Does My Motherboard Have Integrated Graphics? How to Check?

While the integrated GPU has become a normal feature for many processors, integrated graphics in the motherboard have been decreasing rapidly. But sometimes, the integrated graphics in the motherboard and the processor is used interchangeably.

There are two main ways you can check if your motherboard has integrated graphics or not. You can find out either by checking the back of the CPU or by checking the device manager. Here we will discuss both ways and find out about the integrated graphics on the motherboard.

Does My Motherboard Have Integrated Graphics – How Do I Know?

As we have said before, two ways you can find out about the integrated graphics card. We will go through it one by one to check it both ways.

First Way: Checking the Back of your CPU

Here is a picture of what the back of the CPU will look like. It may not look identical but as long as you can detect the ports, you can figure out wheater you have integrated graphics or not.

For Integrated Graphics

If your CPU has the VGA, DVI, or HDMI port on its back there is graphics in there. But the question is how to tell if it is integrated graphics or not. 

In this picture, the vertical slots are marked by the green square. This is the integrated slot space. No matter the CPU, these slots will always be vertical. Your CPU may not have all three VGA, DVI, or HDMI slots. It might have only one or two of these three. But as long as they are in a vertical position along with other USB, mouse, and keyboard ports, they are a part of the motherboard integrated slots. 

Thus, if you have any of these three slots, you can safely say you have integrated graphics on your motherboard. But can’t only check for the integrated slots. You will also have to check whether you have the extension slot filled or not.

For Extended Graphics

The extended slot on the picture is marked by the red square. Here if you can find out if you have an extended graphics card installed. If you have a port on the extended slot area of your CPU (just like the red marked area), then you have an extended graphics card installed.

Otherwise, there will not be any port in the extended area of your CPU. These extended slots will always be in the horizontal position. So, you can also check the horizontal or vertical position of the slot to find out if you extended graphics card or not. 

Having an extended graphics card will help you run graphics extensive programs run better. But for a normal day to day use, the integrated graphics is more than enough.

Second Way: Through Device Manager

This is where you can check for the integrated graphics through the device manager software. If you have a laptop then you can find out which graphics you have inside the pc this way too.

To access the “Device Manager”, go to the windows menu and search Device Manager. Then press Enter or click on the device manager to open the program.

From here, double click on the “Display adapters” option. This will bring up a list of graphics cards you have installed on your computer. If you are using an extended graphics card then it will show the model number of the graphics card which is, for this instant, the “Nvidia Geforce RTX 2080 Max-Q Design”.

But if you don’t have any extended graphics then it will simply show that it has integrated graphics. If you are not sure whether the shown model is an integrated graphic or not, google the model number and you will find out which type of graphics it is.

Which Motherboards Support Integrated Graphics?

Which motherboard supports integrated graphics is a tricky question to answer. This is because the term integrated graphics on the motherboard and the processor is used interchangeably these days.

In Old Days

In the past, many motherboards used to come with their own graphics. That is because the processors didn’t have any integrated graphics on them. So, if you wanted extra graphics capacity you would buy a motherboard with integrated graphics.

Modern Uses

But these days all the processors have a dedicated area that is used for graphics processing. Thus all the processors these days have integrated graphics. Furthermore, they are much better than the motherboard integrated ones.

If we use the term integrated graphics for the processor, then all the latest generations starting from 2^nd gen processors have integrated graphics. The motherboard only provides the graphics slots.

In Short

So you can say, all the motherboards have integrated graphics if you are referring to the motherboard graphics slots with processor-integrated graphics. 

But at the same time, you can also say, the modern motherboard doesn’t have integrated graphics if you are referring to the motherboard integrated graphics instead of processor integrated one.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Do all motherboards have integrated graphics?

Ans: No, the modern motherboards don’t have integrated graphics. Mainly because the integrated graphics part is handled by the processor these days.

• Is integrated graphics a GPU?

Ans: Yes, integrated graphics is a GPU that is built inside the processor.

• Is integrated graphics good for gaming?

Ans: It is ok for casual gaming but if you try to run too graphics-intensive a game, it will probably not run smoothly.

• Which is better Nvidia or integrated graphics?

Ans: Dedicated graphics card will always be better than integrated ones since it provides more VRAM. Nvidia is a dedicated graphics manufacturer, so Nvidia graphics will always be better than integrated ones.

Conclusion

In short, no modern motherboards do not have integrated graphics cards. Instead, all the processors starting from the second generation have integrated graphics cards on the processor. Thus, the motherboard now only provides the slot to connect the integrated graphics.