You are stuck with a crappy IGP for 1 year. What do you play?

[Arachnotronic]

This is an interesting "what if" scenario.

I am sure most everyone here has a nice dGPU and a fast processor, but suppose you are stuck with, say, Intel HD graphics 4000/4600 for one year in your gaming desktop.

You cannot pop in a dGPU because for whatever reason you can't buy one and nobody will give you/lend you one, nor do you have access to a game console or any other higher performance gaming machine.

What game(s) do you play for the year?

Me? I'd download DOOM/DOOM II from Steam, install ZDoom, and download all of the best megawads available and have at them

 

[futurefields]

Intel HD 4000 can handle quite a lot. I would probably play Mass Effect or Fallout 3.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Intel HD 4000 can handle quite a lot. I would probably play Mass Effect or Fallout 3.

Interesting. I must admit that I've not actually tried to use HD4000 for any modern games...

 

[Fox5]

Yeah HD4000 can handle most modern games at the lowest settings. You could pretty much play anything you want. I'd probably try to play games mid-2000s or earlier, but the thing is almost Xbox 360 level.

 

[Harrod]

I'd play alot of Terraria.

 

[SPBHM]

the games I'm currently playing (newest being Cities Skylines) would probably work OK on the HD 4600,

 

[Red Hawk]

Play older games and my Nintendo 3DS. Thankfully my favorite recent series, Mass Effect, should still work, just at a lower resolution with more aliasing...

 

[Dankk]

I'd play the same games I already play, at much lower settings.

 

[KMFJD]

Civ IV or 5

 

[TridenT]

I am currently in this scenario, so I am curious too. I can use a Late 2013 MBPr with iris pro or my old HP notebook with some real bad intel igp.

The pain is real.

 

[CP5670]

I have an older i5 Allandale in my laptop. It also has an AMD 6550 with switchable graphics, but I prefer the Intel GPU for many old pre-2000 games, which the 6550 has poor compatibility and major bugs on (even with updated AMD drivers). The Intel GPU actually works better on some of those games than both AMD and Nvidia GPUs. The current Intel GPUs should be many times faster than that one.

 

[escrow4]

Nothing. I'd read a good ebook instead. I don't settle for sub-par gaming experiences.

 

[skipsneeky2]

CS:GO and WOT are the games i would play,WOT on all minimum low plays perfectly fine on my hd4000 at 1366x768 and CS:GO plays ok at like 45-80 or so at 1280x720.

The hd4000 on my i7 3770 ends up being bottlenecked by the i7 3770 in WOT with those settings,but enable much of anything outside of minimum and it simply tanks very hard.Still pretty awesome i think eitherway.:thumbsup:

 

[DigDog]

angband !

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Would probably replay a lot of the Source-based games (eg HL2) and then all the Fallouts through FO3. CS or TF2 when I want some multiplayer action.

I didn't have much trouble getting through HL2 on medium+ settings with an HD3000.

 

[DefDC]

In the spirit of what you're asking: I'm always up for Baldurs Gate, IWD, Planescape, Unreal Tourney 99.

One game I've never played, and keep wanting to fire up in Interstate 76. I was too broke to buy it back then, and I've got a thing about pirating PC games. (I've had bad karma with this)

I've got such a backlog of AAA games, I don't have the time to spend $2 on a game that may not hold up...

 

[el-Capitan]

Thats the beauty -

there are so many good games from the past 20 years, plus dozens of good 'retro'-style games and remakes, that we have a huge selection of good titles on low powered systems.

I wouldn't mind a year on a HD3000 even

 

[ControlD]

I don't think it would change most of what I tend to play honestly. I keep a fast GPU in my system for the occasional AAA title for sure, but the only games I have played since finishing Far Cry 4 and KoA are:

- Dungeons of Dredmor
- Tales of Maj'Eyal
- Spelunky

I could go a year only playing those games and they would all play just fine with on-board graphics I think.

 

[xantub]

If it can play Crusader Kings 2 and/or Europa Universalis 4 I will probably realize the year passed 6 months later.

 

[darkewaffle]

Yeah, you could play a lot of recent stuff at lower res and turnt down settings. It's not super pretty but you wouldn't really be completely 'barred' from that much.

 

[mmntech]

Plenty of indie games and older titles that will run happily with onboard graphics. You can even install some emulators and play the classics. Depends on the computer though. I believe AMD has better IGPs than Intel does.

 

[mazeroth]

The same game I've been playing the last month: Heroes of Might and Magic 3. With all the expansions and user made maps you could eat up a solid half year of gaming just on this game alone.

 

[Morbus]

Old games (as in before 2010) and indie games.

NEO Scavenger, Don't Starve, Minecraft, that sort of stuff.

 

[exar333]

Thats the beauty -

there are so many good games from the past 20 years, plus dozens of good 'retro'-style games and remakes, that we have a huge selection of good titles on low powered systems.

I wouldn't mind a year on a HD3000 even

This.

For many of us, time is more a limiting-factor vs. the PC requirements. Nice specs really just make a difference for the AAA titles that demand it.

You can have a GREAT time with a IGP.

 

[SMOGZINN]

This.

For many of us, time is more a limiting-factor vs. the PC requirements. Nice specs really just make a difference for the AAA titles that demand it.

You can have a GREAT time with a IGP.

This is so amazingly true. I have barely fired up my gaming machine in the last year because I've been mostly playing games on my HTPC that has a G620 and no dGPU. I've played Terreria, Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Torchlight 2, Dungeons of Dreadmor, Hammerfall, FTL, SPAZ, Ring Runner, and a few more that I'm forgetting.