nVidia GeForce GT620M and Intel HD 4000 combi: Nvidia not showing up

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

Running Win8 Pro 64bit on a Samsung Series 5 530U4C and it has a built in
Intel HD-4000 graphics adapter and an
Nvidia GeForce GT620M "external" graphics adapter with 1GB of RAM.

Both graphics adapters show up in control panel and both have their control
centers.
BUT DXDIAG will only show the intel HD adapter, and when attempting to play
an elderly game (RageRalley and Midnight GT) i am ask to select the
DirectDraw driver and it will only show me the intel hd 4000 and NOT the
nVidia one.

I do know that this is some kind of combination between the 2 cards, i also
know that notebooks are not really for gaming and also i know that Win8 is
not made for running old games.
(the mentioned games hence do not run properly)

Still the interesting question remains: in such notebooks with combined
graphics cards, is there some way to select the better external card as the
main preferred card and to prevent the intel hd 4000 from being used?

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[BillW50]

On 12/12/2012 6:07 AM, Roland Schweiger wrote:
> Running Win8 Pro 64bit on a Samsung Series 5 530U4C and it has a built in
> Intel HD-4000 graphics adapter and an
> Nvidia GeForce GT620M "external" graphics adapter with 1GB of RAM.
>
> Both graphics adapters show up in control panel and both have their
> control centers.
> BUT DXDIAG will only show the intel HD adapter, and when attempting to
> play an elderly game (RageRalley and Midnight GT) i am ask to select the
> DirectDraw driver and it will only show me the intel hd 4000 and NOT the
> nVidia one.
>
> I do know that this is some kind of combination between the 2 cards, i
> also know that notebooks are not really for gaming and also i know that
> Win8 is not made for running old games.
> (the mentioned games hence do not run properly)
>
> Still the interesting question remains: in such notebooks with combined
> graphics cards, is there some way to select the better external card as
> the main preferred card and to prevent the intel hd 4000 from being used?
>
> greetings
>
> Roland Schweiger

First, I thought that DXDIAG allowed you through a drop down menu to
switch to another graphic card? Maybe not. How it used to work was some
machines you can select which one to use in the BIOS settings upon boot.
But when Windows boots, Windows overrides this setting. And Windows
remembers what setting it was the last time.

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8

[Roland Schweiger[_3_]]

"BillW50" schrieb im Newsbeitrag

>First, I thought that DXDIAG allowed you through a drop down menu to switch
>to another graphic card? Maybe not. How it used to work was some machines
>you can select which one to use in the BIOS settings upon boot. But when
>Windows boots, Windows overrides this setting. And Windows remembers what
>setting it was the last time.


So i suppose that this means, nothing can be done?
The control panel of the nVidia card does allow some settings for 3D with a
dropdown box for the nVidia card,
but this obviously does not work. As Dxdiag will not show the nVidia card,
and (elderly) games whose configuration programs ask for a direct draw
driver, will also only show the Intel HD thing.
So i suppose Windows itself does all the work ant it only shows to external
programs the Intel HD thing, and somehow starts using the nVidia card when
required?
Somehow i get the impression that compatibility is very clumsy.
Well ..... maybe some updates in the future will meet for better
integration.

greetings

Roland Schweiger

[charlie[_2_]]

On 12/13/2012 12:24 PM, BillW50 wrote:
> On 12/12/2012 6:07 AM, Roland Schweiger wrote:
>> Running Win8 Pro 64bit on a Samsung Series 5 530U4C and it has a built in
>> Intel HD-4000 graphics adapter and an
>> Nvidia GeForce GT620M "external" graphics adapter with 1GB of RAM.
>>
>> Both graphics adapters show up in control panel and both have their
>> control centers.
>> BUT DXDIAG will only show the intel HD adapter, and when attempting to
>> play an elderly game (RageRalley and Midnight GT) i am ask to select the
>> DirectDraw driver and it will only show me the intel hd 4000 and NOT the
>> nVidia one.
>>
>> I do know that this is some kind of combination between the 2 cards, i
>> also know that notebooks are not really for gaming and also i know that
>> Win8 is not made for running old games.
>> (the mentioned games hence do not run properly)
>>
>> Still the interesting question remains: in such notebooks with combined
>> graphics cards, is there some way to select the better external card as
>> the main preferred card and to prevent the intel hd 4000 from being used?
>>
>> greetings
>>
>> Roland Schweiger
>
> First, I thought that DXDIAG allowed you through a drop down menu to
> switch to another graphic card? Maybe not. How it used to work was some
> machines you can select which one to use in the BIOS settings upon boot.
> But when Windows boots, Windows overrides this setting. And Windows
> remembers what setting it was the last time.
>
There may be a somewhat risky way. Since this is a Laptop, laptops
usually have some sort of recovery scheme implemented on the HD.
Knowing how to utilize it may be the last resort recovery.
That said - -

Step one is usually to specify the video "card" used in boot, and as
BIOS passes control to the OPS system. BIOS'es differ. some are a simple
select, others involve a disable.

Step two is usually to revert to the Microsoft VGA driver. This may be
different on a laptop. I usually try/do this as a before I mess with the
BIOS video related settings.

Step three is to disable the built in video "card" driver(s) in the ops
system.

One of the potential problems has to do with what type of interface is
used for the add on video card. Some allow the add on video "card" to
only be used as a secondary display. Others detect it, and automatically
use it. A few might echo the primary display content on the add on card.
Others don't due to possible differences in resolution.

Each laptop OEM/vendor has it's own way of doing things.