Using integrated graphics over dedicated gpu

[Totalriot]

I recently got a new laptop and I've been trying to do some gaming (nothing that the nVidia ion should not be able to handle.) I have searched everywhere and done the whole "set preferred graphics to nVidia card" deal in the control panel. The BIOS has no option to disable integrated graphics so I can't do that. Anyone know how to fix this? It would be very appreciated

 

[Robert Cook]

Nvidia Ion sounds like some slightly beefy integrated graphics, it has at most 16 cuda cores, and a something like half a GB of Vram. If that is so, then you are probably already using it. it does have drivers for download, but you probably already have them.

 

[Solandri]

I just researched a similar problem a friend was having. One of her games would only use her laptop's integrated graphics no matter what settings she changed to force nvidia graphics.

The short answer is unless the game was programmed to know about hybrid (switchable) graphics, it's possible it will only run on the integrated graphics. The way most modern hybrid graphics work is that the integrated graphics is always on and drives the screen. The dedicated graphics acts like a co-processor, and sends screen output to the integrated graphics, which does the actual displaying.

If the game is properly programmed, it will detect both the integrated graphics and the "co-processor" and use both. If the game is improperly coded and assumes there's only ever one graphics card like in the old days, it will detect the integrated graphics and stop there. It will not detect nor use the dedicated graphics.

If your laptop has a BIOS setting to disable integrated graphics, that setting forces the dedicated GPU to drive the screen. No pass-through via the integrated graphics. And the game will properly detect the dedicated GPU as your "only" graphics card.

Otherwise the only work-around is that on some (most?) laptops the external HDMI port is connected directly to the dedicated GPU. If that's the case on your laptop, you can hook up an external monitor to your laptop, set it to display on the external monitor only (turn off the laptop screen or change the external monitor to be your primary display), and the game should then detect the dedicated graphics as your "only" video card.

 

[sora]

I recently got a new laptop and I've been trying to do some gaming (nothing that the nVidia ion should not be able to handle.) I have searched everywhere and done the whole "set preferred graphics to nVidia card" deal in the control panel. The BIOS has no option to disable integrated graphics so I can't do that. Anyone know how to fix this? It would be very appreciated

I think nVidia Ion could be a type of integrated graphics although you can try disabling the primary (Intel HD Graphics) graphics driver in Device Manager and checking out what happens afterwards.

 

[Totalriot]

nVidia Ion is a dedicated gpu. Intel HD is the integrated graphics being used. Someone I know has the same laptop I do but his gives much faster frame rates than what I'm getting

 

[Robert Cook]

Try going into device manager and either disabling INTEL HD or enabling the Ion video system.