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Intel HD4000 iGPU unstable with high-speed RAM in anything but gaming

VTudo
Novice
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Hello.

I'm having trouble with the Intel HD4000 iGPU on a i7-3740QM CPU.

I'd been using it with low-speed RAM for a while now (4GB of DDR3-1066) and I finally purchased an upgraded kit of 16GB DDR3L-2133 CL11 Kingston HyperX Impact memory.

The problem is that when using this memory, the iGPU appears to become unstable when doing normal tasks.

For example, I can play GTA V perfectly stable (and quite smoothly as well, with the slower ram I could only use 800x600 resolution, now I can use 1366x768 smoothly) but the Windows desktop (or Ubuntu Desktop for that matter) will only work for a few minutes. After boot, I get maybe 15-20 seconds of stable use, after which small flickers start to pop up, and they get more and more intense as time passes, until the driver crashes, I get about 0.5sec blackscreen followed by driver reset and computer freeze.

If, for example, I keep a game running in the background (such as GTA V), and alt-tab into it when Windows flickers, the flickering goes away, for the duration that I am inside the game. If I tab out, instant flickering and maybe system freeze.

It appears to me that the Intel HD4000 gpu has some kind of major driver-unrelated issue using fast RAM. (If I pair one of the fast sticks and one of the slow sticks, the system becomes pretty stable, though every half-hour or so there might be a small, nearly-unnoticeable flicker. If I using a single stick of fast ram, the behavior is identical to using two sticks).

Purchasing this ram was a pretty costly affair for me, and I can't even seem to be able to use it because of the iGPU. My laptop has no other GPU and I have no option to set the RAM speed lower, the speed is JEDEC-set and automatically defaults to 2133.

Please help?

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VTudo
Novice
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Looks like your iGPU is ok, not crippled or anything. 16 Execution Units, 4 ROP, 8TMU right? I narrowed down my iGPU problems to the RAM after switching machines to an e6430. I hope to replace the bad RAM and OC my iGPU up to 1600-1700MHz using UEFI variables. Maybe you could do that as well?

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VTudo
Novice
1,858 Views

Uninstalling all Intel drivers and using the Microsoft Basic Graphics Adapter fixes the glitching and crashes. I can even launch GTA V with it. Performance is horrible of course.

Ok, this is pretty clearly a driver issue. Am I seriously the first person running into this?

I also downgraded back to Windows 8.1, same behavior.

What makes it interesting is having the same behavior on Ubuntu desktop as well. Of course, Ubuntu uses the proprietary Intel driver, so that's not surprising.

EDIT: Solved by using modded IntelliMod32 custom drivers (https://m.facebook.com/notes/intelli-modder-32-modded-drivers-for-intel/update-120614-professional-r-hd-graphic-driver-database/734831653203651/ these guys). Why am I not surprised?

EDIT2: Not completely fixed, every once in a blue moon the screen starts to flicker horribly again (usually on shutdown/boot or whenever the Windows Desktop Window Manager crashes), but at least I can use my machine, for now... mostly.

EDIT3: I couldn't help myself and tried to use the modded driver with Win10. It didn't help, and upon returning to Win8.1 the issue is back and the system is unusable again.

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llybx
New Contributor I
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Interesting, have you tried using Windows 7? maybe it's WDDM 1.3 related, and Windows 7 uses WDDM 1.1. (just make sure to disable aero/dwm too.)

also i'm on 1600, Battlefield 3 now playable at 1366x768, was 640x360 on 1066. but GTA V still running sub-30fps at 800x450. now this makes me want 2133 , please try windows 7.

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VTudo
Novice
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I'll be switching machines soon and keeping the CPU and ram, hopefully it's a more of a chipset issue and not a CPU or RAM issue, guess I'll find out soon.

I'll be trying Win7 as well, a lot of hassle involved unfortunately.

Get your hands on some RAM you can use at 2133 (if your machine supports it). Getting ram with 2133 JEDEC profiles will help greatly, making it plug'n'play if your chipset supports it.

Keep in mind that GTA also needs a strong CPU, if your CPU's dual-core I expect there will be inherent drawbacks no matter what kind of RAM you get.

Also, use the ThrottleStop to set the Intel Power Balance between CPU and GPU so that the GPU receives maximum turbo boost (under TPL settings in throttle stop 8 - use value 0 for CPU and 31 for GPU).

Additionally, if your machine can make use of Intel XTU, you can overclock the iGPU slightly up to let's say 1400-1500 to get some much needed extra oopf and make the game playable.

You can also try using the settings https://www.reddit.com/r/GTAV/comments/32up99/guide_gta_v_on_laptop_intel_hd_4000_and_2_cpus/ here if you haven't already to try and squeeze some extra performance.

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llybx
New Contributor I
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already did that TPL, because i'm on i3-3227u ULV processor on my netbook and it TDP Throttles like crazy. had to do 31 gpu and 35w TDP Limit.

on some games like bf3, bf4 and gta v, GPU Usage mostly idling at higher resolution, (idles even more if at 1066 ram)

dunno about 2133 support, but my bios has ram speed limiter function, and it lists"1066 1600 1866 2133", so I guess it works but still not sure.

for iGPU overclock, needs SPI Programmer to unlock it as it's locked from the Intel ME Firmware 😕

also can I have your GPU-Z screenshot? just wanted to make sure my HD 4000 isn't the gimped version which have lower ROPs/TMUs and fillrate

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/15/08/30/53.png http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/15/08/30/53.png

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VTudo
Novice
1,860 Views

Looks like your iGPU is ok, not crippled or anything. 16 Execution Units, 4 ROP, 8TMU right? I narrowed down my iGPU problems to the RAM after switching machines to an e6430. I hope to replace the bad RAM and OC my iGPU up to 1600-1700MHz using UEFI variables. Maybe you could do that as well?

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