Choosing between a gaming laptop and a desktop PC often boils down to graphics card performance. Do notebook graphics cards really stack up against their desktop counterparts? This analysis compares 34 GPUs, from both laptops and desktops, across 25 demanding games at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions to provide a clear picture of their performance differences. Upscaling technologies were disabled to ensure raw performance comparisons, with ray tracing enabled in titles like The Witcher 3 and Metro Exodus Enhanced.
Overall Gaming Performance Benchmarks
The aggregated results across a wide range of titles reveal performance trends at different resolutions. At 1080p, the performance gap between desktop and notebook graphics cards is evident, with desktops generally offering higher frame rates. As resolution increases to 1440p and especially 4K, this difference often persists, highlighting the greater power available to desktop GPUs. These overall averages, derived from over 20 games, provide a comprehensive comparison, though fewer games are represented at lower resolutions due to VRAM limitations on some entry-level GPUs.
Game-Specific Performance Differences
Examining individual game benchmarks further clarifies the comparison. For instance, in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the performance scaling across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions demonstrates how both desktop and notebook GPUs handle graphically intensive titles. Similarly, games like Borderlands 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 show varying degrees of performance disparity between mobile and desktop graphics solutions across different resolutions. It’s worth noting that some games, like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, have frame rate caps which can influence lower percentile performance metrics at 1080p for high-end GPUs.
Factors Affecting Notebook Graphics Card Performance
While these benchmarks offer a direct comparison, it’s important to consider factors unique to laptops that can affect GPU performance. Thermal constraints and power limits in notebooks often lead to lower sustained performance compared to desktops with the same GPU model. Driver updates and game optimizations over time can also introduce slight variations in performance. Despite these variables, the extensive testing across numerous games provides a robust guideline for understanding the relative performance of laptop and desktop GPUs, helping users make informed decisions based on their gaming needs and resolution preferences. For those seeking the absolute highest frame rates, particularly at higher resolutions, desktop graphics cards generally maintain a performance advantage.
