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    Alienware graphics Processor help !!

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by Shawnnyy, Mar 6, 2012.

  1. Shawnnyy

    Shawnnyy Newbie

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    Hey, i just recently purchased a alienware m14x, and i know it has two different graphics processors, integrated and high performance nvidia gt 555m or something.

    I was just wondering how i switch between the two so that i can have maximum battery life. For example when im just using it for web surfing and word i want it on integrated to preserve battery and my graphics card for gaming.
     
    Shawnnyy, Mar 6, 2012
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  2. conscriptvirus

    conscriptvirus Notebook Evangelist

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    you don't have to do anything really. it works pretty well by itself. most of the time it uses the integrated video card and when you turn on a game it automatically switches. the only problems ive seen people run into is that the game doesn't start with the nvidia card, but that can be easily fixed by changing a setting in the nvidia control panel.

    when you do get your laptop, look in the nvidia control panel and you can turn on a GPU usage indicator in the system tray (next to the clock). this will let you know if and when a program is using your dedicated video card.
     
    conscriptvirus, Mar 7, 2012
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  3. tyler27

    tyler27 Notebook Consultant

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    i should do it automatically but if you wanna just switch you can right click the desktop and open the nvidia control panel and under the global tab pick either the integrated or nvidia
     
    tyler27, Mar 7, 2012
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  4. owatch15

    owatch15 Notebook Consultant

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    Yep. Optimus controls and determines whether to use your GPU or your integrated graphics depending on the demand of the program. You shouldn't have to touch anything. But you can do like tyler27 said or whenever you run a program right click it and choose Run with: Nvidia processor or integrated graphics.
     
    owatch15, Mar 7, 2012
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  5. CGSDR

    CGSDR Alien Master Race

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    You dont really have to do anything, but one thing you want to do is the whitelist the game, for this most game will automatically run uisng the GT555M but some game require you to manually whitelist it, and you can do it by going to the Control Panel and find NVIDIA Control Panel then follow this instruction. You can also do what Tyler27 said, but there is a flaw to tyler27's method which is it is a global option, meaning if you choose GT555M then all of the game and application will try to run on the GT555M vice versa, but if you use the next tab which Program Setting, then you can choose to instruct each program to run on either GPU.
     
    CGSDR, Mar 7, 2012
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