Disabling Integrated Graphics to Use External nVidia Graphics Card

Hi There,

I recently bought a new laptop from PC Specialist (Specs: Win7 HP x64, i7 2640M CPU, 1GB GeForce 630M GPU and 4GB's of RAM), however I've noticed that several games run a lot slower than they should, for example, reviews of the graphics card state it should be able to run Skyrim on medium graphics quite comfortably however it runs incredibly sluggish and is only playable on low graphics.

After a bit of investigation I've noticed that the Laptop is using the integrated graphics (Intel HD 3000), built in to its CPU however I'm having trouble getting the laptop to use the nVidia card instead of the integrated graphics.

I've checked in the BIOS but can't see anything in there to configure the display, I've tried using the nVidia/Intel control panels to set which card should be used and I've tried uninstalling/disabling the entry for the Intel card in Device Manager but still no luck.

Currently I've got the CPU graphics disabled/uninstalled and have rebooted followed by re-installing the nVidia drivers but no application is detecting a GPU, suggesting it's using the standard Windows VGA drivers and not the nVidia drivers.

Has anyone got any suggestions on how to do this? I've tried searching online but can't find much, most of the suggestions are either "Disable it in Device Manager" or "Reconfigure the BIOS" but as I said above, none of these have worked.

I haven't opened the laptop up to check the motherboard model as I don't want to risk voiding my warranty - I know that with the desktop versions of these CPU's you have two basic types of motherboards, the Hxx series and the Pxx series, H using on-board graphics and not supporting external graphics card and the P series not supporting on-board graphics but using the PCI-E graphics card, would this be the same with the laptop iterations and something worth looking in to?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

What's the make and model of the laptop? I have never seen any laptop that had 2 differnet video cards installed, that sounds very odd.

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/genesisIV/

I altered the specs though and chose the i7 over the default Celeron (see below). Checking the link today it appears they've updated the graphics card section, when I brought it around a month ago you couldn't chose a graphics card as the 630M was pre-selected and there was no other choices....

The HD 3000 GPU is built in to the CPU hence why it's being picked up as a second graphics card but as I said above, even when I uninstall/disable it Windows still won't use the nVidia card as its default display and will resort to using basic VGA drivers, which is I am beginning to wonder if it could be the same as the desktop versions where you have use a certain motherboard to use a PCI-E graphics card (although I would assume if a company is selling a laptop or desktop with a PCI-E graphics card they would use the correct hardware to support it...).

Full Laptop Specs (copied from the order invoice):

AHH, It's based on a Clevo, that explains it. One of the few that can have replaceable/upgradable video cards. When you reinstalled the nvidia drivers, did you get them from nvidia's site, or pcspecialist? Laptop video drivers are a little different then the desktop vesions, and sometimes you have to use the laptop manufacturers drivers to get them to work properly. Also, I have you tried calling pcspecialist's support desk? if it's a dew laptop, they should be able to help under the warrenty.

I got the drivers off of the nVidia website, I've tried numerous combinations of re-installation and clean installs but no luck.

The laptop is still loaded with the default image they applied which had both the Intel and nVidia drivers installed so I'm tempted to wipe it and see if that helps.

I posted a thread on their support forum a couple of days ago but haven't had any responses yet.

That laptop uses nVidia Optimus tech. Optimus is a system that is supposed to switch from the on-chip video to the discrete video depending upon demand. I'm not familiar enough with it to make any suggestions, but I'm pretty sure there is a configuration app (or something) where you can specify what GPU to use when you are running a particular app/game.
You could try posting this on gw2guru forums to get better answers from some laptops users. (Or you could read the manual.)

It might be best to wipe it and reapply the image. The drivers from nvidias site are only referance drivers, most times they are no problem, but Clevo computers are strange beasts so you may want to stick with the certified drivers from the manufacturer.

Ahh, I didn't realise Optimus would be the one controlling which GPU was used, I just thought it was some power saving mode for laptops Now I have a name for what's going wrong I've just done a quick Google search for "nvidia optimus not switching" and it appears I'm not the only one having problems getting it to use the graphics card over the integrated GPU.

On a side note, there was an option in the nVidia control panel which let me select the GPU I wished to use, I played around with that last week but it didn't do anything and remained using the HD 3000.

I'll try the drivers I got from PCS tonight when I get home from work to see if this makes any difference, if not I'll format it and start from there... All this driver uninstalling/reinstalling can't be healthy

Thanks for all your help guys.

Yes, I've also heard about this issue before - either here or on guru2. I would have thought that any serious issues with it would have been solved by now, however I think there has always been the need in some cases, to put particular programs on some sort of 'list'.
But, as I said, I'm not familiar with Optimus myself, directly.

Ohh! if I find the time i'll search the e-mail I got from requesting this same issue with ASUS.
I remember something with updating my BIOS, and reinstalling my nVidia drivers, and after that I could choose which graphic card to use by using the nVidia tool under Control Panel.

That would be helpful, thanks!

I'm currently wiping it as the drivers from PC Specialist didn't work either although that isn't going to plan as the laptop doesn't have a CD drive and when attempting to install off of a USB stick the installation complains that it can't find any USB or network drivers and refuses to continue.

I spent last night building a custom image and have injected the required drivers into it so I'll roll that out later today and will hopefully have a semi working laptop...

i've had the same problem on my ASUS my solution was:

-go to the nvidia control panel
- on the left you'll see 3D Settings under selet a task.... select Manage 3D settings

Then either make your preferred graphics processor the nvidia one, or go to the program settings tab and select what processor you want for each specific program.

hope this helps

I'd tried that previously but it had no effect and remained using the HD 3000 - Although a quick Google search showed that I wasn't the only one experiencing this issue.

I'm hoping that once I've got Windows reinstalled it will either have resolved the bug and enable me to switch GPU's or will default to the nVidia card as I haven't put the Intel drivers in to the image I've built.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...1091513AAVe8OA

According to that, you cannot disable the Intel HD 3000 GFX, (infact doing so will cause more issues )the technology is made to run both so that when the system needs the extra power from a dedicated card it switches over, looks like your going to need a BIOS update to solve this one.

I take it all drivers etc are up to date? Espically the Intel ones.

Hey, came here to say that I don't seem to have the email anymore on how to fix,
Did you fix the problem yet?

Hey I came across this problem myself today as I just got a new AsusN56VM. I had suspisicons that the NVIDIA 630M wasnt being used. The way to solve the issue is run the Nvidia control Pannel. Go to Manage 3D settings. On the Program settings tab you have to select the drop down and select the exact path of the executable file you want the Card to boost. Make sure Nvidia High-Performance Processor card is selected below that. I tested this out before and after on Black Ops 2. After I saw someone with the 630M put their settings to HIGH on youtube whilst playing Black ops 2. My graphics definately couldnt do that before i made these adjustments. Hope this helps anyone else who stumbles across this in the future!