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    Switching Primary/Secondary Graphics Cards (Aspire 5742G)

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by needo2, May 12, 2011.

  1. needo2

    needo2 Newbie

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    I need this sooo much
    My laptop has 2 cards
    Intel(R) HD Graphics (Primary)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M (Secondary)

    I want to make NVIDIA primary because all applications those don't create a new screen use Intel one whatever I do (even if I right click and start with NVIDIA)
    All windowed applications (or those appear as fullscreen by resizing to max and removing borders, but still ?integrated? to desktop) have this problem

    Theres no option in BIOS to switch between PCI or AGP or disable On-Board cards
    BIOS is InsydeH2O (interface 3.5 I guess and installed version is 1.19 <lastest>)

    A software to switch between cards would work too
     
    needo2, May 12, 2011
    #1
  2. Arminator

    Arminator Notebook Evangelist

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    It has Nvidia Optimus and you can`t manually switch between integrated HD and dedicated 540M card...
    Optimus automatically deactivates dedicated GPU if "muscle" is not needed (ie for heavy 3d applications such as games) to save power since HD uses less power and also to decrease heat since HD creates less heat, thus less power used -> less heat generated -> more comfortable usage...
    I hope this explanation was useful...
    Cheers
     
    Arminator, May 16, 2011
    #2
  3. needo2

    needo2 Newbie

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    ya I figured out sometime later
     
    needo2, May 16, 2011
    #3