It’s been a while since I upgraded my main PC, and at the heart of the current setup is a capable Ryzen 7 processor based on the AMD Zen 4 architecture. I was planning to buy a GPU and complete a gaming PC this year, but that plan changed.
The current graphics card market has made me realize that I’m not giving up much by sticking with a GPU built into my CPU. In fact, the iGPU (integrated GPU) still holds up quite well against modern AAA games.
Integrated graphics have gotten better than they were a few years ago
AMD has done well with their Ryzen 8000G Phoenix desktop APUs
Before I built my existing PC, I knew that I wasn’t going to hook the system up with a dedicated graphics card right away. However, I didn’t want to wait until I got a GPU to play games and do some GPU intensive work on the PC. That’s why I chose the Ryzen 7 8700G, a performance-focused option from the Phoenix series.
Well, the workaround took longer than I expected. For reference, this Zen 4 APU has an 8-core and 16-thread CPU configuration and has a Radeon 780M iGPU. RDNA 3 architecture. It’s the same integrated graphics that powers gaming handhelds like the ROG Ally X, Legion Go, and GPD Win 4 2025.
While the iGPU isn’t anywhere near the level of modern mid-range GPUs, it’s also far from the sluggish integrated graphics many of us grew up with. AMD has largely upped its integrated graphics game with the introduction of the Radeon 780M in 2023, and the recently introduced Radeon 8060S and 8050S in the Strix Halo mobile suite took things even further.
The Radeon 780M in my current PC can handle more than I expected
Modern games are surprisingly playable with the right expectations
So far, I’ve played several demanding games on the Ryzen 7 8700G, including Cyberpunk 2077, 007 First Light, pragmaticand Resident Evil Requiem. Of course, I haven’t been able to enjoy them all at their highest graphics settings, and the resolution isn’t set to anything above 1080p either. In most cases, the visual settings are set to a mix of low and medium.
Modern improvement technologies have made things even better. With AMD FSR and Fluid Motion Frames, it was possible to squeeze a bit more from a non-dGPU PC with minimal impact to image quality.
As for games without support for AMD FSR, I applied Optiscaler and Lossless Scaling. However, despite all this, not every new release runs flawlessly on my computer. Some require additional adjustments, for example, and for others I have to accept the game below 30 FPS. Moreover, features like ray tracing are generally out of the question.
A dedicated graphics card is not worth it to me right now
The current GPU market makes waiting a smarter choice
When I started planning this build, adding a dedicated GPU was inevitable. It was not a matter of if, but when. However, after spending months with the Radeon 780M, the sense of urgency largely disappeared.
Part of that comes down to the current graphics card market. There’s no denying that there are plenty of options at different price points, but relatively modern GPUs are hard to come by. at or below sale price.
Another factor is how small the performance gains are on current-gen GPUs compared to last-gen options. Waiting a little longer to get a dedicated GPU would mean a more meaningful investment or better value for the same price.
Most iGPUs still don’t replace a dedicated GPU
There are many reasons to buy a discrete GPU these days
Just because I don’t need a dedicated GPU doesn’t mean the same will hold true for everyone. Even with the current state of the market, there are many reasons why someone might want to buy a discrete graphics card right now.
For example, an iGPU, especially a Radeon 780M, will not be enough for those who want to play. Games in 1440p or 4K. The same goes for users running GPU-intensive workloads. Tasks such as 3D rendering, video editing with complex effects, and AI model inference will benefit from the graphics card.
In my case, these workloads are the exception, not the rule. I can tolerate lower graphics settings, slow rendering and editing times, and limited performance in hardware-accelerated applications for a little longer.
