The gaming market has exploded in the last decade, with more players than ever trying to play more types of games than ever. For many mainstream, casual gamers, living-room game consoles and gaming handhelds get the job done, but the allure of PC gaming remains—driven in part by some titles that are PC exclusives. Enthusiasts swear by their custom-built desktops or fancy gaming laptops, but many shoppers already own a serviceable laptop, or can’t afford a specialized gaming machine. And they might be curious if they can just “get by” in PC gaming with one of those non-gaming systems.
Dedicated gaming systems—defined by having a discrete graphics chip from Nvidia (GeForce GTX or RTX) or AMD (Radeon RX) for pushing high-end visuals—are much better equipped for the task than your average daily-driver laptop or ultraportable. Most non-gaming laptops include only the integrated graphics processing silicon built into the processor (often abbreviated as an “IGP”). These have traditionally fallen far short of the power offered by discrete GeForce or Radeon RX graphics chips, and for a long time, the conventional wisdom for gaming on IGP-based systems was simple: Don’t bother.
But times have changed, and the advice has gotten more nuanced as IGPs have gotten better. Laptop processors on both the Intel and AMD sides of the aisle have made strides in their integrated graphics offerings, making them more 3D-gaming-capable than in the past. In addition, the PC gaming market comprises a very wide range of titles and genres these days, including indie games, simulations, and 2D titles that are much less visually demanding than the headline games.
On top of that, plenty of games are better optimized for lesser hardware than they used to be. That’s an intentional strategy by many game developers, making their games better able to scale for a wide range of hardware to net a wider audience. Some of the most popular titles in the world (for example, Minecraft, or Fortnite) prioritize simplicity over sheer graphical fidelity, and even competitive esports games like Apex Legends and Rainbow Six: Siege are made to scale very well with modest graphics hardware.
Putting Integrated Graphics to the Test
To see how viable gaming is on non-gaming laptops in the modern landscape, we put a range of IGP-based laptops through a suite of real-world game tests. Our selection includes a couple of models that are a few years old, and three with the most up-to-date integrated graphics solutions. That way, we can show people who may own newer and older laptops how well their system should handle gaming, and get some hard numbers on Intel’s and AMD’s respective progress over the last few years.
We tested a variety of titles from different genres and categories, covering simulations and strategy, esports-minded competitive shooters, and big-budget AAA games that prioritize visual fidelity. For all but one of these, we used the built-in in-game benchmarks, but we’ll specify our testing parameters as we go. Read on for the benchmark breakdown, the empirical results, and our conclusions.
The Laptops: Representing Intel UHD Graphics, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and AMD Radeon Graphics
As mentioned, we wanted a wide range of laptops and IGPs for this experiment. We selected five laptops (names and specs in the chart below) representing a bit of Intel and AMD at various power levels. In total, we have two older systems based on different iterations of Intel UHD Graphics, a newer laptop with Intel’s Iris Xe integrated graphics, and two modern AMD-based machines with integrated Radeon Graphics silicon.
All machines, as you can see, are based on Core i7- or Ryzen 7-grade CPUs; we did this intentionally to try and level the playing field. You can quickly gather at least a rough on-paper power tier from this list. All of the chips are of the respective vendors’ U-series, for ultraportable and mainstream laptops. That’s as opposed to the H-series processors that both AMD and Intel offer with their power laptops. The H-series chips generally have IGPs, too, but in many cases those CPUs are paired with a discrete graphics chip, rendering the IGP irrelevant most of the time. (For much more on laptop CPU nuances like this, see our guide to understanding mobile processors in laptops.)
The Venerable Intel UHD Graphics 620
The HP Envy x360 15 (2019 model M-DR0012DX), with its 8th Generation processor and Intel UHD Graphics 620, is the oldest and weakest in the group, and most of these games could be difficult to run using that IGP solution. (We say that because, over the years, we’ve not seen stellar numbers from UHD Graphics 620 on strenuous games.)
