Dedicated Graphics

[Markutio]

Having just brought a new laptop, I tried to play some of the games I have brought on steam. I quickly noticed that they didn't seem to run very well. I spoke to technical support at Dell about the problem and they have informed me that steam will not use dedicated graphics cards over intergrated graphics. Apparently this is a problem with steam and nothing to do with the computer. Has anyone heard this? Is it true? Does anyone know a solution.

The computer btw is this one
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15r-se-7520/pd.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

[Unholy Eve]

Laptops tend to prefer to use the intergrated chipset over a dedicated card when playing some Steam games. This is something you can amend yourself but at this moment in time I can't remember how you go about doing this.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You just have to set the dedicated GPU as the default.
Go into AMD Catalyst and do this in there.

[Markutio]

Ive played about in catalyst control and the power settings. It works fine when i run games like borderlands 2 or assasins creed, which have there own load up window seperate to steam but if i try loading something like skyrim that runs straight off of steam it won't use the dedicated gpu. Also if i go into the options before fully loading skyrim it doesnt give me an option to use anything but the intel hd gpu.

[The Brown Hornet]

If you are using a laptop you would be better off using the integrated chipset, especially if its the more powerful brand of intel HD.

[_I_]

the intel 4000+ igp isnt bad, but cannot compare to the mid-high amd/nvidia mobile gpus

[The Brown Hornet]

Originally posted by MA☝Omgwtfbbqstfu™:

Originally posted by Dark Magician:

If you are using a laptop you would be better off using the integrated chipset, especially if its the more powerful brand of intel HD.

lol no.

trying to do dedicated and integrated on a laptop is a waste of time, if you want to do that just get a Desktop. If you must get a laptop just get the more powerful integrated chipset and call it a day. I'm just saying, less headache, laptops prefer the intergrated chipset so let it have its way.

[MrMcSwifty]

Originally posted by true_tramp_legend:

I spoke to technical support at Dell about the problem and they have informed me that steam will not use dedicated graphics cards over intergrated graphics. Apparently this is a problem with steam and nothing to do with the computer.

That's a line of bull right there. Switchable graphics work just fine when I run Steam games on my wife's Lenovo Z575.

[EikichiR]

I have an older Lenovo that runs just fine with steam games and other games on top of that. Have you tried checking in the Bios on bootup to change the primary graphics controller?

[100% Recycled Awesome]

If you want to gaming on a laptop without buying one of those obscenely expensive gaming laptops and have some technical chops, try this:

http://lifehacker.com/5851902/turn-a-low+powered-laptop-into-a-gaming-machine-with-an-external-video-card-dock

[[UFO] rad87gn]

Originally posted by Dark Magician:

Originally posted by MA☝Omgwtfbbqstfu™:

lol no.

trying to do dedicated and integrated on a laptop is a waste of time, if you want to do that just get a Desktop. If you must get a laptop just get the more powerful integrated chipset and call it a day. I'm just saying, less headache, laptops prefer the intergrated chipset so let it have its way.

Wrong advice. Have you heard of the feature on laptops called "Nvidia with optimus?" Well that is the feature that power saves between the Intel video and the dedicated Nvidia. It comes that way and does power saving that way. You have no choice. It's there and it works great if setup right.

If you want to game. Dedicated is what you want. The Intel graphics can't hang with a real video card that has a ton of processors and a lot of high speed RAM.

A true gaming machine laptop or PC you want a highend dedicated GPU. Facts are facts if you want to play ALL games in a happy way.

[Markutio]

Thanks everyone, for your replies. A few things to add though

@Dark Magician - You are wrong. the computer automatically uses the integrated Intel HD4000 and the few things it runs at all, it does so very poorly. I would never reccomend using it for any gaming

@Mcswifty - Thank you for your particularly helpful reply. I will definatly look into the laptop you have mentioned. I suspected they were speaking crap but was hoping for someone to confirm it.

I'm going to contact dell tomorrow and arrange to return the laptop and get a refund (although Ill probably have to pay to ship it back to them) I have seen a Sony which I'm tempted by also. Although any recomendations of what to get (£700 is my limit) would be appreciated

[The Brown Hornet]

Originally posted by true_tramp_legend:

Thanks everyone, for your replies. A few things to add though

@Dark Magician - You are wrong. the computer automatically uses the integrated Intel HD4000 and the few things it runs at all, it does so very poorly. I would never reccomend using it for any gaming

@Mcswifty - Thank you for your particularly helpful reply. I will definatly look into the laptop you have mentioned. I suspected they were speaking crap but was hoping for someone to confirm it.

I'm going to contact dell tomorrow and arrange to return the laptop and get a refund (although Ill probably have to pay to ship it back to them) I have seen a Sony which I'm tempted by also. Although any recomendations of what to get (£700 is my limit) would be appreciated

Hey maybe that just in your case I know plenty of people with HD 4000 who can run games to their satisfaction, like I stated though you will have to adjust settings of the game in order to do that; for instance run games on medium and in dx9 only. But do note I also said get a more powerful system. And by the way, where in that link does it indicate this laptop uses HD 4000? Are you sure you even have Intel HD at all?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

If u can't find a solid way in which to force a Steam game to run off your Dedicated GPU, here is a simple work around.

Make a folder with shortcuts to your games. Use a direct .exe shortcut, not a shortcut made by Steam. Once that is done. Launch Steam Client, once it's all done loading, go to your games shortcut folder (on desktop or elsewhere) and launch the game via the shortcut u made. As long as Steam is already running, the game should load normal as if it was a non-Steam game. With Steam already running, Steam should still detect the launch of your game as it normally would.

If this alone still does not work, then when u go to launch your game via the shortcut, right click it and there should a selection for "Run using Integrated GPU" "Run using Dedicated GPU" (may appear different depending on your setup. Then just select the later option and this should force a game to run off the dedicated GPU.

Also you want your Windows Power Profile set to High Performance and running on AC Power Adapter. If you run off battery, u might still be able to achieve full performance (depending on the laptop config) but running at full performance on CPU & GPU will mean your battery is not going to last very long during a single session of using it.

However, given your laptop specs, do not expect to crank up very many games @ 1080p (your native screen res). You may need to either turn down visual quality settings in-game to compensate, or lower your screen res in-game.