Question Graphics cards question?

pauly01

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Have a dell xps 15 9550 laptop for many years. Specs are


i5-6300hq processor

1tb ssd nvme - Upgraded from 250gb ssd a while back

32gb ram - Upgraded from 8gb a while back.



Intel ® HD Graphics 530
NVidia Geforce GTX 960M



Would like all my programs to use the nvidia geforce gtx 960m as oppose to the intel. Such as programs that i want to run would want to use the faster gpu. Notice when running some of these programs, on task manager some of them show GPU 0 ... which is the intel hd 530 graphics. Some use the nvidia geforce gtx 960m.


Had went to nvidia settings where


Global settings... I changed it to high-performance NVIDIA processor. By default it was the Auto select I believe. I don't think it was integrated graphics which is the only other option. I also see tab of program settings where you can click on programs like chrome, firefox etc and select the preferred graphics processor for this program. By default its integrated graphics. Should i change chrome to High Performance NVIDIA Processor? What about the other programs on dropdown menu like Control, Intel Control Panel, Calculator etc?
 

pauly01

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When i go to settings - displays - I see display with 3 monitors. It looks like 1 2 3. The 1 is my laptop monitor screen, 2 is the 32' 4k screen and 3 is the 24' 1920x1200 screen.


When I click on graphics settings at the bottom for any of these 3 monitor screens, it ask to


Choose an app to set preference


Default is

Desktop app


If click on dropdown menu, it's microsoft store. You can click browse... but when you click browse, you suppose to idchoose all the programs on your idcesktop that you want it to run high performance right? Because i did that with several of the programs. But when i ran one of the programs, how come it still shows using the gpu 0? Even when i right click that shortcut icon on the desktop, and look at graphics driver - it shows nvidia high performance (default) yet it seem to still use the intel graphics card?
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Here's the steps on how to set it to default.
  1. Open the "Nvidia Control Panel".
  2. Select "Manage 3D Settings" under 3D Settings.
  3. Click on the "Program Settings" tab and select the program you want to choose a graphics card for from the drop down list.
  4. Now select "preferred graphics processor" in the drop down list. (You can see what the automatic option is listed as global setting) If you want to use the dedicated graphics card, select High-performance Nvidia processor.
Once it is running on the right one, test the system again and see if the problem persists.
 

pauly01

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i added some of these programs to it but it shows global nvidia high performance already.

i then changed it to nvidia high performance which is the same thing right? Still that program runs on gpu 0 thus the intel one?
 

pauly01

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How do I know for sure if my Intel HD 530 Graphics Card and the NVidia Geforce GTX 960M is indeed up to date? Because when I check the GPU 1 which is the Nvidia Geforce GTX 960M on the task manager, the driver version it shows is 26.21.144270. That seem to be the same when checking my xps 9550 on the dell driver site? If i were to right click on Nvidia panel, then go to help and system information, it show Driver Version 442.70. Is that updated or not?
 
How do I know for sure if my Intel HD 530 Graphics Card and the NVidia Geforce GTX 960M is indeed up to date? Because when I check the GPU 1 which is the Nvidia Geforce GTX 960M on the task manager, the driver version it shows is 26.21.144270. That seem to be the same when checking my xps 9550 on the dell driver site? If i were to right click on Nvidia panel, then go to help and system information, it show Driver Version 442.70. Is that updated or not?
If you notice the last 5 digits of the driver version are the same as what NVIDIA is reporting.

NVIDIA may change how they show driver version numbers for the benefit of the general public, even though something else may use a different system entirely. Heck even Microsoft does this with Windows. Like Windows 11 is not the 11th version of anything, because it's not the 11th version of any public release nor is it using the 11th version of any major component (it's still using version 10 of the NT kernel).

And heck where I work, there are different version numbering schemes, and they're completely separate from each other.

In any case, use only what the NVIDIA control panel is reporting, because that's how NVIDIA reports versions for public release. If you want to find out if you're using the latest version, look up your GPU on https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx
 

pauly01

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so am i using the latest Intel HD 530 Graphics Card and the NVidia Geforce GTX 960M then? You say yes to NVidia Geforce GTX 960M?


the Intel HD 530 Graphics Card
driver on task manager seem to be 30.0.101.1340
 
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