The laptop itself is not actually very old, being a 2019 release, but you’ll see even then it largely struggles to keep up in our test titles, and you can extrapolate from there how truly old laptops will fare on these titles. The UHD Graphics 620 integrated solution has appeared on myriad laptops in recent years; it was introduced in 2017 and was a staple of mainstream Intel-based machines for a few years, gradually supplanted by the Intel solution in the following machine.
The Newer Intel UHD Graphics
The HP EliteBook x360 1040 G7 is a step up from there, with a newer 10th Generation chip, but the Intel UHD Graphics silicon here (indeed, dubbed simply “Intel UHD Graphics,” without a number at the end) is only a minor improvement over its UHD Graphics 620 predecessor.
It’s also tied to a superior processor and more RAM, which will be responsible for at least some of the gain over the UHD Graphics 620. But UHD Graphics is representative of some 2019-2020 era mainstream machines, and it is seeing its star fade in favor of Intel’s newest graphics flavor.
Intel’s Latest: Iris Xe Graphics
That flavor appears in the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360. It boasts an implementation of the most modern Intel integrated graphics solution, Iris Xe Graphics, first launched in late 2020. Intel sung the praises of Iris Xe’s relative power when it was announced, the first major update to its integrated graphics offerings in years. The chip maker claimed marked improvements over Intel UHD Graphics solutions, so watch for a big jump here (particularly versus the EliteBook x360 1040 G7, which is a relatively modern system with UHD Graphics). This Samsung Iris Xe-based machine should be at or near the top of the pack on most game tests.
The Opposition: AMD Radeon Graphics
On the AMD side, we have the Asus ZenBook 13 (UM325) and HP Envy x360 15, both 2021 systems with (slightly different) Ryzen 7 5000-series chips and Vega-based Radeon graphics with eight compute units.
The Ryzen 5000 series is the latest line of mobile processors from AMD, and they represent the state of the laptop art for AMD. These should compete with the Iris Xe solution, in most cases, and the main difference between these two AMD machines is their size. Look for the 15-inch AMD system to post superior results with its greater room for thermal dissipation, despite having the slightly less potent of the two processors, and see how close the much slimmer ZenBook 13 can keep pace.
Speaking of processors, note the differences among all contenders here, as the CPU portions of the equation are also affecting the proceedings, in addition to the graphics. Given that these are integrated graphics, they are inexorably tied to the processors themselves. The newer IGPs are, naturally, baked into newer processors, raising performance on both the CPU and GPU side; you can’t separate these factors in laptops. In addition, newer CPUs mean newer PC platforms that support faster system memory speeds. Faster RAM can have a major positive effect on frame rates with integrated graphics, as we have found with testing IGPs on desktops over the years. So sometimes, newer simply is better.
This isn’t an issue, it’s just something to be aware of: New and superior processors will include newer graphics solutions, and you can use this knowledge to track the improvement over time. Keep an eye on how the older Intel UHD Graphics systems do versus the newer Iris Xe for an example of that, or how the two HP Envy x360 15 chassis house both the older UHD Graphics 620 and the latest Radeon Graphics solutions to very different effect.
The Games
We tested these systems across 10 titles that represent, as mentioned, three main gaming categories: AAA, competitive multiplayer (aka, esports), and simulation/strategy.
AAA titles are big-budget first- and third-person games with single-player or cooperative story campaigns. They often prioritize high-fidelity visuals and cutting-edge tech (including detailed models, textures, and realistic animations and effects), and are usually developed by some of the biggest studios in the industry. For this story, our AAA games are Far Cry 5, Borderlands 3, Strange Brigade, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The last two, especially, will push these laptops to their limits, while the others represent a more moderate range of demands (and are a bit older).
