The need to know how to enable discrete graphics card, most often occurs in laptop users.

Stationary PCs usually automatically determine which graphics card to use at the moment by the connector to which the cable from the monitor is connected.

Although, almost every computer owner can face the problem when it is necessary to start up manually.

Especially, the user who launches, the work of which is almost impossible with only an integrated (integrated) video card.

In the picture below, you can see what the discrete card for the laptop (left) and PC (right) looks like.

Pros and cons of discrete graphics adapters

Installing a discrete video card on a computer or laptop can be due to the following advantages:

• a noticeable increase in productivity. So, for example, when launching a modern game, the built-in adapter, even in the best case, allows only minimal settings. A discrete 3, 4 or even 8 GB card can handle maximum resolution screen and video effects;
• the possibility of replacement for more new version... For such an issue is resolved in a few minutes; for a laptop, sometimes you have to contact the service;
• support for working with multiple screens. Moreover, in two ways at once - for the first, it can be included in both a discrete board and an integrated one. The second option involves the use of video cards that immediately support from two to four screens.

• the ability to use the resources of two video cards at the same time (a feature that owners of PCs with Windows 10 and DirectX 12 will be able to use in the future).

At the same time, the discrete video adapter has certain disadvantages. First of all, this is a high price.

Although for most computers it is best to simply install a more recent version of the system - at least Windows 7.

If the resources of a PC or laptop do not allow the installation of new operating systems, most likely there is no need for a discrete video processor at all.

Inclusion of a discrete video card in BIOS

Configuring the operation of a discrete video adapter through the BIOS or UEFI interface occurs when the computer is booted or rebooted.

To enter the corresponding menu, first press the key, the name of which is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Most often this is F1, F2 or Esc, although individual laptop models may have different options for entering the interface.

After that, the user is required to:

1. Find First Display Boot, Chipset Features Setup, Advanced Chipset Features, or Boot Graphic Adapter Priority in the menu. Sometimes the corresponding subsection may be called PEG Port / Graphic Adapter Priority or something else, but with the word VGA;
2. Set the value of the PCI or PCI-E parameter, thus enabling the discrete card;
3. Save changes and exit BIOS.

Figure: 5. Enabling discrete video cards via BIOS.

In most cases, the problem with turning on the video card is solved.

And, if switching to a discrete adapter was not decided either with the help of the device manager, or through, or thanks to the settings of the utilities, the card may fail.

In this case, the user is unlikely to be able to do without contacting the service.

Working with two adapters at the same time

MS Windows developers have provided for the possibility not to face the problem of enabling a discrete video card at all.

When installing the utility built in by default latest versions Windows, in the future it will be possible to simultaneously work with two graphics adapters.

In this case, the power of video processors will be summed up - and, for example, for a PC with built-in 1 GB of video and external device for 2 GB, the total amount of memory will be 3 gigabytes.

Owners of computers with two discrete cards will have the same opportunities - their memory will also add up.

According to representatives, Microsoft, new technology "Multiadapter" will provide even simultaneous use - AMD and nVidia.

Meanwhile, so far this opportunity is not provided. At first, it was assumed that the new option will appear in 2015, then in 2016, but now the dates have been postponed to 2017.

findings

Having learned how to turn on and off a discrete video adapter, the user is able to solve the problem with starting a more productive external device.

As a result of the operation of this video card, inclusion is provided, as well as films in HD, FullHD and even with a clearer resolution.

And if the graphics card breaks down, it can be relatively easy to replace with a new one.

You should know: In addition to a video processor, to run high-quality video and modern games, you will need a processor of the same power and volume random access memory... As a rule, the chipset should be dual or quad core, and the RAM should be in the range of 4-16 GB.

Many laptop users with two intel and nvidia video cards are often interested in switching between these video cards. When launching a particular game, it is not clear which of the two video cards is used. In this article, you will learn how you can switch from intel to nvidia on a laptop, and also make sure that you are using a discrete nvidia video card.

What does it take to successfully switch video cards on a laptop?

The only and prerequisite is the presence of drivers for both video cards. You can check this as follows.

We go to the device manager by right-clicking on the icon " My computer"On the desktop and in the menu that opens, selecting" Control«.

We enter computer control

In the window that opens on the left, select " Device Manager«.

Graphics Cards in Device Manager

There shouldn't be any "standard video adapter drivers". Both video cards must be named.

Otherwise, you will need.

Configuring the nvidia graphics card driver to add switchable capability

If everything is in order with the drivers, then by clicking on the desktop in any free space, a menu will open in which you need to select the item " NVIDIA Control Panel«.

Login to nvidia control panel

The Nvidia video card settings window will open. In it, you need to click on the menu item " Desktop"And put the last two ticks -" Add the item Run with GPU to the context menu"And" Display GPU activity icon in notification area«.

Enabling context menu items for switching video cards

After that you can close the settings window.

Now, before starting the game, right-click on its shortcut and in the menu that opens, select " Run with GPU» -> « High-performance Nvidia processor«.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to launch an application, a game with nVidia graphics card or Intel in manual mode, but not all users know how to choose a video chip. Today we will tell you how to switch a video card on a laptop from NVidia to Intel and vice versa, so that you can independently choose the desired video chip.

