Are Integrated Graphics Good for Gaming?

Gaming on integrated graphics has been frowned upon for what feels like an eternity and, well, with good reason. These iGPUs were simply never devised and engineered for such a use-case — hence their subpar performance. That, however, has changed quite a bit over the last few years. Not only are today’s most capable iGPUs a sufficient option for gaming, but they may well be the future, if the rumor mill is to be believed.

It all started with AMD’s Vega integrated graphics, a solution which, while by no means awe-inspiring, was miles ahead of Intel’s own offerings. It was capable enough to handle indie titles and even older legacy ones at 1080p and fairly respectable settings. A behemoth it certainly wasn’t, but that didn’t stop anyone from envisioning a future in which these iGPUs — which were wholly underpowered for the longest time — could become the “go-to” option for all but the most demanding of gamers.

And, by the looks of it, that future is now a lot closer than any of us could have expected.

AMD is, to be fair, the one spearheading the revolution, but Intel supposedly plans on catching up in the foreseeable future, so buyers (and would-be gamers) will have a lot more options to choose from once we get into 2024.

With that little introduction out of the way, let’s dive a bit deeper into why gaming on integrated graphics makes sense in 2023 and, perhaps even more importantly, why they’re bound to become an even bigger deal in the years to come.

Why Gaming on Integrated Graphics Makes Sense

Dedicated graphics cards are expensive. Some are relatively affordable, sure, but the vast majority — the mid- and higher-end models — often come at too great a cost. That’s the first barrier to entry: the sheer amount of money one has to spend in order to build a full-fledged gaming rig, and the graphics card, in particular, always ends up being the most expensive part of the equation.

Gaming on an iGPU, therefore, is a very viable option for those who don’t have a ton of money to spend or, conversely, don’t have the need to play the latest and greatest AAA titles. Some of the most popular games in the world are not only free-to-play but are also fairly undemanding hardware-wise. Games like League of Legends, VALORANT, Counter-Strike, DOTA 2, and even Overwatch 2 (to a lesser extent) are all pretty tame when it comes to their system requirements and, even better, they’re mostly CPU-bound.

And so, with that in mind, one can get a ton of quality gaming time with just an integrated graphics card — even one made by Intel. This, in addition to a myriad of different AA and indie titles like Disco Elysium, Cuphead, and such like means that having a dedicated GPU is no longer as big a need as it was just a few short years ago.

Moreover, the way in which we all game tends to vary wildly. Some are totally okay with, say, 900p with Low to Medium settings. Others are only interested in the most jaw-dropping graphics and frame rates. The average gamer, though, doesn’t need all the greatest bells and whistles in order to be content, which makes today’s best iGPUs an incredibly viable — and alluring — option.

They don’t consume any additional power (which means there’s no additional fan noise), they’re embedded on the same die as the processor, and are essentially bundled in the whole package for free. And, the better the iGPU, the less of a need there is for a dedicated graphics card.

For the longest time, the only real problems gamers on a budget had was the fact that iGPUs could never really handle anything more demanding than, say, League of Legends. That, however, has changed in the most tremendous of ways in the last couple of years, and it’s mostly all thanks to AMD.

Are Integrated Graphics Good for Gaming — Pros and Cons

The list of pros when it comes to gaming on integrated graphics is quite long and we’ve already touched on a couple of them up above. They don’t consume any additional power, they don’t require a more complex cooling assembly, they don’t generate any additional heat, and — perhaps most importantly — they’re free. Heck, they even support AMD and Intel’s upscaling technology (FSR and XeSS, respectively).

There’s only one downside, but it’s a pretty big one: they’re not particularly powerful. This varies greatly from one type of iGPU to another, but the general sentiment remains. You won’t be playing Cyberpunk 2077 at maxed out settings any time soon, of that you can be certain.

There’s also another key point worth mentioning: in more power-constrained implementations (thin-and-light ultrabooks and low-powered mini PCs), the iGPU is constantly fighting for power with the CPU. The chipset itself is only rated to draw a certain number of watts, and within that envelope (or TDP, rather), both the CPU and iGPU need to get their share.

This is primarily true for AMD’s latest and greatest integrated graphics (the ones based on the RDNA 2 and RDNA 3 architecture). The higher the TDP, the better these iGPUs will perform. They also don’t have any VRAM of their own, which means they need to take a chunk of your physical RAM in order to function and perform. Fast RAM running in dual-channel is also of the utmost importance — 16GB is the bare minimum if gaming is your main concern. There’s definitely a point of diminishing returns, but, as you can see, there are multiple different things that play a part.

It is, therefore, incredibly important to be realistic. Today’s best integrated graphics, while tremendously impressive, are still limited in regards to what they can do and how many frames they can generate (and at which resolutions).

In any case, we’ve listed out all available options in order of performance down below:

Intel UHD Graphics — Worst Possible Option

Intel’s UHD graphics are, simply put, underwhelming. They’re just not cut out for gaming and, needless to say, that’s been the case ever since they were first announced. The latest iteration found on desktop processors (the UHD770, to be more exact) is a bit more capable — as evidenced in the video below — but you really shouldn’t expect to be playing anything more demanding than, say, esports titles or legacy ones.

AMD Vega — Acceptable Performance

AMD’s Vega integrated graphics were a veritable revolution back when they first showed up as they, essentially, gave us all a foretaste of the future. They were many times more capable than what Intel had to offer at the time (UHD), and were actually sufficient for a wide range of titles: esports, indies, and legacy ones alike.

