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    Manually switch to nVidia Graphics (m14x R2)

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by MGSteve, Aug 16, 2012.

  1. MGSteve

    MGSteve Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi, does anyone know of a way that you can manually switch to the nVidia GPU?

    My current HP automatically switches when you plug it in, which would be great if the M14x could do that as well.

    But I can't see a mention of how to manually switch them at all.
     
    MGSteve, Aug 16, 2012
    #1
  2. dieyouwill

    dieyouwill Newbie

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    if you right click on the desktop and open nvidia control panel, under 3d settings there is an option to always use the nvidia gpu. that might work for you, but it didnt work for me. im getting horrible framerates on my m14x even when its using the nvidia card.
     
    dieyouwill, Aug 16, 2012
    #2
  3. iPhantomhives

    iPhantomhives Click the image to change your avatar.

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    Try High Performance in battery setting and set "never" on everything.
     
    iPhantomhives, Aug 16, 2012
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  4. dieyouwill

    dieyouwill Newbie

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    i have treid that too, and still nothing. i get 20 fps in battlefield 3 on low settings, and i cant for the life of me figure out what is going on.
     
    dieyouwill, Aug 16, 2012
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  5. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Alienware-L_Porras, Aug 16, 2012
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  6. salanos

    salanos Notebook Consultant

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    Did your old HP also black out the screen and show a dialog when switching? That means your old HP did not use Optimus.
     
    salanos, Aug 16, 2012
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  7. niko2021

    niko2021 Notebook Evangelist

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    Your hp used the first generation of dual graphics, i think the first m11x had this. It would have to be switched manually, and there would be like a 5 second wait period for the graphics card to switch. The newer nvidia optimus uses software that switches seemlessly. you can set in the whitelist a program, or just to make sure, you can right click a program, like on the desktop, and choose "run with high performance graphics card." I do this when I want to run the browser with the nvidia card.

    Also, in the nvidia software, you can set a tray icon to show when your dedicated graphics card is in use or not, that would help you verify which card is in use.
     
    niko2021, Aug 17, 2012
    #7