How to verify which graphics chip being used?

Hey all,

I am loving my y580 so far but I have one (possibly stupid) question: How do I know which card is being used while playing a game?

Of course on higher end games this would be easily detectable but my current main game is World of Warcraft, a not very graphics card heavy game.

My reasons for suspicions are:

A) When in the video section of the settings, the game is recommending incredibly low settings. Everything set to either Low or Disabled. This concerns me since Skyrim suggested ULTRA for every single setting when I first launched that game.

B) While I am playing at 1920x1080, it still seems like I should be getting higher FPS than this. I will dip down as low as 40fps even when only out in the world by myself. With 8GB of RAM, a core i7, and 2GB video card I think I should pretty much be pegged at 60fps outside of cities or raids.

C) With the game running in the background I ran a DXDiag query. Its showing the Intel chip as the current display adapter. Now, I dont know enough about Optimus to know if it would automatically switch back to the intergrated chip if the game is minimized.

Is there some way to ensure the nVidia card is being used?

Thanks

Eric

 

On your desktop, right click and select "NVIDIA Control Panel".
Click on "Manage 3D Settings".
Click on "Program Settings".
Look for your game, then select "High-performance NVIDIA processor".

This will ensure that everytime you launch the game, it will use the gtx660m

 

You could also monitor when the discrete graphics are being used by accessing the Nvidia Control Panel, clicking on "Desktop" menu on the top, and selecting "Display GPU Activity Icon in Notification Area".

This will notify you in the right hand side of your taskbar whenever the discrete graphics are being used (icon will be lit up when used).