FOR MOST OF OUR TESTING, we typically have a set list of benchmarks designed around being run on systems with dedicated GPUs. Most of the time, that involves running X game at Y resolution— usually on the highest graphical settings profile the game comes with as default. That way, it makes it easy for you at home to replicate those same tests with your own machine. It also gives you a better idea of how your rig scores in comparison and, of course, gives us a level playing field to work with when it comes to carrying out any similar testing in the future.

The problem with that is, in the world of integrated graphics, those kinds of benchmarks are grossly unfair to small integrated GPUs, such as the ones featured in these two builds. Yes, integrated graphics have come a long way over the years, and they are far from being stuck operating as media PCs and home office machines today, but throwing Total War: Warhammer II at an iGPU at 1080p Ultra is just cruel. Nor will it give us an accurate representation of how this chip would perform under more reasonable and realistic circumstances.

Total War is perhaps the best example of a CPU-intensive title from our testing suite. It’s a game we choose specifically because it stresses the processor during regular benchmarking. In fact, most games (particularly single-player titles) generally leverage most, if not all, of the stress onto the GPU, rather than the CPU, or both. Strategy games, however, with their many thousands of individual units, and some online games too, really do push processors hard.