[SOLVED] Windows 10 treats dedicated GPU as the integrated one

Sep 23, 2020
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Hello, I've a PC with an AMD A4-5000 APU and an integrated Radeon HD 8330 GPU plus a discrete Radeon HD 8600M GPU which I don't know if it's a 8630, 8670 or 8690. Now, when I install the drivers from AMD, both GPU drivers installs correctly, but for some reason Windows 10 (build 2004) treats the discrete GPU as the integrated one, like, both GPUs are treated as one and so I can't correctly use the discrete GPU for more heavy tasks since Windows will redirect everything to the integrated GPU. When I use the Windows feature to select which GPU use for an app, it only shows the 8330 on both power saver and high performance options. Task Manager reports integrated GPU's values for the discrete GPU, dxdiag doesn't even know about the discrete GPU existence and when I disable the discrete GPU from Device Manager, which correctly reports two different GPUs by the way, it's like I disabled the integrated one. This is so confusing and I don't know what to do, and yet, on AMD Radeon Settings both GPUs are detected perfectly fine.
I already tried to fully uninstall both drivers using DDU and reinstall them, but it didn't solved the issue. The drivers are the latest ones from AMD (09/16/2020) and Windows 10 is freshly installed and fully updated
 
Solution
@TerryLaze I solved the issue, well, mostly, but now at least I understand the root cause
It wasn't a Windows related issue and it wasn't a driver related issue either, instead it's a design flaw in either the PC bios or the firmware of the CPU/integrated graphics
From what I understood, when you install drivers for the integrated graphics, no matter if the discrete one already has drivers installed or not, for some reason the PC will install those drivers for the discrete one too, I don't know if it's related to the bios doing something wrong or it's the cpu/iGPU firwmare, hence why date and driver versions are the same between the two cards
BUT, if after installing the integrated graphics drivers you install different drivers...
The drivers are the latest ones from AMD (09/16/2020) and Windows 10 is freshly installed and fully updated
Well there's your problem.
You have to use the driver that the laptop website gives you for windows to correctly see both gpus.
Try to not install any graphics driver for the APU,only for the discreet, and disable windows from downloading one also and try again with the windows feature.
Otherwise you will have to use the old driver from the laptop maker.
 
Sep 23, 2020
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Well there's your problem.
You have to use the driver that the laptop website gives you for windows to correctly see both gpus.
Try to not install any graphics driver for the APU,only for the discreet, and disable windows from downloading one also and try again with the windows feature.
Otherwise you will have to use the old driver from the laptop maker.
Asus doesn't seem to provide gpu drivers for this specific laptop, and AMD installers are global, meaning that I can even download the installer for an RX 580 gpu, but the installer will always install the correct drivers for my system, so it will always install both gpu drivers without letting me choose what I want to install first
 
Sep 23, 2020
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They have the amd driver only on windows 8 64bit, should work on any newer windows as well.
I would try those drivers.
I think Windows 10 doesn't like those drivers so much View: https://imgur.com/a/AQzxjvC

I installed them correctly but I guess they're just too old
What if I try to download the drivers from AMD but I try those for Win8.1 instead? AMD stopped supporting them since 2017 though
Or even better I can try to download the Win7 ones which are still supported
 
I installed them correctly but I guess they're just too old
What if I try to download the drivers from AMD but I try those for Win8.1 instead? AMD stopped supporting them since 2017 though
Or even better I can try to download the Win7 ones which are still supported
No wouldn't work, the drivers from the laptop maker are the only ones that correctly set up the system to recognise both gpus.

There used to be people that would take laptop drivers and update them to include newer versions of the drivers but I don't know if that's still a thing.
 
Sep 23, 2020
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No wouldn't work, the drivers from the laptop maker are the only ones that correctly set up the system to recognise both gpus.

There used to be people that would take laptop drivers and update them to include newer versions of the drivers but I don't know if that's still a thing.
I don't know, but mine doesn't seem to be the case
Meanwhile, Win7 drivers are a no no, the installer works and installs Radeon Settings but not the drivers, while the Win8.1 installer is just corrupted, so even if I go with installing Windows 8.1 on this machine (which I think it's the best thing to do, Win10 feels heavy), I don't know how I'm gonna install the latest supported drivers
If you don't have any other ideas, I guess then I'm going to create a Win8.1 install disk
 
Sep 23, 2020
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I can't believe this, it's happening on Windows 8.1 too. I just freshly installed it and after installing the first drivers for both GPUs using Windows Update (drivers from 2014), the issue still persists. How is this even possible???
As soon as I can I'll try to download the correct and updated drivers for Win8.1 and hope that it'll fix the issue
 
Sep 23, 2020
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@TerryLaze I solved the issue, well, mostly, but now at least I understand the root cause
It wasn't a Windows related issue and it wasn't a driver related issue either, instead it's a design flaw in either the PC bios or the firmware of the CPU/integrated graphics
From what I understood, when you install drivers for the integrated graphics, no matter if the discrete one already has drivers installed or not, for some reason the PC will install those drivers for the discrete one too, I don't know if it's related to the bios doing something wrong or it's the cpu/iGPU firwmare, hence why date and driver versions are the same between the two cards
BUT, if after installing the integrated graphics drivers you install different drivers for the discrete one, it'll actually install them without interfering with the integrated, and so they'll separate each other (mostly though, because if you disable the discrete it'll be like disabling the integrated too, and dxdiag still detects only the integrated)

Here are the steps on how I fixed the issue:
-I downloaded both Win8.1 drivers for the 8330 and 8670M from AMD's website, I used those since the Crimson 2017 installer is specific driver installer, not like the Adrenalin 2020 one where includes all types of drivers in one package (which by the way the Win8.1 installers weren't corrupted, just my browser being an idiot while downloading them)
-I ran the installer for the 8330, which installed the control center and the drivers for itself and then for the 8670M
-I then opened Device Manager and manually updated the 8670M by selecting it's correct drivers from it's specific installer
-Done, now I've the drivers correctly installed for both cards and a fully working AMD Radeon Settings

I could actually try to do the same with the Adrenalin 2020 edition by downloading the Win7 version, but the reason I don't want to is because in the new editions of AMD software the option to switch graphics per program has been removed, so if I do that then I don't know how I could assign graphics per app anymore, thing I can still do with the Crimson 2017 edition (I've OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan and DX11.1 anyway so I don't think I'll have compatibility issues)
 
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