Choosing the right graphics card is crucial for gamers and content creators alike, and the landscape can be confusing with both desktop and laptop options available. When considering a gaming laptop, a key question arises: how do laptop graphics cards stack up against their desktop counterparts? This article dives deep into Comparing Laptop Graphics Cards to desktop GPUs, providing a clear performance benchmark across a range of popular games and resolutions. We’ve tested 34 GPUs from both laptops and desktops across 25 demanding games at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions to give you a definitive answer.
To understand the real-world gaming performance differences, we’ve compiled extensive benchmark data. The following charts illustrate the average frames per second (FPS) achieved by various graphics cards in numerous titles, offering a direct comparison between laptop and desktop GPUs. These tests were conducted without upscaling techniques, ensuring a raw performance comparison. Ray tracing was selectively enabled in games like The Witcher 3 and Metro Exodus Enhanced to assess performance under demanding graphical conditions.
Below are the average frame rates across all tested games at different resolutions, providing an overall performance overview. Note that fewer games are represented at 1080p due to VRAM limitations on lower-end GPUs preventing some titles from running at higher settings.
To provide a more granular view, let’s examine the performance in specific game titles. These benchmarks showcase how different graphics cards perform in individual gaming scenarios, highlighting the nuances of laptop vs. desktop GPU capabilities.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Performance
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a graphically intensive open-world game that pushes GPUs to their limits. These benchmarks show the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs in this demanding title across various resolutions.
Borderlands 3 Performance
Borderlands 3, known for its stylized visuals and fast-paced action, provides another excellent benchmark for GPU performance. See how laptop and desktop graphics cards compare in this visually engaging title.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Performance
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a popular first-person shooter that demands high frame rates for competitive gameplay. These benchmarks illustrate the performance differences between laptop and desktop GPUs in this fast-paced shooter. It’s worth noting that this game has a 240 FPS frame cap, which can affect 1% low measurements for high-end GPUs at 1080p.
Control Performance
Control, with its stunning ray-traced reflections and detailed environments, is a visually impressive game that tests GPU ray tracing capabilities. These benchmarks highlight the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs in handling ray tracing and overall graphical fidelity in Control.
Cyberpunk 2077 Performance
Cyberpunk 2077 is notorious for its demanding graphics, especially when ray tracing is enabled. These benchmarks illustrate the performance gap between laptop and desktop GPUs in this graphically intensive and immersive open-world RPG. Notably, laptop GPUs often show lower 1% low frame rates compared to desktops in this title.
Dead Space Performance
The remake of Dead Space brings enhanced visuals and atmospheric horror to the forefront. These benchmarks compare laptop and desktop GPU performance in this visually updated and demanding title.
Doom Eternal Performance
Doom Eternal is known for its blistering speed and high-octane action. These benchmarks showcase how laptop and desktop GPUs handle the fast-paced, graphically intense gameplay of Doom Eternal. It’s important to note that GPUs with 6GB of VRAM or less may struggle with the “ultra nightmare” settings in this game. Laptop GPUs also tend to exhibit worse 1% low frame rates in this title.
Dying Light 2 Performance
Dying Light 2 Stay Human offers a vast open-world and parkour-based gameplay. These benchmarks show the performance differences between laptop and desktop GPUs in rendering the detailed environments and dynamic gameplay of Dying Light 2.
F1 2021 Performance
For racing game enthusiasts, F1 2021 provides a visually stunning and demanding simulation. These benchmarks compare the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs in delivering smooth and high frame rates in F1 2021.
Far Cry 6 Performance
Far Cry 6 offers a vast open-world environment with lush visuals and dynamic gameplay. These benchmarks illustrate how laptop and desktop GPUs perform in rendering the expansive world and action-packed sequences of Far Cry 6.
Forza Horizon 5 Performance
Forza Horizon 5, with its stunning open-world Mexico setting and diverse vehicles, is a visually impressive racing game. These benchmarks compare laptop and desktop GPU performance in delivering high fidelity graphics and smooth gameplay in Forza Horizon 5.
God of War Performance
God of War, a visually stunning action-adventure title, showcases impressive graphics and detailed environments. These benchmarks demonstrate the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs in rendering the rich visuals and demanding gameplay of God of War.
Halo Infinite Performance
Halo Infinite, the latest installment in the iconic franchise, offers expansive environments and intense multiplayer action. These benchmarks illustrate the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs in delivering smooth gameplay and high frame rates in Halo Infinite.
Hogwarts Legacy Performance
Hogwarts Legacy, a highly anticipated open-world RPG set in the Wizarding World, features detailed environments and magical effects. These benchmarks compare laptop and desktop GPU performance in rendering the immersive world of Hogwarts Legacy.
