Two graphics cards?

[Ariss]

I was looking in Device Manager on my laptop, trying to find the specs on my display driver as I have always had problems with it, and I see (what I think are) two display drivers!

Is this normal?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes it is.

Your notebook has the Intel/AMD switchable graphics setup.

For low demand graphics processing the notebook uses the Intel HD graphics.

If your notebook needs more graphics 'horsepower' such as when playing video games, the AMD graphics kicks in.

[Ariss]

Thanks for the quick reply :). Unfortunately my drivers don't seem to switch when I open a graphically instensive application. I can see this when I use the Catalyst Control Center, and all of the applications are using the "power saving" gpu. I can't find a way to change this, however that is probably AMD's fault.

Something that might be causing this is when I go to AMD's website and download the latest drivers, windows update decides to tell me that the drivers are out of date. When I use the latest from AMD, I can use catalyst control center, but when I use the latest from Windows Update, CCC tells me that it has no settings that it can configure. Which one should I use?

I really would like to find a way to stop all of my applications from using the "power saving" gpu.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

You can only use the AMD driver listed on your notebook's support page.

That is a custom driver developed by AMD/Intel to work specifically with the graphics setup your notebook has.

Any attempts made to update the driver by windows update, going to the AMD or Intel websites to find newer drivers will cause the switchable graphics to quit working properly.

I don't have any notebooks with switchable graphics, so I can't help you with how to remedy the issue you are having other than what I have stated above.

Here is some additional info from HP which describes how the amd/intel switchable graphics works.

Your notebook either has the fixed or dynamic switchable graphics.

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c02731962

You will have to read the info on the link to determine what type graphics setup your notebook has.

You cannot change one to the other.  It is what it is...fixed or dyamic.

But if you have installed any other graphics driver than this one, you will need to uninstall both the amd and intel graphics adapters, restart the PC and reinstall the HP amd graphics driver.

This package provides the AMD High-Definition (HD) Graphics Driver and Catalyst Control Center for supported notebook models that are running a supported operating system. For notebooks with switchable graphics modes, this packageincludes drivers for both graphics processing units (GPUs). Switchable graphics enable users to switch between a power-saving graphics mode (normally used under battery power) and a high-performance graphics mode.

File name: sp50640.exe

I know the HP swithcable graphics driver is way out of date, but HP doesn't update them unless there is a known bug.

Must be too expensive for them to get with AMD/Intel to continuously develop updated drivers is all I can conjecture.