Intel quickly caught up (an understatement) with its superior Iris Xe, but Vega iGPUs were still a very viable option for the vast majority of users.

To see how these Vega iGPUs stack up against Intel’s Iris Xe, make sure to watch the following video from Jarrod’s Tech:

Intel Iris Xe — Viable, If Underpowered

The Iris Xe integrated graphics from Intel are, for the most part, okay. They’re not particularly impressive in any which way but they are, in certain cases and for certain titles, an acceptable option. As is the case with any of Intel’s iGPUs, you’re not going to be playing any AAA games, but these will do just fine for indies, esports titles and legacy ones — which, needless to say, is what most folks only tend to play.

These are only available on Intel-based laptops and they tend to come with either 80 or 96 execution units (or EUs, for short). The higher the EU count, the better the performance. If you’re okay with playing at 720p/900p at lower graphical settings, Iris Xe graphics would surely “impress,” but if gaming is your main concern, you’d really be better off going with AMD.

In any case, here’s a nice showcase:

AMD RDNA 2 & RDNA 3 — Your Best Option

This is where the real fun begins. AMD’s RDNA 2 and RDNA 3 integrated graphics are downright spectacular. Even in a thin-and-light ultrabook with a Ryzen APU that can draw up to 28W these iGPUs can trade blows with a mobile 1650 Ti, and that’s without factoring in AI-based upscaling tech like FSR and XeSS which can provide a tremendous boost in performance (at the cost of visual fidelity).

That’s nothing short of extraordinary. The mobile 1650 Ti, while by no means a powerhouse, is still a very acceptable graphics card, and it can handle most of today’s titles — even AAA ones at, say, 900p and lowered settings. For an iGPU to perform so well, despite having to constantly fight for power, speaks volumes about just how far we’ve come within an incredibly short period of time.

If you have an HS variant — along with ample and speedy RAM — the RDNA 3-based iGPU can even, in some cases, go blow-for-blow with a desktop-class GTX 1060.

A great video showing it all in action:

With all of this in mind, it should come as no surprise that these APUs have brought a whole new segment of the market into existence: handheld gaming PCs. These portable devices are a spectacular option for those looking to game on the go. Heck, even the Steam Deck — which is imbued with a very fascinating and fairly underpowered chipset — can handle a myriad of different titles with very respectable results. The ROG Ally from ASUS pushes things even further.

The sheer fact that you can run Diablo IV at 1080p with Medium settings (with a little help from FSR) at 60FPS is just mind-boggling.

These APUs are, essentially, a foretaste of what’s to come. They’re an augur of the future, and if AMD keeps on innovating, we will no doubt see much more powerful iGPUs in the not-so-distant future — but more on that down below.

If you’re interested in seeing just how good these integrated graphics are, make sure to watch the following video:

Gaming on iGPUs — What Does the Future Hold?

This, one could argue, is the most exciting part. According to prolific leaker Moore’s Law Is Dead, AMD has multiple different APUs in store for 2024, all of which warrant a tremendous amount of hype. Strix Point (Q2-Q3 2024) is expected to perform about as good as a 35W RTX 3050, whereas the more powerful Strix Halo, will perform between the RTX 4050 and RTX 4070 range, depending on the implementation and its TDP.

Some of the best laptops —regardless if they’re targeted at gamers or not — in 2024 will most likely sport an integrated graphics card, and yet one won’t be able to tell based on their performance. These are veritable quantum leaps when it comes to performance-per-watt and, needless to say, we can’t wait to test it all out ourselves!

Perhaps the best thing about these “gaming-grade” APUs is that they won’t require any overly complex cooling assemblies, vapor chambers, liquid metal, or what have you — they’ll perform much better than anyone could possibly expect all the while drawing less power and generating less heat (and, by proxy, noise).

If all of this pans out, 2024 will most certainly be remembered as the year integrated graphics cards took over and fully revolutionized the market. Gaming laptops would, then, be a fair bit more affordable, they’d last much longer on a single charge, and they won’t be obnoxiously loud or hot as they are now.

And even Intel, despite its current (precarious) position, has a truly impressive leap in store with its mobile Meteor Lake line-up.

Needless to say, we’ll be spoiled for choice.

If you’re interested in hearing more about what AMD has in the pipeline, make sure to watch the following video from MILD. Those favoring Intel should instead give this video a look as it covers its upcoming mobile Meteor Lake processors (Q4 2023) and their vastly improved iGPU performance.

Conclusion — Are Integrated Graphics Good for Gaming?

Integrated graphics are good for gaming, and they’re even great in certain scenarios. They’re not going to blow you away or compete with full-fledged dedicated desktop cards (not yet, at least), but they’re actually a lot more capable than one would expect — at least when it comes to AMD’s latest offerings.

The fact that they’re competing with a mobile GTX 1650/1650 Ti within just a 28W-35W power envelope boggles the mind and, needless to say, this is only just the beginning. If the rumor mill is to be believed, both AMD and Intel will soon have iGPUs that will essentially decimate NVIDIA’s entry-level and mid-tier mobile GPUs which, in turn, will lower the barrier to entry and allow many more budget-oriented gamers to enjoy respectable frame rates at 1080p.

And so, to answer the opening question: are integrated graphics good for gaming? Absolutely, but only if you tame your expectations and find the right iGPU for your gaming needs. For most folks, AMD’s RDNA 2 or 3 integrated graphics will more than suffice. Those who need a bit more oomph, however, would be wise to wait another year before making the plunge as there’s a lot of incredibly exciting stuff coming our way!