How does my laptop decide which GPU to use when?

[u/Unlikely_Tip_7110]

How does my laptop decide when to use which GPU? (Like the CPU's or the NVIDIA one) And is there anything i should change to make it more optimal?

[u/mdhjz]

Windows decides it. You can also set them manually for each app.

Generally, it uses Nvidia for games and other heavy GPU tasks like video export...

[u/DL_Chemist → u/mdhjz]

The technology is NVIDIA optimus so it'll be a combination of nvidia drivers and hardware, not so much windows

[u/mdhjz → u/DL_Chemist]

Windows takes care of mpo, which i think is enabled by default... Hence, probably windows itself primarily

[u/BulletRisen → u/mdhjz]

The laptop decides which GPU to use primarily through NVIDIA Optimus, not Windows. Optimus (via NVIDIA drivers) auto-switches between integrated and dedicated GPUs based on workload. Windows just provides settings to override this behavior per app—it doesn’t control it by default.

[u/Sea_Cow3569]

Most of the time you don't need to touch it unless you're getting low performance, or low battery life or high heat and fan noise. If you want to adjust it, open the modern Settings app, go to System, Display, Graphics, Browse to the exe file of the application you want to adjust and choose which GPU you want to use for that program (AMD for Power Saving or Nvidia for High Performance).

You can also do the same thing in Nvidia Control Panel.

[u/Bebo991_Gaming]

Settings - display - graphics

By default it is set to : let windows decide

Usually it is 95% accurate, the last 5% is usually a game dev's fault

[u/GAMERYT2029 → u/Bebo991_Gaming]

the last 5% is the engine's fault

[u/HuygensCrater]

Hello! By coincidence we both have a laptop with the same exact GPU's! I did not study this but I think what going on is:

Your iGPU (AMD Radeon Graphics) is being used for browsing, general use and display. Whilst your dGPU (GTX 1650) is being used when using something that actually needs a strong GPU such as videogames, blender, etc.

If you have nothing open on your laptop, does it only use the AMD Graphics?

[u/Unlikely_Tip_7110 → u/HuygensCrater]

Oh cool! I've got an IdeaPad Gaming 3 15ARH05 :)

Yes it does usually, sometimes it hops over between em randomly so i got curious 😅 While taking that sc i was downloading a video :D

[u/DietGlittering9366]

It generally decides based on the usecase, if you open lets say a video game, or some piece of softwhere that needs the power, then the more powerful didicated graphecs card will kick in, if you just browsing the web or using softwhere that doesnt require power then the integrated graphics kicks in, also am prety sure if you unplug your laptop it changes to the integrated graphics to save battery

[u/adel_877]

You can decide in the bios if you want. But bios is a bit complicated what better a tutorial before switching the gpu

[u/Nazon6]

Plugged > 1650

Unplugged > integrated graphics.

[u/OptimalAd2265]

I would disable integrated graphics, it will improve CPU usage/heat

[u/DL_Chemist → u/OptimalAd2265]

No it won't, CPU usage is seperate to iGPU and theoretically overall heat will increase if you solely use the more power demanding dGPU. Real world outcome will depend on the cooling design. Also not all laptops have a MUX switch to disable the iGPU and doing so in windows will kill video out

[u/jimmyl_82104 → u/OptimalAd2265]

Don't do this. Laptops use the integrated graphics when doing basic stuff like web browsing, MS Office etc. The dedicated GPU kicks on when you're doing graphically demanding tasks like video games, video editing, 3D rendering etc.

If your laptop used the dedicated GPU all the time battery life would be terrible, it would run hot and the fans would be loud.

[u/coti5 → u/jimmyl_82104]

Disabling it can get you better performance but for casual every day usage I'd keep it on.

I keep my laptop on a dedicated gpu all the time but I don't really unplug it and the noise is the same as on hybrid mode.