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. This is because one of the freedoms that both NVIDIA and AMD give to laptop manufacturers is the choice of consumption assigned 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 hardware to the amount of electrical power that is allocated to the dedicated graphics carda. Whether on a laptop or a desktop. It must be taken into account that laptop graphics chips usually work with a certain voltage, which is usually lower than their desktop counterparts. That is, they already come with an integrated Undervolting.

However, it may happen that we find models that are announced with a graphics card model, but that this has been cut in terms of performance due to the lower consumption required by the industrial design of the notebook. Let’s not forget that the higher the power, the more 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 lower than lower models of the same generation of graphics cards.

Which is detrimental for the consumer, since many times we are paying for a certain performance, only to later find that the power obtained is much less due to the power limitation assigned to the graphics card, that is, in the TGP. That is why it is something that you should look at when buying.

putting things in 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 disparity in MHz between one consumption and another. Keep in mind that the clock speed determines the amount of work that a GPU can do in the same period of time. Furthermore, the paradox arises that certain graphics card models with a lower TGP perform worse than some theoretically inferior models by name.

How to know the TGP of my laptop?

You can do it with GPU-Z, in the Advanced tab you will be able to see the power consumed in watts of both 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. In any case, it will help you to 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 specifications. If it does not appear, look for the model on the manufacturer’s website for a complete table of characteristics.

The incredible case of diminishing performance in a laptop

Any system that needs air cooling will have slits for dust to pass through, and dust when it accumulates in a computer increases the temperature. If a laptop does not clean itself or because of its “great” design it is impossible for it to allow it, then the temperature sensors will further limit the speed of elements such as the processor and graphics over time.

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