Our esports titles are Rainbow Six: Siege and Apex Legends. These are two very popular multiplayer games representing two core competitive shooter types (round-based team matches and battle royales, respectively). High frame rates for smooth performance (thus a competitive edge) are the priority over high visual fidelity, and in fact hardcore players and even pros will play the games on low or low-to-medium settings to maximize frame rates. Both of these games can look good at higher settings, particularly Apex with its more open environments, but a smooth experience is the main aim.
Finally, Civilization VI, Total War: Warhammer 2, and F1 2020 are our strategy and simulation titles. These games lean heavily on the CPU as well for, well, simulating, but Civilization VI has a graphics-focused benchmark, Warhammer 2 includes a battle benchmark (which renders many more units in real time than the game’s turn-based campaign map), and F1 2020 features fast-moving, shiny 3D visuals.
The Tests
All of these games, with the exception of Apex Legends, have a built-in benchmarking routine that runs a repeatable, simulated scene or sequence. It then provides you with the average frame rate—essentially the measure of how smooth the game runs, in units of frames per second (fps)—and this is what we have used to compare across games and laptops.
Since Apex Legends is the only game of the 10 that does not have an in-game benchmark test, I devised a manual course in the game’s closed-off firing range and ran through it on each laptop, recording the average fps score with the Fraps utility.
In each of these games and on each of these laptops, we ran the tests on both low and medium settings. The exact names of the presets differ from game to game, but we selected the equivalent of the lowest option and whatever constituted the middle or “normal” setting. Apex also does not include presets, but it was easy to choose the lowest options and disable as many visual features as possible for the low-end run, and find a medium middle ground for the midrange run.
All tests were run at 1080p resolution by default, though we did do a handful of additional runs at 720p where anecdotally relevant. We debated making 720p our testing baseline, but 1080p is such a standard minimum native resolution on all but the cheapest new laptops nowadays that we think opting for 1080p and low detail settings will give you a much better visual experience than dialing down to 720p at, say, medium settings. However, know that 720p is always an option if 1080p low-settings performance is poor or marginal in a given game.
What We Saw: Test Results
The benchmark results below are organized by game category, starting with AAA titles. Each section includes performance tables with the frame rates for every game on both graphics settings, as well as written analysis. These results tables are interactive, so click the left and right arrows or use the dropdown list to cycle between games and see the results.
The Numbers: AAA Games
We’ll start with the AAA titles, the bread and butter of many gamers. Mainstream audiences come for big releases like this, while competitive multiplayer games and sims have (relatively speaking) more hardcore audiences. These are also the most visually demanding titles, though, so not all of these systems will succeed here.
Keep in mind that 30fps is considered the minimum smooth frame rate, and 60fps is ideal (but only something we expect as a sustained frame rate in demanding games from gaming PCs). Frame rates in the 20fps range are playable, to a degree, but you’ll experience a lot of choppy and slow sections. Everyone’s tolerance for this is different. If it’s the only laptop someone has, they may be willing to put up with it.
The quickest takeaway here is that, unfortunately, most of these laptops can’t play most of these games at 30fps, even on their lowest settings, at 1080p. To start with the two older Intel UHD Graphics-based systems, these big-budget titles are simply a bridge too far for their hardware. Even in Strange Brigade, which is the least demanding based on these results, these two systems couldn’t reach a 20fps average, and the rest are in single digits. If your IGP-equipped laptop is two to three years old or more, you probably can’t play games like these.
That’s not the whole picture, though, and there’s some hope for the Iris Xe-equipped Galaxy Book and the AMD-based systems. Strange Brigade and Borderlands 3 are two modern titles, but they don’t strive for photorealism. As such, they’re a bit easier to run, and you can see some frame rates comfortably above 30fps on the former and around 30fps on the latter.
These three laptops perform very similarly on Borderlands 3, while the Iris Xe is the clear best for Strange Brigade—a rare 50fps-plus frame-rate result! It’s worth noting that these three can just about hit 30fps on medium settings, not just the lowest settings. There are a lot of mid-level studio and indie games with a similar level of graphics to Strange Brigade, so that’s good news for gaming on Iris Xe- and modern Radeon Graphics-based laptops.
