Not all laptop graphics cards are the same, even if they appear to be.

It is very likely that you have seen a comparison on the internet or a performance test with different games and a configuration apparently the same as that of your gaming laptop, but in your case the performance is somewhat lower. In fact, one of the freedoms that NVIDIA and AMD give to laptop manufacturers is the choice of consumption attributed to the graphics card in the event that we are talking about models with a dedicated graphics card. That is, with a separate GPU chip and its corresponding video memory.

The TGP of the graphics card in a laptop is important

The concept TGP stands for Total Graphics Power and references in any material to the amount of electrical power allocated to the dedicated graphics carda. Whether on a laptop or desktop computer. It should be taken into account that graphics chips in laptops usually work with a certain voltage, which is usually lower than that of their desktop counterparts. That is, they already come with built-in Undervolting.

However, it can happen that we find models that announce themselves with a model of graphics card, but that this one has been amputated in terms of performance due to the low consumption required by the industrial design of the notebook. Remember that the higher the power, the greater the heat released. This shouldn’t be a problem in principle, if it weren’t for the fact that there are models with a higher GPU that perform worse than expected and even worse than lower models of the same generation of graphics cards .

Which is detrimental to the consumer, because we often pay for a certain performance, only to find later that the power obtained is much less due to the power limitation attributed to the graphics card, i.e. in the TGP . That’s why it’s something you should look at when buying.

put things into perspective

The following table shows us the minimum and maximum TGP in the case of the NVIDIA RTX 30 for laptops. As you can see, there is a huge MHz disparity between one consumption and another. Keep in mind that clock speed determines how much work a GPU can do in the same amount of time. In addition, the paradox arises that some models of graphics cards with a lower TGP perform worse than some theoretically inferior models by name.

How do I know the TGP of my laptop?

You can do this with GPU-Z, in the Advanced tab you will be able to see the power consumed in watts of the GPU alone, the graphics chip and the graphics card as a whole. Note that they are not independent and that Board Power refers to a summation. Either way, it will help you know what the TGP is on your laptop. In any case, in the specifications of the laptop, it usually comes to you. Look at the TDP or TGP marked W next to the graphics card in the specs. If it doesn’t appear, look up the model on the manufacturer’s website for a full spec chart.

The Incredible Case of Decreased Laptop Performance

Any system that requires air cooling will have slots for the passage of dust, and dust, when it accumulates in a computer, raises the temperature. If a laptop won’t clean itself, or because of its “large” design, it’s impossible for it to clean, then temperature sensors will further limit the speed of things like the processor and graphics over time.

This happens on all systems, especially to prevent unexpected overheating over time. However, in a laptop, you end up reducing available power and performance. The user’s reaction? His games start to slow down and he attributes this to the age of his computer. Keep in mind that your PC, whether laptop or desktop, should be slower compared to one with higher specifications, and not because of the passage of time. Hence the importance of good maintenance, especially in systems so sensitive to consumption and temperature.