Playing The Witcher 3 on a Cheap PC with an Integrated GPU

In our quest to build the cheapest gaming rig possible, we pushed ourselves to the extreme, checking how it would work without a dedicated graphics card. So, is the RX Vega – the GPU integrated with Ryzen 5 – powerful enough?

Ryzen 2400G and Radeon RX Vego – performance

During several weeks of intensive tests, we reviewed AMD performance in several popular titles. We must admit that the results of Ryzen + Vega combination sometimes exceeded our wildest expectations. We have run all the titles discussed below in Full HD resolution – if we couldn't get stable 30 fps, we downgraded the screen resolution to 1366x768. This usually helped a lot to increase the number of fps, but it's hard to talk about comfortable playing in such cases – most games look terrible with such settings.

CS:GO

It's pretty obvious that we had to check the popular Valve shooter, so at the beginning we tested the CS:GO performance on our system. It's no surprise that the legendary multiplayer FPS worked basically flawlessly on our computer. After setting all the details at a high level there were some small framerate drops, but the average frame rate usually manage to remain on a minimum of 50 fps or more. Of course, Huawei MateBook D14 also had no problems with Counter Strike – the FPS counter on the laptop was also close to 50.

Huawei MateBook D14 didn't even heat up after running CS:GO on high details.

Fortnite

Fortnite turned out to be a slightly harder nut to crack – to get 60 frames per second we had to reduce all graphics details to minimum. Results are much more important element than nice visuals during online matches, and our sweet computers were just running fine! So if you're thinking about a decent hardware for this popular battle royale production – AMD solutions will satisfy your needs.

Apex: Legends

Free battle royale from the creators of Titanfall 2 worked on Ryzen 2400G and Radeon RX Vega quite... strangely. Most of the details in Apex Legends are set to low or medium setting, but it's hard to talk about satisfactory performance. The frame rate, depending on the location of the player and the action that took place on the screen, was jumping between 40 and 80 FPS, which effectively spoiled all the fun of the game.

The situation was traditionally rescued by slightly lower resolution, but there were still problems with maintaining a relatively stable frame rate on both the desktop system and Huawei laptop.

The Ryzen 5 2400G's original cooling solution (included in the processor's package) is more than enough for even more advanced titles.

Battlefield V

Let's take a wild ride – I literally when I installed the Origin app on our beloved PC and decided to download Battlefield 5. I didn't expect anything good, but it turned out that after setting all the visual bars to the left, it was possible to launch the newest production of EA DICE.... In both single and multiplayer, the number of fps varied between 27 and 33 – so it's hard to talk about comfortable playing here. However, BF was still much more stable than the aforementioned Apex.

As for the equipment we tested, it did much better with Battlefield 4 – which is still quite popular game up to this day. Although more than five years have passed since its launch, budget computers are still having some problems with this title. AMD components manages to keep everything at 60 frames per second at medium detail settings.

The Witcher 3

So as not to prolong it too much, that's what everyone's been waiting for. The titles we have run before are mostly quite optimized, but The Witcher 3 is usually perceived as a potential "devastator" of graphics cards. Fortunately, our integrated GPU didn't turn to ashes, but we couldn't manage to get even 30 fps in Full HD resolution. Too bad, cause it was so close! If you like some masochistic experiences or you're into a slow-paced bdsm, set up the lowest details and a resolution of 1366x768 and it is theoretically possible to play...

Both RX Vega 11 and the one with number 8 simply cannot cope with The Witcher. Unfortunately, the number of fps at the level of 20-25 is definitely too low, even for not very demanding players. After lowering the resolution it is possible to cross the magical barrier of 30 fps. RX Vega 11 can hit even 40 frames per second, but the game looks so terrible, that even Michael Jackson looked better after his 10 plastic surgeries.

Well, you can play in such details... But what for?

Assassin’s Creed: Origins

After testing The Witcher, I already knew (more or less) what to expect from the "Egyptian Assassin". Assassin's Creed: Origins worked on our PC with an integrated GPU almost the same as the popular title of CD Projekt Red. In Full HD, Ryzen 5 and RX Vega combination is completely incapable of dealing with such overwhelming game. It gets better in 1366x768 resolution – but even then the game looks like it has been released a decade ago. It's hard to say if such gameplay with obsolete visuals may bring up any joy.

Overwatch

Despite 3 years after its release, the popular online shooter created by Blizzard still has a lot of supporters. And these players don't need any powerful PCs at all - Overwatch runs smoothly on our PC: within 55-60 frames per second (Full HD and at low details).

Rainbow Six: Siege

I've played Ubisoft shooter before on some low-end PCs, so I was pretty sure that our machines wouldn't have any problems with that title. This is particularly true since, like Overwatch, Rainbow Six: Siege is also a few years old. Therefore, after setting the details at a medium level, the counter in the corner of the screen practically never dropped below 60 FPS.

Rainbow Six: Siege is a highly optimized game that can be played freely even on business class equipment.

Quake Champions

I saved the production of id Software for dessert – it's not particularly popular, but from time to time I like to use a railgun or rocket launcher. Sooner or later, Quake Champions lands on the hard drive of every computer I use. I was very surprised when it turned out that the latest Quake smoothly swings on the medium details even in 70-80 frames per second. This is only a little bit worse than the much more expensive GeForce GTX 1050 on board!

Summary – Ryzen 5 2400G

The cost-effectiveness (in terms of gaming) of a computer built on the Ryzen 5 2400G and RX Vega 11 processor, or a Huawei MateBook D14 laptop with Ryzen 5 2500U and RX Vega 8, can be considered in several ways. As a device mainly for office work and occasional fun they perform absolutely superbly. If you have a lot of older games to catch up on in your Steam library, they'll provide you enough performance for a smooth gaming experience. However, for more advanced titles a dedicated graphics card would be useful, which can always be bought later (of course, we are talking about a desktop – in the case of a laptop it is hard to talk about any expansion in this area).