Far Cry 5 is a few years old now, but it still looks good and is moderately demanding. It’s a solid representative for the many late 2010s AAA titles you may want to go back and play, or that you perhaps recently got on sale on Steam.
Unfortunately, it’s a bit tougher to run than those two earlier games, with only the Iris Xe machine nearly reaching 30fps on low settings. However, dialing down the resolution to 720p on the Galaxy Book allowed it to achieve 42fps on the lowest settings and 34fps on medium. It looks decidedly less sharp, but it does let you play the game smoothly.
Titles older than Far Cry 5 may get over that 30fps hump in 1080p, but high-action and high-fidelity games like this will be a tough ask, generally speaking. It is playable if you can tolerate some choppiness, though.
Finally, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Red Dead Redemption 2 are the two most difficult games to run, as you could easily ascertain from the numbers. The results aren’t dramatically far behind the other titles, but every bit counts at these levels, and they’re closer to 20fps on average than 30fps. Iris Xe acquits itself well enough, though, even managing 31fps on Red Dead Redemption 2 on low settings!
That’s arguably the biggest win in this whole batch of results; RDR2 is a very demanding and high-fidelity game, and achieving a playable frame rate is no small feat. Granted, Iris Xe graphics are only found on very new laptops, but if you did recently buy one, or are going to soon, you will be able to play some new titles. The same applies to newer integrated Radeon Graphics-based solutions, but not quite at the same level.
Ultimately, though, an isolated result or two are not enough to claim that new IGP laptops can, as a rule, run games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Red Dead Redemption 2. There are far too many results in the 20fps range on these AAA games to recommend them comfortably just because they are somewhat playable or because the best performer among them could just scrape past 30fps. This was always going to be the stretch category for these laptops, so the fact that you can enjoy some of these titles with compromises (such as kicking the whole works down to 720p) or can hit 30fps on the better systems will have to suffice as a small victory.
The Numbers: Competitive Multiplayer/Esports Games
Next up, esports titles, which are a fairly different prospect from single-player or campaign-based ones. These aren’t necessarily low-fidelity games, and they definitely include some entries from AAA studios (especially in 2021 where esports has fully exploded). They are, though, not as concerned with cutting-edge visuals or photorealism, instead prioritizing graphics that scale well for a wide audience, and a simple enough art style to run at super-high frame rates on high-end systems.
A 30fps frame rate is an acceptable baseline here for these IGP systems, but unlike the AAA titles, higher frame rates give you a competitive edge—60fps is really much better here, and real esports enthusiasts aim chiefly for 140fps or 240fps (via fancy displays that can show that many frames per second). Almost all screens in an IGP laptop will max out at 60Hz (though yes, you could use an external monitor), but even locking in at 60fps will be a big win. Let’s see how they did.
This landscape is very different from that of the AAA-game results. Most obvious: The average frame rates are much higher here, as you’d expect. The two older Intel systems still can’t quite hang, but they’re at least approaching the playable range on Rainbow Six: Siege. (Apex Legends is a bit tougher.) That said, where “roughly playable” can suffice in a single-player experience, it is more likely very frustrating in a competitive esports game. Sudden dips or choppy frame rates are probably going to get you killed (or at least ruin many gunfights) in either of these titles. If you’re looking to compete in these, or trying to build quickly in Fortnite, on a laptop with older integrated graphics, you may not have an enjoyable time.
Again, though, the Iris Xe- and Radeon Graphics-based laptops are in a different boat. These three, if anything, are closer to a clear success on these titles. The results are inverted on the two games (the Iris Xe system led on Apex Legends, but the Radeon Graphics laptops were better than it on Rainbow Six: Siege), so neither IGP establishes clear primacy here, but suffice it to say that several results clear 60fps on low settings. On Rainbow Six: Siege, they even approach or clear 60fps on the medium preset.
