Integrated GPUs are breaking new ground in a discrete graphics market full of price-gouged GPUs from Nvidia and AMD by offering affordable hybrid performance.
The entry-level graphics card market is shrinking fast, mainly because of inflation. Today, even basic cards like the Nvidia RTX 5050 start at $250, while AMD’s RX 9060XT 8 GB is priced at $299. Just a few years ago, you could get an RX 480, a solid mid-range GPU, for $199. As affordable discrete GPUs become rare, integrated graphics and APUs are stepping up. AMD’s Ryzen 5 8600G and Ryzen 7 8700G already offer decent 1080p gaming without needing a separate GPU, making them a great option for budget builds.
But AMD isn’t stopping there: At the top of its new Ryzen AI 300 series is the Strix Halo (formerly Ryzen AI Max+ 395), which shows how far integrated chips have come. It packs a powerful 16-core x86 CPU running at 3.0 GHz base and up to 5.1 GHz boost, along with the Radeon 8060S; an integrated GPU based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture. With speeds up to 2.9 GHz, it handles both CPU and GPU tasks within a 120-watt power limit. While it’s not cheap, it offers serious performance without needing a separate graphics card, especially in laptops and compact PCs.
Compared to Apple’s M4 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite, both built on ARM architecture, AMD’s chip has one major advantage: Full support for x86 apps and games. Apple and Qualcomm are great for creative work and battery life, but struggle with PC gaming due to software emulation.
