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{"meta":{"keywords":"integrated graphics, discrete graphics, gaming graphics, graphics and performance","description":"When it comes to gaming, graphics and performance …focus of most consumers on their custom gaming PC"},"active":true,"show_in_home":true,"show_as_recent":false,"show_as_popular":false,"_id":"6331efa92ff05e6cedfd64d7","aid":"integrated-vs-discrete-graphics","big_image_path":"integrated-vs-discrete-graphics-big.jpg","date":"09/26/2022","elements":[{"content":"<p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>More often than not, the latest and greatest in gaming can no longer run on minimum specs that include what are known as “Integrated” graphics, a term with a potentially confusing definition. But what are Integrated graphics and how does it differ from the more common Discrete or Dedicated graphic card we usually see in a modern gaming PC?</p><p><br></p><p><strong><br data-mce-bogus='1'></strong></p><p><strong>Integrated Graphics Are Nothing New</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>Integrated graphics have been around for a while, the exact timeline really depends on some opinions, but most would probably agree the 90’s. The basic concept behind Integrated graphics has been relatively the same since then. Integrated graphics utilizes a portion of your CPU to handle creating and emitting the graphics generated by a computer. This obviously has both it’s ups and downs, as your system will require less components, but is now putting the laborious task of graphics on top of what your CPU is already processing. Historically this proved highly advantageous for early computers and gaming consoles, allowing systems to stay (relatively) cool, small, and affordable. However, as we moved into the early 2000’s higher demanding graphic systems with 3D games, streams, higher fidelity video encoding, etc. The shift towards Discrete graphics began to grow exponentially.</p><p><br></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p><strong>You’re likely using a Discrete GPU right now<br><br></strong></p><p><strong><br data-mce-bogus='1'></strong></p><p>But what is a Discrete Graphics Processing Unit or “GPU”? To put it simply, a Discrete or Dedicated GPU is a card completely independent from the CPU. This card exists to (usually) handle a single purpose – create and emit graphics. These days many GPUs handle some additional tasks, some of which can be seen as problematic and some mundane or helpful, more on those tasks later. Now just like Integrated graphics, Discrete graphics has it’s benefits and detriments. Due to being an independent component, GPUs live in their own bubble of availability and cost. Discrete GPUs can very easily provide a far greater quality of image than integrated graphics can, and the card can solely focus all of its assets into this purpose, as opposed to Integrated graphic’s shared resource load with your CPU. Of course, this comes with the caveats of power consumption and most notably heat. A Discrete GPU essentially contains its own CPU and set of VRAM, it’s akin to having a second (much) smaller computer plugged into a PCIe slot, however this setups purpose is all in on graphics.</p><p><br></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Do I need a Discrete Graphics Card?</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>This really depends on your system and what you use it for but there’s some simple things to keep in mind when making this consideration. First and foremost is whether you have Integrated graphics at all, not all CPUs include them but fortunately there’s a simple way to tell. Intel series CPUs with the suffix “F” such as the “i7-12700F” require a Discrete GPU, as they <strong>do not </strong>contain Integrated graphics. For AMD CPUs it’s easier to view it the other way, CPUs with the suffix “G” <strong>do</strong> contain Integrated graphics, and almost all others do not. Besides knowing whether or not your system contains Integrated graphics, there’s some other things to consider when deciding if a Discrete GPU is for you.</p><p><br></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>Modern games able to efficiently run on Integrated graphics are becoming rarer and rarer, and you may be surprised to find that include even low-poly or 8-bit style indie titles. Besides the obvious capacity differences between the Integrated and Dedicated graphics systems, this can also be heavily influenced by drivers. Drivers likely deserve their own article to go in depth on, but the simple facts are that these devices need data that tells them how to handle the task at hand. Due to their separate nature, Discrete GPUs are able to receive focused and highly optimized driver updates very frequently. This means even slightly older cards can efficiently run brand new gaming titles as they’re constantly optimized via software (driver) updates.<br><br></p><p><strong><br data-mce-bogus='1'></strong></p><p><strong>What else does a Discrete GPU do?</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>More recent GPU releases have started to feature specific designs meant to include additional chips with specific purposes, or sometimes exclude chips to home in on another purpose entirely. We can see examples of this with Nvidia’s RTX series of GPUs. These cards contain a dedicated section to handle encoding via NVENC, a feature specifically designed to optimize streaming. Likewise, they offer cards like the CMP 170HX, which isn’t even realistically a GPU, as it omits ports and chips for emitting and creating visual data and focuses entirely on optimized crypto mining instead.<br><br><strong></strong></p><p><strong><br data-mce-bogus='1'></strong></p><p><strong>How should I get a Discrete Graphics Card?</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>If you’re considering getting a used GPU, we recommend waiting and checking out an upcoming article where we will discuss the concerns there more in depth. For now, if you have a CLX system that you ordered without a Discrete GPU and would like to upgrade, make sure to contract support as our Lifetime Warranties include making that upgrade easy. If you don’t yet have a custom gaming PC from CLX, head over to our selection of <a href='https://www.clxgaming.com/gaming-pc' data-mce-href='https://www.clxgaming.com/gaming-pc'>gaming desktops</a> and you can choose either a pre-configuration that includes a Dedicated GPU, or customize your dream PC just the way you want it, GPU included!</p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p>","id":"p0","sort_index":0,"type":"paragraph"}],"mid_image_path":"integrated-vs-discrete-graphics-mid.jpg","sid":"pc-parts-benchmark","small_image_path":"integrated-vs-discrete-graphics-small.jpg","sub_title":"When it comes to gaming, graphics and performance can often reign supreme in the focus of most consumers on their custom gaming PC.","title":"Integrated vs Discrete Graphics"}