That makes these games legitimately playable on these three systems, not just marginally so. During high-action moments you may see some dips below 60fps, but they shouldn’t be significant. It should be noted that the Apex Legends firing range we used for testing isn’t quite as strenuous as a real match given the closed-off nature of the range, so you will likely see more variability in an actual game. (Using an actual live online game of Apex, with new players entering all the time, would make the benchmark results far less consistent and meaningful.) Still, there’s plenty of headroom, and given that you’d know you’re playing on an IGP system, some concessions are acceptable.
On that note, you just have to account for the general laptop design issues with these types of games. The screens on many IGP-based laptops are under 15 inches, perhaps a bit small for fast reactions to other players and seeing every detail quickly. You’ll of course also need a comfortable mouse setup; this is not a game genre where you can get by playing with a touchpad.
But ultimately, and perhaps surprisingly, the newer integrated graphics solutions easily clear the 30fps minimum and frequently meet the 60fps target for these types of titles. That’s a big improvement over past options, and it is an even bigger deal considering the audience for these types of games. Even if you play, say, Apex Legends on your desktop PC or game console most of the time, an IGP laptop may be the only option you have while away from home. And it may well be a satisfactory one today, whereas it might not have been three or four years ago.
The Numbers: Simulation and Strategy Games
Of this group, Civilization VI will be the least demanding game to run. It’s a nice-looking game, but includes only a turn-based world map with terrain, some oceans, and simplistic representations of units, so it’s fairly static and low on action. Total War: Warhammer 2 features a similar campaign map, but the Total War series also boasts real-time battles with thousands of detailed units onscreen at once. This is what the “Skaven” benchmark test that we used replicates, so it’s definitely more strenuous. Finally, the Formula One racing title F1 2020 is a departure from these two, delivering detailed tracks and vehicles at high speed.
A first on these tests: The UHD options actually stand a chance of running these titles, particularly Civilization VI. The 30fps result from the 10th Generation Intel UHD Graphics-based system is plenty playable, and even 21fps on the older (UHD Graphics 620) laptop is workable for a slow-paced game like Civ. You, at the very least, won’t be killed or lose if your frames drop since there’s no twitchy action to react to; the gameplay will just look a little choppier. This goes for a wide range of strategy games with even simpler graphics, as well as indie sims and 2D titles.
On the flip side, F1 2020 doesn’t run quite as well on these systems, and it is a game in which you need smooth performance; you’ll definitely flame out on tight turns if your game is stuttering. Going further, Total War: Warhammer 2 barely crosses into double-digit frame rates on the 10th Generation Intel UHD Graphics chip, so high unit-count simulation (and similar action in other modern titles) is asking too much.
On the newer laptops, though, all three games are plenty playable. Even though the esports titles were mostly playable, this genre is where modern IGP systems can really shine. You can see the objectively high frame rates on Civilization VI’s and F1 2020’s lowest settings—even into the 90fps range on the former. The medium settings aren’t quite as high, but well clear of 30fps, and for a genre that doesn’t need overly high frame rates, that’s more than good enough. These are the types of games you can mostly play without worry on an IGP laptop, which we’re glad to be able to freely recommend. This is also another pair of games that demonstrates that the Intel Iris Xe and AMD Radeon Graphics solutions are better at different things.
Total War: Warhammer 2’s higher level of demand push this to the limit, but the two Radeon Graphics-based systems land just under 30fps, and you could get away with that in a game like this. Given that you can pause combat (or if you don’t want to deal with the battles yourself, simulate them), the real-time action and turn-based world map will be playable.
The Iris Xe chip has a nice cushion above 30fps, though I would still expect some dips when many units are clashing in bigger battles. In summary, the superior IGP solutions here can, at minimum, play all of these titles smoothly, while the older Intel solutions can make it work (especially on Civilization VI).