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition Performance
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition is specifically designed to showcase ray tracing capabilities and offers stunning visuals. These benchmarks highlight the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs when ray tracing is enabled in this demanding title.
Microsoft Flight Simulator Performance
Microsoft Flight Simulator is incredibly demanding, simulating the entire Earth in stunning detail. These benchmarks compare laptop and desktop GPU performance in handling the massive world and complex rendering of Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Plague Tale: Requiem Performance
A Plague Tale: Requiem delivers a visually rich and emotionally engaging experience. These benchmarks illustrate the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs in rendering the detailed environments and cinematic presentation of Plague Tale: Requiem.
Rainbow Six Extraction Performance
Rainbow Six Extraction offers tactical co-op gameplay against alien threats. These benchmarks compare laptop and desktop GPU performance in delivering smooth frame rates and responsive gameplay in Rainbow Six Extraction.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Performance
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a visually stunning open-world western game known for its detail and realism. These benchmarks illustrate the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs in rendering the vast and detailed world of Red Dead Redemption 2.
Spider-Man Performance
Marvel’s Spider-Man offers fast-paced web-swinging action across a detailed recreation of New York City. These benchmarks compare laptop and desktop GPU performance in delivering smooth gameplay and detailed cityscapes in Spider-Man.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Performance
Shadow of the Tomb Raider features lush jungle environments and challenging tombs. These benchmarks illustrate the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs in rendering the detailed environments and action sequences of Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Total War: Warhammer 3 Performance
Total War: Warhammer 3 is a grand strategy game with massive battles and detailed unit models. These benchmarks compare laptop and desktop GPU performance in rendering large-scale battles and complex strategy gameplay in Total War: Warhammer 3.
Watch Dogs: Legion Performance
Watch Dogs: Legion offers an open-world London setting with unique “play as anyone” mechanics. These benchmarks illustrate the performance of laptop and desktop GPUs in rendering the detailed urban environment and dynamic gameplay of Watch Dogs: Legion.
The Witcher 3 Performance
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt remains a visually impressive and demanding game, especially with ray tracing enabled. These benchmarks compare laptop and desktop GPU performance in The Witcher 3, highlighting the impact of ray tracing on frame rates, and noting that some GPUs may experience a 30 FPS cap due to implementation or bottlenecks, particularly at 4K resolution.
Accuracy and Testing Methodology
It’s important to understand the nuances of this comparison. The data presented here serves as a guideline rather than a perfectly fair comparison. Testing each GPU across 25 games and multiple resolutions is a time-intensive process, taking approximately 12 hours per GPU. With 34 GPUs tested, the total testing time exceeded 400 hours, or five weeks of continuous 12-hour testing days.
The entire testing process spanned around four months due to other ongoing projects. During this period, game updates that impacted performance were addressed by retesting GPUs to maintain accuracy. However, the limited availability of laptops for extended retesting periods should be considered.
Driver updates also present a variable. Newer GPUs, like the RTX 4060 launched during testing, required updated drivers, potentially leading to slight variations compared to older GPUs tested with earlier drivers.
Despite these variables, averaging results across 20+ games provides a robust overall understanding of how laptop and desktop GPUs compare. While specific game FPS in newer, frequently updated titles may vary slightly, the overall trends and relative performance rankings should remain consistent.
Missing GPUs
If a specific GPU is not included in these benchmarks, it simply means it wasn’t available for testing. Efforts were made to test a wide range of GPUs, but some older models like the 6800 XT or laptop RTX 3070 were not accessible.
Desktop PC and Gaming Laptop Specifications
Detailed specifications of the desktop PC used for testing and the specific gaming laptop models are available for those interested in the hardware configurations. Performance variations between laptops with the same GPU are expected due to factors like thermal management and power limits. Water cooling, while beneficial for high-end GPUs like RTX 4070/4080/4090, showed minimal performance difference in these tests and was not retested across all games and resolutions due to time constraints. The results for these water-cooled laptops represent best-case laptop performance.
For more in-depth reviews of many of the gaming laptops used in these tests, you can visit the associated YouTube channel playlist: YouTube channel.
Conclusion
These comprehensive benchmarks offer valuable insights when comparing laptop graphics cards and desktop GPUs. While desktop GPUs generally hold a performance advantage, especially at higher resolutions and in demanding games, high-end gaming laptops are capable of delivering impressive gaming experiences. Consider these benchmarks when making your next purchasing decision, balancing portability with the desired level of graphical performance.
