Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: clerick on February 01, 2013, 04:57:25 PM

Title: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: clerick on February 01, 2013, 04:57:25 PM
I picked up a newish laptop and was hoping to use it to play AH. I discovered after the fact that it has an integrated Intel GPU as well as a mobile ATI 6650 that it is supposed to switch between for power saving or power (stupid stupid stupid idea).

When I boot up AH it only sees the Intel card even though I've gone into the switching software and specified the ATI card.

Any thoughts, suggestions etc?

Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: pembquist on February 01, 2013, 07:03:10 PM
my lenovo laptop has an NVidia card and auto switches but you have to specify what programs use what video, the auto seems to prefer the onboard.  Also, very important, my laptop has a physical switch that you have to switch to power the video card. I have forgotten about it twice and been completely stumped by 9 fpm rates until somehow the memory floated up.  Kinda like leaving the parking brake on and wondering what that smell is and why the car doesn't accelerate like it usually does.
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: clerick on February 01, 2013, 07:14:37 PM
my lenovo laptop has an NVidia card and auto switches but you have to specify what programs use what video, the auto seems to prefer the onboard.  Also, very important, my laptop has a physical switch that you have to switch to power the video card. I have forgotten about it twice and been completely stumped by 9 fpm rates until somehow the memory floated up.  Kinda like leaving the parking brake on and wondering what that smell is and why the car doesn't accelerate like it usually does.

Appreciate the input. There is no physical switch to worry about. From what I'm finding online it's been a nightmare for other users as well.  I was just hoping that the uber geeks that troll this board would have a solution.
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: deadstikmac on February 01, 2013, 09:13:54 PM
Right click the game and run as administrator should allow you to switch the gpu used also with right clicking the launcher for the game.
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: clerick on February 01, 2013, 09:44:33 PM
I installed a GPU monitor and it looks as if AH is actually using the better GPU. What is throwing me off is that when you open the program and select "video settings" from the clipboard it only shows the integrated GPU.

I guess I don't know if i have an issue or not at this point.

I tried running as administrator and it doesn't give me the ability to choose a GPU, that seems to only exist in ATI's CCC.
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: deadstikmac on February 01, 2013, 10:00:04 PM
 :bhead
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: clerick on February 01, 2013, 10:14:07 PM
:bhead

Yep, that was me for the last few hours.

this has to be the dumbest idea ever. Give me a multicore GPU instead of this ATI/Intel hybrid nonsense....
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: Bizman on February 02, 2013, 04:30:06 AM
I was just hoping that the uber geeks that troll this board would have a solution.

I don't know if I qualify...

First I'd look at the power saving options and set them to "best performance" at least when the laptop is connected to mains. It won't hurt to scroll through all settings involved to the "best" profile, there might be something concerning the video card choice. Those settings seem to be somewhat brand specific.
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: clerick on February 02, 2013, 07:00:33 AM
I don't know if I qualify...

First I'd look at the power saving options and set them to "best performance" at least when the laptop is connected to mains. It won't hurt to scroll through all settings involved to the "best" profile, there might be something concerning the video card choice. Those settings seem to be somewhat brand specific.

Went down this road too. I have poured through every setting I can find and you would think that there would be a way to say "Ignore the Intel crap completely and use the ATI foreverz," but there isn't.
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: titanic3 on February 02, 2013, 07:57:16 AM
1. Make sure you have drivers from the laptop's manufacturer instead of AMD's.
2. Right click My Computer, go to graphics properties, change the settings there.
3. Go into your bios, change the graphic settings there.

It could be either 3 of these solutions, though I would try #1 last.
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: deadstikmac on February 02, 2013, 09:33:52 AM
Ya disable it in bios might be a bad idea... It would "force"?
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: titanic3 on February 02, 2013, 11:38:38 AM
I don't know about laptops but I would assume there's a similar settings in the bios to desktops.

On my PC, if you go into the bios, you can either select "Automatic", "Onboard" or "Dedicated VGA" (or something similar like that). See if there's a setting like that and change it to the dedicated GPU.
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: Denniss on February 02, 2013, 08:38:36 PM
AMD Vision Engine control center, power, switchable graphics, it may have already listed the actual game executable or you need to add it and set to high performance.
Several games have problems to properly detect a switchable graphics as they usually only pop-in once the game swiches into 3D Mode and stay hidden otherwise.


http://images.anandtech.com/doci/6243/amd-enduro-slide-06.jpg
Title: Re: Laptop with Switchable graphics... UGH!
Post by: clerick on February 02, 2013, 10:08:35 PM
Thanks for all the input. I've been able to verify that it is using the ATI GPU for AH2 it's just that AH2 isnt "seeing it" in the graphics set up. I'm leaving well enough alone i think.