Unpacking the Results: Observations on IGPs in 2021
We can see plenty of overarching takeaways from all this data, in addition to the individual game analysis above. One of the obvious ones is that, in most cases, the older Intel UHD Graphics-based systems can’t hang on these modern titles. The later UHD Graphics version (without a number at the end) is a touch more capable than UHD Graphics 620, and it can get you by for titles like Civilization VI, but if you’re playing on one of these older laptops, it will be touch-and-go per game. Not exactly ideal.
This is unfortunate, as Intel UHD Graphics (and even older Intel HD Graphics) IGPs represent a majority of the laptops people already owned prior to 2020. It’s unlikely anyone is buying one of these laptops now in the hopes it can play a range of games, but if you do own one (as well as some games) there’s no harm in firing up a few titles and seeing how they run. Simpler titles really should work, but expectations shouldn’t be too high even on the lowest settings, and I wouldn’t waste much money on new games. At least hits like Apex Legends and Fortnite are free, meaning the monetary risk is zero if you want to try one on your IGP-based laptop.
Your tolerance for lower frame rates may also vary. Real PC-gaming enthusiasts are much more sensitive to lower frame rates. (Seriously, ask someone who normally plays competitive games on a 144Hz monitor how even being locked to 60fps feels!) So anything under 30fps will be a nonstarter for them. More casual gamers, those who simply don’t mind lower frame rates, and those who have no alternative (but want to play a specific game) may be fine with, or at least willing to put up with, frame rates around 20fps to 30fps. In competitive esports titles, though, that rely on twitch-response accuracy, those kinds of frame rates are a recipe for lots of pain and losses.
Based on our results, that applies to quite a few combinations of games and hardware, and sub-20fps on Apex Legends is really pushing it. We don’t want to understate this: Many people out there are using laptops that are three or more years old, putting them in an uphill battle to play any new releases or competitive titles. This is likely most people, so this news is rather disappointing but not surprising. With machines like these, aim for the simpler games that can run on older laptops and know that when you do upgrade, your experience will improve even if you can’t buy a specialized gaming machine. The Iris Xe, as well as Radeon Graphics paired with the latest-generation Ryzen chips, are a big improvement over older generations of IGP.
This brings us to the newer integrated graphics solutions. Based on our testing here, Iris Xe- and Radeon Graphics-based laptops won’t experience these problems with games like Apex Legends, Fortnite, and most MOBAs. Finishing comfortably above 30fps on our tests, these types of titles are legitimately playable, full stop. With the massive audiences these games have, that accounts for many gamers, so this is a big win for folks owning late-model mainstream laptops that aren’t gaming laptops. Big-budget AAA adventures are a different story, and as stated earlier, we can’t pretend playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at 24fps sounds too appealing.
On the other hand, AAA fellows Strange Brigade and Borderlands 3 are representatives of a big swath of less-demanding and older games that can run smoothly on new IGP-based systems. Between those, simulation games, and less strenuous indie titles, you could certainly build a PC-game library that’s nothing to sneeze at and that would run creditably well on the IGP. Even if cutting-edge AAA releases are a bridge too far, this is a win for Iris Xe and new Radeon Graphics machines, as we’ve illustrated above that they are a clear jump up over older IGP-based laptops.
The Verdict: The Newest IGPs Make a Big Difference
TLDR? Your contemporary ultraportable or general-purpose laptop with integrated graphics can play quite a few games at 1080p smoothly when it comes down to it, while most cutting-edge games remain a big ask unless you bounce down to 720p. And for laptops that aren’t built for gaming, that’s really not so bad, and you’ll be a much happier camper if you have a machine based on Iris Xe or Radeon Graphics.
Your mileage may vary with a Core i5 or Ryzen 5 CPU using these IGPs, versus the i7 and Ryzen 7 chips in our testers, and with smaller-footprint laptops that are less thermally forgiving. But with the advent of AMD and Intel’s latest IGP/CPU combinations, 2021 shows a much brighter horizon for IGP gaming than any year to date.
