This steps should fix poor graphics performance issue for some intel chipsets running kubuntu 10.10 maverick:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:glasen/intel-driver
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

and reboot to apply the changes.

At least this works for my system Toshiba Satellite L310 which has Intel GM965 Express Chipset. This ppa upgrades xserver-xorg-video-intel and libdrm packages.