Many laptop manufacturers have recently apply combined solutions in their products in the form of a built-in and discrete GPU. Hewlett-Packard has not been an exception, however, its version in the Intel processor and AMD graphics cause problems with the operation of games and applications. Today we want to tell about switching graphics processors in such a bundle on HP laptops.
Switching graphics on HP laptops
In general, the switching between the energy-saving and powerful GPU for the laptops of this company is almost no different from a similar procedure for devices of other manufacturers, but has a number of nuances due to the characteristics of the Intel and AMD bundle. One of these features is the technology of dynamic switching between video cards, which is prescribed in the driver of the discrete graphics processor. The name of the technology speaks for itself: the laptop itself switches between the GPU depending on the power consumption. Alas, but this technology is not completely polished, and sometimes it works incorrectly. Fortunately, the developers have provided such an option, and left the ability to manually install the desired video card.
Before starting operations, you should make sure that the freshest drivers are installed for the video adapter. If the outdated version is used, read the reference manual below.
Lesson: Updating Drivers on AMD Video Card
Also make sure that the power cable is connected to the laptop, and the power plan is set to "High Performance" mode.
After that, you can move to directly configuration.
Method 1: Video Card Driver Management
The first of the available switching methods between the GPU is to install a profile for the application via the video card driver.
- Right-click on an empty place on the "Desktop" and select "AMD RADEON SETTINGS".
- After starting the utility, go to the "System" tab.
Next, go to the "Switchable Graphics Adapters" section.
- On the right side of the window is the "Run Applications" button, click on it. The drop-down menu will be revealed, in which the "Installed profiled applications" item should be used.
- The profile configuration interface will open for applications. Use the View button.
- The "Explorer" dialog box starts, where to specify the executable program file or the game, which should work through a productive video card.
- After adding a new profile, click on it and select the "High Performance" option.
- Ready - Now the selected program will run through the discrete video card. If you need the program to run through the energy-saving GPU, select the "Energy Saving" option.
This is the most reliable way for modern solutions, so we recommend using it as the main one.
Method 2: System graphics parameters (Windows 10 version 1803 and newer)
If your HP laptop runs running Windows 10 1803 assembly and newer, there is a simpler option to force this or that application to start with a discrete video card. Do the following:
- Navigate to the "desktop", Move the cursor to an empty place and right-click. A context menu appears in which you select the "Screen Settings" option.
- In the "Chart Settings", go to the "Display" tab, if this happens automatically. Scroll through the list of options to the "Several Displays" partition, below the link "Graphs" link, and click on it.
- First of all in the drop-down menu, set the "Classic App" item and use the Overview button.
A "Explorer" window appears - use it to select the executable file of the desired game or program.
- After the application appears in the list, click on the "Parameters" button below it.
Next, scroll through the list to the list in which select "High Performance" and click "Save".
From this point on, the application will start with high-performance GPU.
Conclusion
Switching video cards on HP laptops is somewhat more complicated than on devices of other manufacturers, however, is executed either through the system settings of the latest Windows, or the profile setting in the discrete GPU drivers.