Intel has published a non-password-protected version of the v2712 HD Graphics drivers. This graphics driver supports the GPU of Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge processors.
You can download the 32 and 64-bit versions for Windows 7 from this page.
The version 2712 is an OpenGL 3.3 (build 8.15.10.2712) driver and exposes 132 OpenGL extensions (GL=118 and WGL=14) like the v2696.
Does it also support OpenGL 3.3 for Sandy Bridge HD Graphics 3000?
Sandy Bridge is still stuck at OpenGL 3.1 with this driver (according to OpenGL Exensions Viewer 4.05) :(.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?ProductID=3319&DwnldID=21180&lang=eng
Intel 9.17.10.2729 beta drivers, no idea if they install on Win7 or not.
Hi J. Excellent update. I did try it for a while. It seems more of bugfix/maintenance release than a performance one, as scores across usual benchmarks seem almost same as with v2696.
Well, good news is there’s an official beta driver for windows 8 that actually includes v2729 (15.28.0.29) driver for win7. Even though its beta, every game i tried went really smooth & dandy. But then there was a MAJOR major disappointment, from GPU-CV (benchmarks), FurMark, PhysX tests; none of’em showed any 3D objects within rendering window, just a shading background, that’s all. Hope you could see into this coz Kombustor is running flawlessly (avg=40, max=43 @1280×720).
Finally the biggest surprise came from 3DMark V. Since the driver version 2509, I haven’t been able to get a score a single digit higher than P1457 (Truckload of testing with various settings). But this newer v2729 just went straight away to P1481 !!! (GPU=1128, CPU=23709).
Kindly spare some of your precious time to take a look into resolving above matter. Its really sucks, not being able to run all those fundamental benchmarks.
@ GMA:
Apologies for redundant update. Driver v2729 is definitely a performance boost. It runs fine on Win7 besides above quirks and some other minors too (in GPU-Z, it shows the “DirectCompute” as un-checked, contrary to previous drivers where this box used to be tick-marked as “DirectCompute 4.1). But then again, we’re talking about beta-testing here. It makes sense.
Another issue discovered with beta v2729. Awaking PC after sleep mode (standby) and re-running the 3DMark V is generating a lot of artifacts in rendering and scores dropped to P1300s. Fruits of Beta testing I guess 🙂