Tips to Improve Intel HD Graphics Perfomance

1. Update the graphics card driver 

If you are on a laptop, it is best to visit the website of you laptop's manufacturer and find the web page related to your laptop. Usually there's a search box where you can enter you laptop's exact model number. When you find your notebook's support page, download the Intel HD Graphics driver for your operating system and install it.If you are on a desktop, simply go to Intel's website and search for the exact model of your CPU's graphics card, for example Intel HD Graphics for Celeron, Intel HD Graphics 3000, Intel HD Graphics 4000, etc. Then download the driver for your operating system and install it.The driver is the piece of software all the programs and games use to communicate with your graphics card. Being with the latest driver means that your graphics card will work faster and you will experience less problems and freezes in graphic intensive applications and games. New driver versions also introduce improvements and optimizations for many games. 

2. Set the 3D preference of Intel HD Graphics to "Performance"

This trick will help you improve the frame rate in games. To apply it click the Intel HD Graphics driver tray icon, select Graphics Properties, then click the 3D tab and move the slider to Performance. In this way you sacrifice a bit of image quality for improved 3D perfromance, which should lead to a few more frames per second (FPS) in games. The image on the right shows the way this dialog looks for Intel HD Graphics 3000 on Windows 7. Do not expect miracles though, this will not turn your Intel HD Graphics into a high performance gaming video card, but you will get a slight bump in frame rates depending on the game.