I’ve spent my whole life playing on integrated graphics, barely able to manage 1080p, and stuck on 60Hz. Now that I have a dedicated gaming laptop, the difference is mind-blowing. Higher refresh rates alone make everything feel so much smoother. It’s an insane upgrade.
Modern integrated GPUs are impressive, but switching to a dedicated GPU is always a massive upgrade. Enjoy the power boost!
Lane said:
Modern integrated GPUs are impressive, but switching to a dedicated GPU is always a massive upgrade. Enjoy the power boost!
I was gaming on the A10-8700p’s integrated GPU. It was absolutely horrible.
@Noel
Don’t be embarrassed. Playing on low specs probably made you a better gamer by forcing you to adapt. When I upgraded, I found out I was actually pretty good at competitive shooters, thanks to years of unstable 30fps gameplay.
@Quincy
I can relate. I’ve been stuck with 20-30fps on a Ryzen 7 2700U. Competitive games are brutal at those frame rates.
@Noel
As a fellow former iGPU gamer, I know exactly how you feel. With a dedicated GPU, it’s like playing on cheat mode in competitive games.
@Noel
I was gaming on a Pentium 4 G620 until 2019, running Skyrim at 800p, lowest settings, 25fps. Now I’ve got a 5800X3D and RX 6800, and gaming feels entirely different—but I think I enjoyed it more back then because of the memories tied to those games.
Lane said:
Modern integrated GPUs are impressive, but switching to a dedicated GPU is always a massive upgrade. Enjoy the power boost!
I might stick with iGPUs in the future for better battery life and portability. With FSR and XeSS, they’re not bad for casual gaming.
The biggest change for me was going from ‘Can my laptop even run this game?’ to not even needing to worry about specs. It’s such a relief.
Drew said:
The biggest change for me was going from ‘Can my laptop even run this game?’ to not even needing to worry about specs. It’s such a relief.
Exactly. Being able to max out settings at 1080p feels amazing. No more compromises.
Drew said:
The biggest change for me was going from ‘Can my laptop even run this game?’ to not even needing to worry about specs. It’s such a relief.
Same here!
Drew said:
The biggest change for me was going from ‘Can my laptop even run this game?’ to not even needing to worry about specs. It’s such a relief.
This is so relatable. I used to run Watch Dogs 1 at 20fps, 720p, low settings. Now I can actually enjoy it.
It’s a total game-changer. 
I upgraded to a laptop with an RTX 3060. It’s not the most powerful card, but compared to my old integrated GPU, it’s like night and day.
Zen said:
I upgraded to a laptop with an RTX 3060. It’s not the most powerful card, but compared to my old integrated GPU, it’s like night and day.
Don’t underestimate the mobile RTX 3060. It’s only about 15% weaker than the desktop version and still handles modern games well.
@Shiloh
True. I just wish it had more than 6GB of VRAM, but it still runs Cyberpunk and RDR2 at high settings in 1080p.
Zen said:
I upgraded to a laptop with an RTX 3060. It’s not the most powerful card, but compared to my old integrated GPU, it’s like night and day.
You just reminded me of playing AC Black Flag on integrated graphics. It barely ran at 15-20fps, but I still loved it.
Zen said:
I upgraded to a laptop with an RTX 3060. It’s not the most powerful card, but compared to my old integrated GPU, it’s like night and day.
Glad the 3060 is working out for you! How long do you plan on keeping the laptop?
@Noel
I’ll probably use it until it struggles to hit 60fps on newer games. I’ve upgraded it to 32GB of RAM and added more storage, so it should last a while.
I never had a PC until I got a laptop with a 4050 GPU. It feels like an entirely new world opened up to me.