W520 - i have two graphic cards?

[snorlaxmax]

hi, in my system information i have 'intel hd graphics' and 'nvidia quadro 1000m' is it possible to switch between the two? and how to i get about it? thanks

[ColonelONeill]

http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus

tl;dr: It's automatic.

[oldguy]

If it is anything like the W500 /w Vista:

Right-click the battery gauge on the taskbar. There should be a context menu option "Switchable Graphics" with a choice of "High Performance"  or "Energy Saving" -  the Nvida or Intel card respectively

JimL

[ColonelONeill]

NVidia Optimus is an entirely different beast from the ATI/Intel switchable graphics of yore. (Although I much prefer manual switching.)

[snorlaxmax]

i'm not sure if its automatic but when i tried playing dead space 2 it didnt work.

[ferganer]

here is an app that shows whther Optimus is on or not:

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/26992-optimus-test-tools-finally-in-users-hands/page__p__1309...

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

The optimus graphics is an system that can switch on the fly, it will use discrete for when needed and use integrated gpu when there is no 3d intense work.

You can try to switch to discrete only in bios and see the performance difference without the optimus installed.

[JDay]

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snorlaxmax wrote:
i'm not sure if its automatic but when i tried playing dead space 2 it didnt work.

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In the nVidia control panel you can force which card different programs use.