My integrated graphics card is performing better than my dedicated one

[bmcke]

Hello! I'm using a laptop that has all of the following:

Intel Core i7-3635QM CPU @ 2.40GHz
8 GB RAM

and then for the graphics cards it has:

Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M

For some reason when I'm trying to run some things like Games or Photoshop or whatever, my computer runs those things better if it's running them on the Intel card instead of the NVIDIA one. Just as one example, if I try to play Guild Wars 2, I get 20 FPS better on the Intel Card than I do on the NVIDIA one.

Now obviously that shouldn't be happening, and I'd like to know if there's something I can do to make my NVIDIA card run better than the integrated one.

 

[MalakiArtook]

have you updated drivers or tried different ones?

 

[bmcke]

have you updated drivers or tried different ones?

I've tried using a few different drivers for the NVIDIA card, but none of them seemed to affect performance at all. That was maybe one or two months ago though so it's possible that there's a newer one available now that I haven't tried.

 

[Jerry Jose]

If your laptop has a dedicated GPU then I am sure that is the one your computer would use for gaming......

And by the way how are you able to choose which GPU to use for games ???

 

[bmcke]

If your laptop has a dedicated GPU then I am sure that is the one your computer would use for gaming......

And by the way how are you able to choose which GPU to use for games ???

There's a program called NVIDIA control panel that can let you choose which card each program you have uses. When I tell it to use the integrated card and then start a program it'll run faster than if I pick the NVIDIA one and start it.

 

[Jerry Jose]

Did you try downloading the latest driver ????

Here's the link for your driver ::::::
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/73784

And nvidia gt 640m is far better in gaming performance than an hd 4000...

 

[GrimzardTech]

lol i have a gt640 asus 2gb and its be doing me really well, 640m ive seen acheive ultra playing witcher 2 w/o uber smapling and maintain 50 PLUS fps, and when you right click on a game, does it come up as an option to choose the gfx?

 

[bmcke]

Did you try downloading the latest driver ????

Here's the link for your driver ::::::
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/73784

And nvidia gt 640m is far better in gaming performance than an hd 4000...

I think it's updated, but to be extra safe I'll try downloading it and see if it helps.

I think you are talking about physx. Nvidia control panel allows you to choose physx processr among graphics card and cpu. There's no setting in nvidia control panel that allows you to choose between integrated graphics and dedicated graphics card. Am i right? If yes and physx is what you are talking about, then some games perform better when cpu is selected as physx processor instead of gpu. That's a perfectly fine behaviour of your system then.

I don't believe so, here's a screenshot of exactly what I'm talking about:

 

[Jerry Jose]

Did you try downloading the latest driver ????

Here's the link for your driver ::::::
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/73784

And nvidia gt 640m is far better in gaming performance than an hd 4000...

I think it's updated, but to be extra safe I'll try downloading it and see if it helps.

I think you are talking about physx. Nvidia control panel allows you to choose physx processr among graphics card and cpu. There's no setting in nvidia control panel that allows you to choose between integrated graphics and dedicated graphics card. Am i right? If yes and physx is what you are talking about, then some games perform better when cpu is selected as physx processor instead of gpu. That's a perfectly fine behaviour of your system then.

I don't believe so, here's a screenshot of exactly what I'm talking about:

Hmmm seems from the image though that you are right about that switching of gpu thing.....anyway try latest driver and report bro..

 

[bmcke]

Hm, updating the driver didn't seem to help with anything sadly.

Also I'm pretty sure this is the thing that let's it switch between cards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus

 

[KevinAr18]

You might also want to check if you are using higher quality settings and/or a higher resolution for the GT 640M than for the HD 4000.

Another possibility, could be that your GT 640M is getting too hot and has to lower the clock speed to keep from overheating. How old is the laptop? Have you cleaned the dust out of it recently?

You may want to monitor both the clock speed and temperatures of the video card to see if it is actually running at the correct speed that it should be.

 

[Jerry Jose]

Are you trying the programs/games with these two gpu's with the same settings ???

I think you are running applications with intel hd 4000 at lower settings....

Try and report bro....

 

[bmcke]

The graphics settings are the same for both. Here's what both the graphics cards look like while I'm not playing anything:

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/14/05/06/2bz.png

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/14/05/06/d69.png

And when I'm playing (I switched cards each time before taking screenshots):

I'm not really sure what to make of the numbers though. Also the laptop is a bit over a year old and I don't think it's had dust cleaned out of it before. Would I need to take it apart or anything to do that?

Also the framerate tends to be better on the integrated one, but also less stable. It still runs better despite that though.

 

[KevinAr18]

Nothing looks particularly out of the ordinary. The GT 640M should run at 625Mhz for the core.

However, after some investigation consider this:
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Mobile/Nvidia-GeForce-GT-640M-Review-Kepler-Arrives-Mobile/Performance-Verdict

Games should perform better on the GT 640; however, if you have a rare game that is limited by the CPU, it may perform around the same. To test this theory, you can drastically lower the resolution and see if the GT 640M gets lots better FPS than the HD 4000 at lower resolutions.

If you want to double check the settings again to see if they are both set the same you could...
1. Save a game while it is paused.
2. Open up the paused game and take a screenshot of the same scene using both the GT 640M and the HD 4000 and then compare the images.

 

[bmcke]

Changing the resolution doesn't seem to affect performance much, if at all. The settings I'm also 100% sure are the same between cards.

Also cleaning out dust didn't seem to help either.

 

[biggyb]

I have an Acer V3-571G
Intel Core I3 3110m 2.4ghz dual core with Intel HD 4000
Nvidia geforce gt640m 2gb (newest drivers, also tested with the older ones)
4gb DDR3 1333mhz
Samsung 840 evo 120gb ssd
Battlefield 4(1280x720 all low) runs about 20fps is it normal? max 25..
GTA IV (1280x720 all low/off draw distance 25) about 20-30fps
when gaming the cpu and the 640m is on about 75 degrees celcius.
is it normal?