So, just how good are intergrated graphics these days?

I didn't know they still made Gateways.

Integrated graphics have come a long way from their beginnings.  But in many cases they are there purely to run the basics and that's it.  With that in mind, having the space and support for a separate video card means you can painlessly change it up for a better model to suit your needs.

Of course the exception is if you have lots of money to burn, but being on the cutting edge of technology is not always fun.

Sounds like integrated graphics may very well be all you need.

A little advanced warning - based on the link in your other post, that machine came with a 300 watt power supply.  Adding a graphics card could be a little tricky or require a bigger power supply.  Anyway if the integrated graphics works for you I'd enjoy it, no need to create headaches.

Integrated graphics have focused on simulating functions that real GPUs have, and staying power-lean. In terms of "horsepower" (for gaming and video editing), they offer no more or less than they did when they arrived compared to discrete GPUs. One area they've done good advances is in supporting the CPU to playback HD movies.

i wouldnt buy a computer with integrated graphics if i was a gamer....... if ur not a gamer then its fine....

My laptop has Intel integrated graphics HD family. Works for me.

Laptops have to be light and small, not much room under the hood for anything else.  Plus, unless you invent zero-point batteries and a heat dissipation shell that breaks the laws of thermodynamics, you basically undo all the advantages laptops have and worse, because now you have a power-guzzling GPU inside a case that isn't designed to get rid of much heat.

Simplistic Benchmarking can be had via the built-in WEI in Win7.....

My Laptop [ASUS R500A] has Intel HD4000 graphics and gets a WEI of 4.6.

My Desktop has a ASUS GTX590 card and gets a WEI of 7.9. [maximum].

The GTX590 cost $200 more than the entire laptop.

I just got my wife a refurbished lenovo office system that came with "decent" integrated graphics.  I added a 256 pci graphics card and it has probably made a 50% increase in load speeds for programs etc.

The PC ran smoothly--which is what a lot of the modern on-board gpu's provide now--but it ran faster with the card in.

Total cost to upgrade...$9.99.

Might want to consider that.

From the benchmarks I saw, they are good to provide basic OpenGL and Direct3D hardware support for applications that need them, but if you are thinking about gaming, you can safely forget them, unless you want to run everything in low detail and/or low resolution. The lack of dedicated video memory is the main problem.

I'm wondering if the machine was short on RAM and freeing up the chunk that the onboard graphics was using helped to make that difference?

Just to restate, I'm not a gamer and with the i5 CPU and 16GB of DDR3 ram I think I'm okay.

"Okay" plus a little you'd think    You've got me looking at that machine (again).

It's ok but onboard gpu uses some of your cpu capability no matter how they slice it.  If you can move it off the board and get the same benefit from a ten dollar card, it's a cheap upgrade.

In the future, you'll wish you had the extra oomph.  

If you don't game much or at all, or do any graphically intensive work such as modelling etc, then it should be fine. Really depends on what sort of tasks you're doing.

Beats me why anyone has 16GB of RAM without using it to game.  I mean that's just criminal, that is.  Unless you have RAM-hungry applications, then I can understand.

Try VMWare ....or any of the other Virtual Machine proggies....where you may want to be running Win8 with 4gig inside of Win 7 etc. [as I do]... or force PSP to use 3gig in one instance...;)

Yeah, but with just a 300w PSU, a graphics card upgrade is likely to require a PSU upgrade as well... so it wouldn't that cheap, really.  I think the machine could do with a PSU upgrade anyway, as it leaves no scope for upgraded or additional hardware without the risk of overload and burning it out, thus taking the mobo and other stuff with it.  A 600w -800w doesn't cost a lot these days, and I think it would be a wise investment regardless of any upgrades.

starkers, I would be interested in seeing what upgrades you are talking about.  For reference as to the type of computer user I am read the OP again. 

EDIT:  I forgot that the discussions would be of a more general nature and not specifically to my use.  Good responses folks.

• The integrtated HD2000 GPU is a nice addon if you want to make a nice low noise office pc- if you dont play that much games its good enough to make you happy - 

However if you want to play current videogames with frostbite engine for example on high end settings the chip will not be enough. 
To give you an example HD3000 can run Skyrim not modificated on high detail just fine i think the HD2000 will do the same on medium settings
Its by far not true that the intel gpu´s chipsets are bad.

@starkers very true...

I wasn't so much referring to performance-type upgrades, but more when you need to replace a component and have to go up a level or two because yours isn't available anymore.  That happened to me once.  My graphics card went South while still under warranty and my PSU had to be upgraded because it was underpowered for the replacement card, which was rated higher due to the previous one being discontinued. The other reason you might need to up your PSU is if you needed to add another storage HDD, or extra fans for Summer cooling, etc. 

I have a 1200w PSU, and I certainly wouldn't use that much power, but I'd rather have more than enough than risk component damage with a borderline, just adequate unit that strains to keep up under load.

Philly did you run this, I'll admit I'm curious:

Those have never required anything more then an integrated graphics card. And a newer iGPU will work better for those then an ancient as hell dGPU.

The point of having a graphics card is for 3d graphics, if your game is not rendering a 3d world then you don't need one.

@ starkers I guess I must not be much of computer person, probably should stick with pen/pencil and paper. 

I don't see a need to upgrade the power supply for the following reasons.

1. The integrated graphics seem to be working fine so no need to add a video card

2. The computer is wifi ready, no card needed.

3. I use a 46in LED TV as my monitor which is connected to a home theater system so the sound off the mobo is okay, no sound card needed.

4. I do run a USB HD Docking Station but it doesn't get it's power through the USB connection, has a power cord.

All this means that there are four PCI slots that have nothing in them and thus not adding internal heat to the system

Tell me if I'm missing something or being shortsighted.

@ DaveRI I thought that because I didn't have a video card installed was the reason I couldn't run WEI.  I have sent an email off to Gateway to see what the problem is.  Once they get back to me I will let you know what they say.

I have GTX590 too, FTW! Brilliant card, totally worth the money. Never used it for multi-GPU gaming though, but to render some archviz...and funnily, to that purpose, its better than newer gtx690, which is sold for 300 EUROs more over here now than what i paid for 590 last year.