Which would be cost effective, a display with graphics controller or without graphics controller?
It is not the same even if the name is similar. Consider why SSDxx has 80+ pins. This controller adds framebuffer and requires another controller in the TFT display (which will control the pixels). Some controllers have both in one chip like ILI9341 which has 1278 pins instead :)

STM32 TFT_LCD controller just unloads the work from the core when sending RGB data from the framebuffer to the controller. You can use it even if your controller has one, or save the memory and send actual draw data to the controller.