Overclocking Integrated Graphics (All You Need to Know)

Integrated graphics are becoming more and more popular today. In fact, some iGPU like Intel Iris Xe, for instance, is quite good actually. However, we simply cannot compare them to dedicated GPUs, especially for gaming purposes.

Ok, but what if you want a better gaming experience but have integrated graphics in your computer? Can you do anything about it? What about overclocking?

Overclocking is known to increase computer performance, and we know that you can overclock a regular graphics card, but what about the iGPU? Luckily for you, you are reading the right article because we will cover the following:

What is integrated graphics, and how does it work
Can you overclock integrated graphics (both Intel and AMD)
How to overclock integrated graphics
Is it safe to do it

Let’s get straight into it.

Integrated graphics shortly explained

An integrated graphics card is more of a graphics adaptor than a graphics card. Different types of integrated graphics chips have different specs, but they all share one feature: they utilize the system’s RAM.

Assume you have 8 GB of RAM. Some of that RAM will be allocated to the graphics card. The integrated graphics card is really derived from the CPU and, depending on the age of the computer, the motherboard. This means that different CPUs will have different integrated graphics card versions.

Of course, this percentage varies based on the size of the activity, especially if you’re multitasking or playing a game. An integrated unit has the advantage of being less expensive, resulting in a less expensive computer.

These chips are suitable for daily chores such as web browsing, low to medium-quality flash games, and, on rare occasions, older 3D games or highly optimized ones.

On the other hand, a dedicated or discrete GPU has its own independent supply of video memory, leaving the RAM in your system unaffected. If you have a GeForce GTX 680M video card with 2GB of video memory, for example, that memory is completely independent of your computer’s 8GB of system memory. Dedicated cards are ideal if you enjoy serious gaming or work as a skilled graphic artist.

Can you overclock integrated graphics?

Now when we understand what it is and how it works, let’s see whether we can overclock integrated graphics. I will cover both Intel and AMD.

Intel

You can overclock some of Intel’s integrated graphics, but they are rare. Those who can be overclocked end with the letter “K.” However, Intel strongly do not recommend overclocking any of their integrated graphics.

“K” means it’s an unlocked processor. Unlocked processors have configurable frequencies and thus support overclocking.

Here is the list of Intels processors with integrated graphics:

According to the official Intel page, this is the list of Intel processors that are capable of overclocking the GPU frequency:

i7-4790K
i7-4790K
i7-4770K
i7-4770K
i7-xx30MX
i7-xx00MQ
i7-xx50HQ
i7-xx02MQ
i5-4690K
i5-4690K
i5-4670K

AMD

You can overclock AMD integrated graphics in the BIOS settings or through AMD Radeon software. In fact, they typically offer greater overclocking flexibility than Intels.

You can increase the speed of the processor and/or the clock of the GPU. And to some extent, they interact; people have found that using higher CPU clocks leaves less headroom for higher GPU clocks and vice versa because of getting thermal limitations. So you’ll have to experiment with the best combo for your hardware and your requirements.

If you’re looking to increase gaming performance, in most cases you’ll want to focus primarily on the graphics clock. You will get more use from higher processor speeds for high-intensive tasks (and for games that bottleneck CPU performance).

Here is the list of all AMD APUs.

How to overclock integrated graphics

Intel Graphics

Make sure you have the latest drivers
Download Intel XTU
Restart the computer
Open Intel XTU
Click on Graphics under Advanced Tuning
Find the Processor Graphics Ratio Limit and increase the voltage by 1
If your computer does not crash, try increasing voltage by 1 again

For more details, check Intel’s official guide on overclocking integrated graphics.

AMD Integrated Graphics

Download the latest drivers
Download AMD Master Utility software
Restart the computer
Open the software
On the left sidebar, locate APU GFX Speeds
Slightly increase the APU GFX Clock and voltage

The other way is to do it in BIOS. Watch the video to see how to do this.

Here are three proven tips to improve the performance of integrated graphics:

Set up dual channel RAM operation.
You should have an option to cut out more of your RAM for VRAM usage
The faster the RAM, the better

To find out how to further optimize the Intel Graphics for gaming, check the video below.

Does MSI Afterburner work on integrated graphics?

To my knowledge, MSI Afterburn does not work on integrated graphics. Instead, you will have to do that in either BIOS or in official AMD/Intel software.

The integrated graphics are a core set within the processor that also makes use of its clock speed. Overclocking Intel HD graphics requires overclocking your Intel CPU. Unless you locate some unusual third-party motherboard that mandates it, this can only be done with K model CPUs.

An APU is a different story. It is its own dedicated CPU chunk, with its own clock speed and processing instructions. AMD’s APUs are built on a separate graphics architecture, making them far more independent than Intel’s iGPU. With it comes a slew of other advantages, including significantly higher performance in most areas than Intel graphics.

To recap, MSI Afterburner will not work on either Intel or AMD.

Here are some actual overclocking results

This guy did a great video comparing FPS before and after overclocking i5 3470. He overclocked the processor graphics clock from 1100MHz to 1500MHz.

Computer specs:

CPU: i5 3470

RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz

MOBO: Gigabyte GA H61M S2PV Motherboard

OS: Windows 10

Graphics: HD 2500 iGPU

Here are the results:

Game	FPS Before overclocking	FPS After overclocking	Difference
BioShock	28	33	+18%
Dirt 4	13	13	–
GTA V	21	25	+19%
Skyrim	32	34	+6%

As we can see, overclocking integrated graphics does increase gaming performance. Note that on some games, the difference is huge, while on others is either small or no difference.

Is it safe to overclock integrated graphics on a laptop?

Well, it depends, and here is why.

Heat is the most typical problem. Desktops, for example, normally allow for the addition of additional cooling systems or improved cooling. Inside laptops, you’re limited to what the manufacturer provides. Yes, you can place the laptop on something like a ventilation pad to force air through the laptop.

If it becomes too hot, the components begin to melt or catch fire. Throttling is a safety feature that down tunes (underclocks) the gadget if it exceeds a specified maximum temperature – to prevent it from melting or catching fire. This could even result in your overclock running slower than it did at its basic clock rates.

Not to add that, even if it’s still below the maximum temperature, pushing something to its limits reduces its longevity. As a result, expect failures to occur sooner than while running at regular speeds.

Power consumption is another issue. The most common method of overclocking is to raise the frequency at which a gadget works. This indicates that a specific amount of electricity flows more often across certain cables, resulting in more power utilized in the same length of time. Another option is to boost the voltages, which will require more power.

In desktop computers, the power supply can be upgraded to accommodate the increased power usage. In a laptop, this is not the case. Not to add that the battery has a limited capacity. As a result, you may have problems because the laptop’s power source simply cannot give enough power to all of the gadgets.

Overclocking a laptop may be doable, but there is usually not much headroom before you run into complications like the ones described above. In most circumstances, the headroom is so minimal that you wouldn’t notice a difference between an overclock that doesn’t overheat or crash.

Even with desktops, you need to overclock quite a bit before you see a difference, which means you have to increase cooling and power consumption twice or more to gain a few percentage points more speed. Overclockers are generally only beneficial if you know what you’re doing; otherwise, they’re risky and worse than just leaving it at default. This is considerably worse in laptops, where even an experienced overclocker cannot achieve much.

That being said, overclocking integrated graphics is generally considered safe as long as you do it at a low scale. This is especially important for laptops since they have more problems with overheating.