0

In a PC with an active dedicated graphics card, does it make sense to have an integrated one as well?

What I am "worried" about is this: is a CPU with an integrated graphics card capable of doing some operations that other CPUs can't? (Of course I'm talking about when the dedicated GPU is running fine).

So, is using a CPU without an integrated graphics card not a "wise" choice in any case?

3
  • 1
    I'm sorry but I'm having trouble figuring out your question. Can you edit your question and reword it so it becomes clear what you're after? I'm guessing you mean APU vs CPU, such as AMD's CPU with integrated GPU to assist AMD Radeon cards?
    – LPChip
    May 3, 2016 at 8:41
  • Desktop motherboards (not server) are somewhat reliant on the on-die gpu device as the "backup" method for viewing, that is a concideration. Back in time some many boards would have a onboard grafics capability as a backup view. Any good motherboard will allow you to disable the on-die gpu and carry on without them doing anything at all. Some uses for the extra gpu are varied it can be used for another monitor or for video encoding. Wise would completely depend on what you need, what you want to do, and what your MB & Cpu type supports. Your question doesnt even say if it is laptop?
    – Psycogeek
    May 3, 2016 at 15:40
  • No, I'm not talking about APU vs CPU. I'll try to re-explain this: suppose I have a desktop computer with a dedicated graphics card, but no integrated graphics. Of course, the dedicated card will handle all the graphics, so the integrated one is actually not needed (normally?). What I'm interested to know is this: is there any kind of operation that NEEDS to be done by integrated graphics and not by the dedicated graphics? If the answer is "yes" than I should always use cpus with integrated graphics, otherwise I can use also cpus without integrated graphics. I hope this is clear enough!
    – Juri Conti
    May 4, 2016 at 9:52

1 Answer 1

1

So, is using a cpu without an integrated graphics card not a "wise" choice in any case?

The quick answer is: No, you do not need integrated CPU Graphics (If I understand the double negative in the question).

Longer answer: As long as you have sufficient cooling for your system, you should not see a real difference in CPU operations, except in the difference you can expect from different CPUs generally.

However the choice is, as always, a factor of the money you want to spend vs the power of the machine you want to build vs the versatility of the final machine.

If you want to spend a bit more to experiment with integrated Graphics then go ahead. Otherwise, if you are already committed to using a dedicated GPU, I would say you did not need the integrated graphics with the CPU. Indeed, you will get much higher graphics performance from a dedicated graphics card or even Motherboard-integrated-graphics.

EDIT:

To be clear: The only limit to a CPU without integrated graphics (compared to a CPU WITH integrated graphics) is that it cannot render graphics.

What I'm "worried" about is this: is a cpu with an integrated graphics card capable of doing some operations that other cpus can't? (Of course I'm talking about when the dedicated gpu is running fine)

Answer: No.

2
  • I'm not sure you completely understood: I'm not thinking about replacing a dedicated graphics card with an integrated one, I'm talking about having both an integrated graphics and a dedicated one. I know that normally the dedicated card handles all the graphics, but I want to know if there is some kind of operation that MUST be done by the cpu and that can be done only if the cpu has an integrated graphics! (Even with a dedicated graphics card active and running) So, is a cpu without integrated graphics "limited" in some operations? (Other than displaying something i mean of course)
    – Juri Conti
    May 4, 2016 at 9:58
  • 1
    Ok. I think I made this clear in the response, but I'll try to be clearer. Again the answer is No. The only limit to a CPU without integrated graphics ( compared to a CPU WITH integrated graphics) is that it cannot render graphics. I will edit my response to make this clearer.
    – Matthew
    May 4, 2016 at 14:56

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .