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AlienWare m14x Graphics card help

MattLCPDFR
By MattLCPDFR
in Troubleshooting
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My alienware laptop always uses the integrated graphics card when I launch the game even though I put the option to launch with nivida card. My specs are

 

 

OS Name Microsoft Windows 8
Version 6.2.9200 Build 9200
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name MATTLCPDFR
System Manufacturer Alienware
System Model M14xR2
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU xxx123x#ABA
Processor Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30GHz, 2301 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Alienware A09, 6/29/2012
SMBIOS Version 2.7
Embedded Controller Version 1.01
BIOS Mode Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer Alienware
BaseBoard Model Not Available
BaseBoard Name Base Board
Platform Role Mobile
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.2.9200.16384"
User Name Mattlcpdfr\Matt
Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 7.88 GB
Available Physical Memory 6.03 GB
Total Virtual Memory 15.9 GB
Available Virtual Memory 13.9 GB
Page File Space 8.00 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes
 
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what gpu is in it and is this all games or just some.

 

Does the gpu  show up in gpuz, i am prity sure there will be some power saving option that will turn of the gpu for power saving

I have a battery problem I must have it plugged in for it to work. Is that the problem. It is set to high performance

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Control panel like u said. My battery is broken so I have to have ti plugged in all the time.

 

Hmm, okay. I actually think I have the same exact laptop you do, and I typically haven't had problems with it. The laptop is around two years old, has it always had problems?

 

(I know you said you already did this, but just in case, here are steps I've typically used to force Nvidia Optimus to use the GPU):

 

1. Open NVIDIA control panel.
2. Manage 3D settings
3. Global settings tab
4. Power Management Mode settings, select "Prefer Maximum Performance" 
5. Preferred Graphic Processor settings, change from "Auto select" to "High Performance NVIDIA Processor"
 
You aren't the first person I've seen to have some issues with Nvidia Optimus. In my case, I've never had to tinker too much to get it to work, but maybe the post in this link might be helpful to you? I haven't tried anything like that myself, though.
 
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Hmm, okay. I actually think I have the same exact laptop you do, and I typically haven't had problems with it. The laptop is around two years old, has it always had problems?

 

(I know you said you already did this, but just in case, here are steps I've typically used to force Nvidia Optimus to use the GPU):

 

1. Open NVIDIA control panel.
2. Manage 3D settings
3. Global settings tab
4. Power Management Mode settings, select "Prefer Maximum Performance" 
5. Preferred Graphic Processor settings, change from "Auto select" to "High Performance NVIDIA Processor"
 
You aren't the first person I've seen to have some issues with Nvidia Optimus. In my case, I've never had to tinker too much to get it to work, but maybe the post in this link might be helpful to you? I haven't tried anything like that myself, though.
 

 

Hey I did what u said and it didn't work.. I looked back at the control panel it automatically changed it back to auto select and adaptive ???

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Hey I did what u said and it didn't work.. I looked back at the control panel it automatically changed it back to auto select and adaptive ???

 

Did you hit Apply after you changed it to "Prefer Maximum Performance"? I've just pulled out my laptop to retry some of these steps myself, and mine didn't revert back to "Adaptive".

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Did you hit Apply after you changed it to "Prefer Maximum Performance"? I've just pulled out my laptop to retry some of these steps myself, and mine didn't revert back to "Adaptive".

I hit apply To give you more information. I recently updated it to windows 8. Battery broken must have charger plugged to work.

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I hit apply To give you more information. I recently updated it to windows 8. Battery broken must have charger plugged to work.

 

To answer the question you asked a couple posts ago, I don't think the battery being broken is having an effect here. If your laptop was having issues running the discrete GPU on battery power, I might understand the forced integrated graphics. But on AC power, I wouldn't expect to see the same issue.

 

Were you having these same issues before you upgraded to Windows 8? I'm running Windows 7 on my laptop and having no issues, so it *could* be why Nvidia Optimus is acting out. Aside from advising you to do some Googling about "Forcing Nvidia Optimus to use discrete GPU" I'm not sure what else to suggest. Are your graphics drivers fully updated?

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To answer the question you asked a couple posts ago, I don't think the battery being broken is having an effect here. If your laptop was having issues running the discrete GPU on battery power, I might understand the forced integrated graphics. But on AC power, I wouldn't expect to see the same issue.

 

Were you having these same issues before you upgraded to Windows 8? I'm running Windows 7 on my laptop and having no issues, so it *could* be why Nvidia Optimus is acting out. Aside from advising you to do some Googling about "Forcing Nvidia Optimus to use discrete GPU" I'm not sure what else to suggest. Are your graphics drivers fully upda

I am following that website u recommended me I will see what happens. When I got this laptop windows 7 didn't work so I had to delete driver portion and reinstall winodes on it.

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