Why "It's Slower Than Integrated Graphics" No Longer Means What It Used To
Disclaimer: This post was written with the assistance of AI. However, I’ve triple-checked every detail and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have done it better myself.
If you’ve spent any time shopping for a graphics card, you’ve probably heard someone dismiss a card with the classic line: “It’s trash, it’s slower than integrated graphics.”
Back in the day, that statement might have carried some weight. But in 2025?
It’s about as meaningful as saying ‘this electric scooter is slower than a bicycle’ without specifying whether you mean a rusty beach cruiser being ridden by a child, or a carbon-fiber Tour de France racer being ridden by the world champion.
Let’s rewind for a moment. In the days of Intel HD Graphics on Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPUs, whether you had a lowly Celeron or a beastly Core i7, the integrated GPU performance was roughly the same. Sure, the i7 might have had a slight edge due to higher clock speeds, but at the end of the day, you were still dealing with the same basic architecture. If someone said “it’s slower than integrated graphics,” you knew exactly what they meant.
Fast forward to today, and the landscape of integrated graphics has changed dramatically. The gap between the weakest and strongest integrated GPUs is now wider than the Grand Canyon. Take AMD’s Radeon 610M and Radeon 890M, for example. These two GPUs might share the same branding, but they’re in completely different leagues. The Radeon 610M is designed for basic tasks like web browsing and light productivity, while the Radeon 890M can handle modern games at 1080p with respectable frame rates.
And it’s not just AMD. Intel’s Arc Graphics and Apple’s M-series GPUs have also pushed integrated graphics into territory that was once reserved for discrete GPUs. The fastest integrated GPUs today can go toe-to-toe with entry-level discrete cards like the Nvidia RTX 3050 or even the RTX 3050 Ti in some cases. That’s right—your laptop’s integrated GPU might now be faster than a dedicated graphics card from the 2020s.
So, the next time someone tells you “this graphics card is slower than integrated graphics,” your response should be simple: “Which integrated graphics?” Because there’s a world of difference between the Radeon 610M and the Radeon 890M, just as there’s a world of difference between Intel UHD Graphics and Intel Arc.
And let’s be honest: there’s no shame if a super-cheap used graphics card is slightly slower than an RTX 3050. After all, the RTX 3050 is a capable GPU that can handle modern games at 1080p with ease. If your €50 used GTX 960 is slightly outperformed by the latest integrated graphics, that’s not a knock on the GTX 960—it’s a testament to how far integrated GPUs have come.
The bottom line? Benchmarks matter. Branding and generational differences matter. And when it comes to modern integrated graphics, assumptions can lead you astray.
So, before you write off a GPU as “slower than integrated graphics,” take a closer look at the numbers. You might be surprised by what you find.
TL;DR: Integrated graphics have evolved from being universally mediocre to spanning a massive performance range. The Radeon 610M and Radeon 890M are as different as night and day, and the fastest integrated GPUs can now rival discrete cards like the RTX 3050. So, the next time someone says “it’s slower than integrated graphics,” ask them: “Which one?”
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