Why do you need manual switching if it is done in automatic mode?

The fact is that then you will be able to save the battery. For example, you are running a game with fairly low video card requirements. By default, the chip from the Nvidia company is immediately activated, which will undoubtedly affect the faster discharge of the battery. That is, the first bonus we get is the ability to save battery power when launching undemanding toys.

Another scenario is not excluded, when the application is initially launched with the "wrong" video chip, which is why it is not possible to achieve maximum performance in it. Perhaps the problem lies in the application itself, which caused the system to select the wrong video card. However, we can solve it with a few mouse clicks.

We switch by standard means

On new gaming laptops, even with an Intel processor, it is initially impossible to switch video chips - the second is simply absent. Therefore, nothing will come of it. As for older devices, to switch you must follow these steps:

As you can see, nothing could be simpler - you need to do just a few mouse clicks to activate the corresponding item in context menu Windows.

What if the above method doesn't work?

Fortunately, he is far from the only one. We will have to go back to the NVidia software again. You must do the following:



There is also a way to select a separate video chip to run each application, this is done as follows:


In conclusion, I would like to say that in new laptops, switching from a discrete to an integrated video card is automatic and does not require additional settings.

Updated way

Standard method (does not always work)

Currently, there is such a solution: the laptop has two video accelerators - most often graphic intel core HD Graphics and a discrete chip from Nvidia, which can be switched in the Nvidia control panel.

Standard way:
1. In the Nvidia Control Panel, go to the Program Settings tab:
2. Click the Add button and specify the executable file of the game, which will be forced to run with discrete video.
A special case - only for games using the Java machine (Minecraft and others). It is not the executable file of the game that needs to be added to the list, but the Java machine itself. To do this, you first need to find where the javaw.exe file is launched from. For example, you can launch the Task Manager, go to the Processes tab, hover over the process of interest, right-click and select Properties. The path will be indicated in the window that opens. I have javaw.exe in the C: WindowsSysWOW64 folder (Windows 7 Maximum 64 bit, Java 7SE 32 bit). After the location of the file is known, add it, as described above.
3. Select the High-performance Nvidia processor from the drop-down list.
4. Click the Apply button.

Alternative way (workable)

If regular way did not help, there is one more - not very obvious, but quite workable.

ATTENTION:
This method tested on Windows 7.
This method does not work on Windows 10.

1. Open Screen Resolution:

2. Click the Find button. Two more monitors will appear with the words Another screen not detected:

3. Select the monitor corresponding to the discrete video accelerator:

4. Select from the drop-down list Multiple screens the item Try to connect to VGA anyway, click the Apply button:

This will result in the following:

5. Select Expand these screens, click Apply, confirm saving the parameters:

Note

If your video card was not activated after turning on alternative way, do the following.
With the alternative method enabled, do an additional staff and enjoy the game.

The result of the alternative method

We observe the result.
Games can now see both video cards.
TES: Skyrim settings window:

The gadget for monitoring a video card from 0rbmu2k now normally determines the total amount of memory, the amount of memory used and the GPU load in percent:

Needless to say, games are faster now?
By the way, I played many games, adding the executable to the Nvidia Panel using the first method. Graphics settings for a comfortable game had to be set to the very minimum. Now FPS has grown by 20-40% in many games. In some games, I did not see a special increase in frames, but lags and friezes disappeared.

Most often, the need to turn on the second video card arises from laptop owners. Desktop users rarely have such questions, since desktops are able to determine for themselves which graphics adapter is in use at a given time. For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that situations when it is necessary to manually start a discrete video card can be encountered by users of any computers.

A powerful video card, as opposed to a built-in one, is necessary to work in applications that actively use the graphics core (programs for video editing and image processing, 3D packages), as well as to run demanding games.

The advantages of discrete graphics cards are obvious:

1. A significant increase in computing power, which makes it possible to work in resource-intensive applications and play modern games.
2. Plays "heavy" content such as 4K high bitrate video.
3. Using more than one monitor.
4. Upgradeable to a more powerful model.

The disadvantages include the high cost and a significant increase in the energy consumption of the system as a whole. For a laptop, this means more heat.

NVIDIA

The "green" video card can be turned on using softwareincluded in the driver package. It is called the NVIDIA Control Panel and is located in "Control panels" Windows.

Now all applications that work with the video card will only use the discrete adapter.

AMD

A powerful video card from the "red" is also included using proprietary software AMD Catalyst Control Center... Here you need to go to the section "Food" and in the block "Switchable Graphics" select parameter « High performance GPU ".

The result will be the same as in the case of NVIDIA.

The above recommendations will only work if there are no interruptions or malfunctions. Quite often, a discrete video card remains unused due to a disabled option in the motherboard BIOS, or the lack of a driver.

Driver Installation

The first step after connecting the video card to motherboard should be the installation of the driver required for the full operation of the adapter. A universal recipe that works in most situations is: