I recently got a new laptop and have been noticing that despite having specs that are well above what should be required to run games, my computer is greatly underperforming. I think I've traced the problem to my graphics card, and specifically I think my games are trying to use the worthless on-board graphics card instead of my AMD Radeon HD 6770M.

When I run Skyrim for example, it tells me that my graphics card is the Intel HD Graphics Family, which has about 10x less memory than my real graphics card. When I go to System Information -> Components -> Display, both of the video cards are shown. How do I go about making games use the faster ones?

I almost always use it plugged in so I'm not concerned about battery life, which is apparently the reason laptops default to the slower card. Thanks.

Lmui

Canada6219 Posts

December 15 2011 00:05 GMT

Right click your desktop and if it's there, click change switchable graphics or equivalent, otherwise open the catalyst/vision/whatever control center, change graphics and then see if you can force the discrete GPU on.

iloveav

Poland1479 Posts

December 15 2011 00:06 GMT

I think in windows options (battery options) you can switch the laptop to have "high performance" profile while connected to the socket wall.

I have an Nvidia in my laptop so im not sure this will work for the ATI version.

lolsixtynine

United States600 Posts

December 15 2011 00:20 GMT

On December 15 2011 09:05 Lmui wrote:
Right click your desktop and if it's there, click change switchable graphics or equivalent, otherwise open the catalyst/vision/whatever control center, change graphics and then see if you can force the discrete GPU on.

Hey, this is correct, thanks. Now I just have to find my Skyrim.exe....

I don't understand how the Windows 7 "Games" folder works...

iloveav

Poland1479 Posts

December 15 2011 00:23 GMT

On December 15 2011 09:20 lolsixtynine wrote:

Show nested quote +

Hey, this is correct, thanks. Now I just have to find my Skyrim.exe....

I don't understand how the Windows 7 "Games" folder works...

Rightclick on start button, properties, select "classic start menu" if you are an old windows user :D.

CharlieBrownsc

Canada598 Posts

December 15 2011 01:06 GMT

On December 15 2011 09:20 lolsixtynine wrote:

Show nested quote +

Hey, this is correct, thanks. Now I just have to find my Skyrim.exe....

I don't understand how the Windows 7 "Games" folder works...

C: -> ProgramFiles -> Steam -> SteamApps -> common -> Skyrim -> TESV

sushiko

197 Posts

December 15 2011 01:17 GMT

Gonna guess you have the HP pavilion dv5/6/7tqe? In any case, I've had this problem with that model in that "high performance" mode wouldn't stick and required me to change some settings in the bios to disable switchable graphics (aka fixed mode) and just stick to one or the other (still switchable through CCC, just not automatic). I have had no problems since. Worth a try even if you don't have the model, switchable graphics is simply horrid from my experience.

jacosajh

2919 Posts

December 15 2011 02:07 GMT

The hybrid graphics for ATI is pretty bad. I'm not sure if it's fixed or what, but I had issues with it a few months ago.

Since I didn't have the time to mess with it, I sold it. I didn't even both digging into the issue. A few months later, this article came out on Anandtech and I found out why.

Just FYI in case you're doing everything right and still not getting the results you want.

Zeke50100

United States2220 Posts

December 15 2011 05:28 GMT

If all else fails, you could always try going into BIOS and disabling the integrated graphics entirely and force the discrete graphics to be used (although I think there might be a driver option for that), although that will suck for your battery life when you're not gaming.

kcbgoku

Poland156 Posts

December 15 2011 09:25 GMT

#10

Read in your Motherboard instruction where do you disable on-board card in BIOS or just find it in there and disable it.

lolsixtynine

United States600 Posts

December 15 2011 21:32 GMT

#11

Thanks to all that helped solve the problem! I went into setup and set it to always use the good graphics card when plugged in, and it's worked wonders - I'm now getting 60 FPS on medium graphics.

Distortionz

United States133 Posts

December 17 2011 08:02 GMT

#12

I'm having the same type of problem, Im not sure where I can change it. I've got my Nvidia Geforce card and "Intel(R) HD Graphics Family". I tried disabling the "Intel(R) HD Graphics Family", but It just gives me bad video (very choppy like a drivers not installed- - But it is!)

any ideas?

EDIT: I disabled my Nvidia Card(Driver?) and I get just about the same performance, so I'm pretty sure that its only using "Intel(R) HD Graphics Family" instead of the nvidia one. I have a 3rd of the frames I should in game. I checked my Battery options and its on high performance etc, but no luck

EDIT 2: I fixed it.. Yay

Within the Nvidia Control panel, under Manage 3D Settings, you can change how your video card interacts with specific programs. I simply changed Starcraft 2 to only used the dedicated card, instead of the onboard. I've got my 200 fps on low back! Yay