. Since vsync does not work you can use the following command to increase battery life:
max_fps 60
You can also set this to a lower number to further conserve battery life. All of these games share the same executable name of hl.exe. Therefore if you tell any of the above to work on integrated graphics in the nvidia control panel they will all. With the exception of a few online only ones most of these provide hours of fun without an internet connection. In addition they all run very well on the intel gpu.

Quake
Runs at a steady 60fps at 1024x768 without any problems. Widescreen may be possible but so far I have not found any way of doing it. I recommend setting scaling to maintain aspect ratio in the intel graphics control panel to prevent horizontal stretching.

Quake 2
Runs at 60-80fps at 1024x768 but not at native resolution. I recommend setting scaling to maintain aspect ratio in the intel graphics control panel to prevent horizontal stretching. There is a modification out there that allows custom resolutions and FOV settings but I have not tested it yet.

Quake 3 Arena
Quake 3 Team Arena
Runs at 60-80fps at native resolution. In order to run at native resolution the following commands need to be put into the console:
r_mode -1
r_customwidth 1366
r_customheight 768
Since vsync does not work you can also input the following command in the console to conserve battery life:
com_maxFPS 60
You can also set it at a lower number like 30 to further conserve battery life.

Unreal Tournament
Supports the native resolution out of the box and can be maxed out easily by the intel gpu. I get an average of ~45fps but it can range from 35-60(assuming vsync is enabled).

Deus Ex
Runs maxed out at native resolution out of the box. With my setup i was getting 30-40fps most of the time with a few brief drops into the 20s. If i change my throttlestop settings to allow turbo to kick in on battery the frame rate stays at 60 most of the time with the odd drop into the 50s. This game is fairly cpu heavy so you probably will get less than 3 hours of battery life playing it without turbo. Despite it being a little more power hungry than most on the list it still runs well and in my opinion is one of the best games ever made.



Real time strategy
Starcraft Brood war 1.16.1
Works perfectly however due to the age the only resolution it allows you to set is 640x480. I recommend setting scaling to maintain aspect ratio in the intel graphics control panel to prevent horizontal stretching.
Mc Bane`s Resolution Hack
This tool can be used to run the game at a higher resolution which works very well. Unfortunately the game crashes upon loading a map when the native resolution of 1366x768 is used. However it works flawlessly at 1360x768 and shows no visible difference.

Warcraft III
Warcraft III Frozen throne
Runs maxed out at 1024x768 and stays at 30fps most of the time but drops a little when lots of objects are present. Even though it sounds low the game feels extremely smooth almost all of the time. You can change to a custom resolution by changing registry keys in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Blizzard Entertainment/Warcraft III/Video". However the game has a fixed FOV causing everything to stretch. The game still looks decent stretched since it is still rendering at the correct resolution but it may bother some people.


Misc.
Audiosurf
Gets a constant 30fps at native resolution and the second highest graphics setting. The highest setting causes some drops and some input lag.




This guide is far from finished so please leave any suggestions you have. Also feel free to post your own performance findings on different hardware if you would like. I may also be making gameplay videos of many of the above games when i get the time.

edit: I will also be playing with the rest of the blizzard games tonight if i get the time so those will be posted soon.

 

This sounds great! I will keep this in mind the next time I play games like Audiosurf, Half Life and CS 1.6! Thanks very much and hopefully I can enjoy my very own Alienware notebook soon as well.

If you find more games it would be fantastic to know about. I don't think I could stand switching between dedicated and integrated for each game (as well as closing Steam each time) to test their playability...

Rep+

 

If you get an i series cpu it will have nvidia optimus. So you can set what games use the nvidia gpu and what will use integrated.

 

Also add "Rise of Nations" to the list. This is a great game to play on the airplane, does'nt use much power and never the same game twice.

 

Nice, When I get mine i'll check of Deus Ex (AMAZING GAME), Tron and Mase Griffin Bounty Hunter.

Good to have a few games to play on the plane without blitzing the battery too much. Any Idea on how long it'll last with the setting in the OP? 3/4 hours??

 

I enjoy puzzle games... So World of Goo worked for me! Just get a mouse. I tried with a track pad...frustration...

 

Great list! Thank you.
Rep +1

 

Wow i started downloading Deus Ex RIGHT before i clicked your post.

With my setup batterybar says 3:30 hours total after playing most for awhile. My power usage does seem to be a little higher than average though.

 

I have added a few more FPS ant RTS games to the list and will be doing some testing with the other suggestions soon.

Thanks for the input so far.

 

Return to Castle Wolfenstein works flawlessly, so add that as well.