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As I'm thinking about getting a new computer, I really only have one question: Do I really need a graphics card? The computer I'm making would just be a family computer (Note: Windows 7) with only occasional gaming. I've always thought integrated works just fine for most people, especially since most people don't do gaming.

With me jumping from XP to Win 7 though, is a graphics card really necessary in my case?

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    You mean a discrete graphics card, right? An integrated graphics card is still a graphics card. Nov 21, 2010 at 19:03
  • @Ignacio Sorry about that, I've always considered integrated not a graphics card. Habit
    – TheLQ
    Nov 21, 2010 at 19:24
  • @Ignacio - I agree with TheLQ. Integrated graphics are on the motherboard - not on a separate card. Then again, people call tape and floppy disk image files "ROMs", so language can be a funny thing.
    – user31438
    Nov 21, 2010 at 19:28
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    If you have the option to buy a motherboard that has an integrated graphics card plus a PCI-E slot which you can use for upgrading, that would be better.
    – Isxek
    Nov 21, 2010 at 21:56

5 Answers 5

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My view - these days, you worry about graphics performance in modern systems if you want to play games - and I don't mean "casual" games. But then again, I'm still using Windows XP. AFAIK, the Vista and Windows 7 pretties are well within the capabilities of any modern integrated graphics, ahem, card though. Unless you have a specific reason to be concerned about graphics performance, I say don't worry too much about it - but do check that your motherboard isn't a total dog for integrated graphics performance.

The worst that can happen - you buy a graphics card later.

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Onboard graphics card are not bad in these days. You will be forced to change it only if you care about 3d intensive game titles :)

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That depends on the quality of the onboard video chip.

I have seen Windows 7 computers with onboard video running Windows 7 and using Aero.

Although I don't believe that they would support a very demanding video game, for most games the video settings can be tweaked down.

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For general family needs, and some light gaming, an AMD APU would be the perfect solution.

The video core of APUs are usually more powerful than onboard graphics and Intel video cores in CPUs.

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I wouldn't say a graphics card is necessary but it may make the glitter of Windows 7 (Aero effects) look a bit better. On board graphics have come a long way in the past few years, so I personally wouldn't be afraid of removing a GPU from my budget IF I had picked a suitable motherboard/CPU combo (I hear good graphics from the i5 processors).

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