"Switchable graphics": BIOS setting or support via Catalyst driver?

[fredem54]

Hi,

How is "Switchable graphics" supported on HP laptops? Is it via a BIOS setting, or is it through the Catalyst drivers?

Even when this is through Catalyst drivers, is there a way to permanently disable the built-in Intel HD graphics and only use the ATI Radeon HD5430/5450/5470 graphics card?

I'm a bit concerned with Switchable Graphics through the driver, as it requires a custom-built HP driver, eg. I cannot use drivers provided by ATI, which is a bit scary.

Thanks,

Fred

[Cyclops]

How is "Switchable graphics" supported on HP laptops? - It is function of BIOS supporting this feature

Is it via a BIOS setting, or is it through the Catalyst drivers? - the Switching is controller by the driver

Even when this is through Catalyst drivers, is there a way to permanently disable the built-in Intel HD graphics and only use the ATI Radeon HD5430/5450/5470 graphics card? - Yes, check below screenshot... but there is ATI-ATI switchable graphics as well, but only on AMD units, for which drivers can be downloaded from ATI directly as well...

[fredem54]

Thanks for your reply.

On your screenshot a custom-built HP version of the Catalyst drivers is showed.

If I choose to set my display adapter to "ATI Radeon HD5450" in my BIOS settings, will I be able to install and use the latest ATI Catalyst drivers (not HP drivers) located here:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-64.aspx

The release notes say:

"The following notebook graphics products are not supported in this release:

Switchable Graphics enabled notebooks using Intel chipsets."

The laptop I intend to purchase is a DM4-1070SF. It has a Core i5-430M CPU, and a "switchable" Radeon HD5450. Can I install the latest ATI-provided Catalyst drivers on this laptop, if I enable the Radeon HD5450 through the BIOS?

Thanks,

Fred

[patel_savan28]

i cant switchable my driver to intel to ati.......

wat can i do.....?

[TAS-DV6]

anhy update on this possibility?

[sfawzy]

the bios fix that we are promised should enable switching between dynamic mode and fixed mode.

the dynamic mode will only work with hp's driver which means they still wond support opengel and also it wont support overclocking.

in the fixed mode you have the option to manually switch between the two gpu so this means yes you can perminitly disable the intel card*(see note below). also you will be able to use the latest drivers provided from ati.

in the 61xx models the intel card canot be disabled at any time since the screen is only connected to it. when you choose ati it disables intel card for processing and it works as a mux only

[TAS-DV6]

So are you saying this won't work because  my machine has the Radeon HD6770m Graphics so the screen has no direct connection to the graphics card?   

[sfawzy]

what i am saying is that the bios update will let you force all apps to use the ati card but in fact both gpus will be active. what happens is the ati card does all the processing and puts the results in the intels gpu memory to be rendered on the screen by the intel card

[sfawzy]

read this link to understand ati's muxless switchable grapgics design

http://www.rage3d.com/articles/amd_powerxpress4_asif_rehman_interview/

[619formula]

 How can i switch graphics parmanently to amd radeon 6740m in pavilion g6-1117tx?