diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_dma.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_dma.c
index cc0adb4..9303063 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_dma.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_dma.c
@@ -1108,8 +1108,8 @@ int i915_driver_load(struct drm_device *dev, unsigned long flags)
 	/* don't enable GEM on PAE - needs agp + set_memory_* interface fixes */
 	dev_priv->has_gem = 0;
 #else
-	/* enable GEM by default */
-	dev_priv->has_gem = 1;
+	/* enable GEM by default, except on I8xx */
+	dev_priv->has_gem = !IS_I8XX(dev) ? 1 : 0;
 #endif
 
 	i915_gem_load(dev);
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_drv.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_drv.h
index a70bf77..84664fe 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_drv.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_drv.h
@@ -750,6 +750,9 @@ extern int i915_wait_ring(struct drm_device * dev, int n, const char *caller);
 #define IS_I855(dev) ((dev)->pci_device == 0x3582)
 #define IS_I865G(dev) ((dev)->pci_device == 0x2572)
 
+#define IS_I8XX(dev)	(IS_I830(dev) || IS_845G(dev) || IS_I85X(dev) ||	\
+				IS_I855(dev))
+
 #define IS_I915G(dev) ((dev)->pci_device == 0x2582 || (dev)->pci_device == 0x258a)
 #define IS_I915GM(dev) ((dev)->pci_device == 0x2592)
 #define IS_I945G(dev) ((dev)->pci_device == 0x2772)