Dell Laptop not using dedicated graphics card - Radeon 6630M - help!

[Escape-To-88]

Hi all.

just picked up a new laptop - a dual core Sandy Bridge i7 with a Radeon 6630M GPU.
For some reason when I go to configure display adapter in certain games and apps it's set to 'Mobile Intel HD Graphics' and fails to recognise the Radeon. In other words it won't let me select/use the dedicated Radeon GPU.

I have tried to select the individual program .exe's through Catalyst control centre and choose them as 'high performance' programs - as this is supposed to kick in the Radeon, but still apparently no luck. It wouldn't update the Radeon drivers automatically, so just wondering if anyone has heard of this before or has any suggestions?

I've read a few posts on various forums saying how Intel HD onboard graphics and a dedicated card can clash - so wondered how I fix this

Cheers

[eastyy]

is there a option in the bios settings ?

[Escape-To-88]

If there is I can't find it - I've looked in all the obvious places too

[speedlolita]

I've never read a case of a laptop having onboard as well as a GPU..

You sure they specced it right?

[Brad]

Catalyst Control Centre -> Switchable graphics

Then choose which applications you want to use your 6630 card by setting high performance (this is from memory, sorry).

It's a bit of a weird way of doing things but there you go.

[Escape-To-88]

Hi FSW already done that mate, the Dolphin emu in particular still says graphics adapter as Intel HD family - I read somewhere that it will use the Radeon and actually still say this so perhaps this is the issue?

[speedlolita]

Could you disable the Intel GPU in the device manager?

[Escape-To-88]

That was exactly what I did first of all - and still made no difference.
I'm actually unsure if it is using the Radeon or not now?! It say 'Intel HD Family' as I say, but it seems that some people argue this is also the radeon.

[Psyduck]

Is the performance ok? If so I'd assume it's probably using the right card just saying the wrong thing.

[Jei]

Run something like 3dmark and see what spec that says it is

[smouty]

The macbook pros have dual GPUs so it is feasible.
From your first post can you clarify if you can enable Radeon in any games?
Is it the Vostro 3550 as it appears this has either one but not both?

[Escape-To-88]

It's a Vostro 3450 - it has Intel HD Family GPU and the Radeon GPU - they both show up in the device manager and in the 'switchable graphics' option. To be honest I'm not 100% on the enabling in a range of games as not all will let me see graphics set-up. Also regarding emulators, more specifically Dolphin (the GC/Wii emu) it shows that the GPU in use is the Intel one. It all seems quite frustrating - or perhaps it is using the Radeon and I'm expecting too much. I went from a Mac with Bootcamp running at 2.9mhz to this laptop with runs at around 3.2ghz with a sandybridge CPU and I'm getting about half speed or less than I was on the Mac. I know of course there will be some difference - but this much of a drop?

EDIT: Ok did a test disabled Intel HD Graphics family in the device manager and the screen dropped resolution and clearly went to some sort of onboard (read:naff) grahpics mode.

Did the same test with the Radeon and the same thing happened !? Does this mean both are connected and the Radeon is working?

[Brad]

The card in your iMac (I;m guessing it was a 6450 radeon?) could do 200-240 giga flops. Your new one just 40. Every other number reads similarly e.g. fillrate, bandwidth etc. I would expect your new laptop to be significantly worse graphically than your old imac.

[Escape-To-88]

I see - thanks mate makes sense! Would a GT525 be a better mobile option with a slower CPU or would I not notice much difference?
Cheers

[randombs]

If you go disabling the graphics card in device manager, I think Windows will fall back on a basic VGA software driver instead(so that you still get stuff on the screen, but the resolution drops and you lose all hardware support). Probably not a good idea to disable either of them, anyway.

Do what James said - run 3dmark or similar, or even your Dolphin emulator. Bump the settings up and try with both cards, see which is faster. If they're both the same speed, then you can start narrowing things down. It could just be that the software isn't displaying the correct info even though the card is correct, like Psyduck said. Do you notice the screen flicking on/off when you're expecting the switchover or anything like that? Not sure how it works but it could be that one graphics card takes care of the output to the screen(probably the Intel) while the other one chips in when necessary. If so, disabling the Intel card in device manager would of course stop that functionality.

I've never read a case of a laptop having onboard as well as a GPU..

They've been doing this for ages, but initially the switch needed a reboot to kick in(like my Vaio), whereas now it's all snazzy on-the-fly switching.

(also, @Eto88: 1 divided by 2 equals 3 divided by 4 equals 5 divided by 6 equals my intellectality)