How to change between to video cards

notasmartone

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
30
0
10,530
Turns out I have two graphic cards one is intel hd graphics 4000 and the other is amd radeon hd 8600 series, how do i change between these two, since the amd card is definetly better.
 

AnthonyStew

Honorable
May 1, 2014
144
0
10,710
Disabling your HD Graphics 4000 and using the HD 8600 series will be better for your performance.
Disabling the on-boards graphics is very easy.

My way: Boot into safe mode by pressing F8 while windows is starting up.
Type in Device Manager into the windows bar at the bottom left of the screen.
Navigate to Display adapters, there should be two options. (Intel 4000 and 8600)
Disable the Intel 4000 and reboot.
Make sure you do this in safe mode to prevent black screens and blue screen errors.

Since your computer wasn't using the HD 8600 series in the first place, it may need a driver update that can be found here: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/auto-detect-tool

Good luck
 

notasmartone

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
30
0
10,530


I already have the latest drivers, should I just try it then or is something seriously wrong?
 

AnthonyStew

Honorable
May 1, 2014
144
0
10,710
You said that your resolution changed? If this is simple as it sounds, try this:

1. Go to Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Adjust Screen Resolution
2. Make sure the Orientation is set to Landscape and change the Resolution under the "Resolution" Drop Down Bar.
3. Go to advanced settings and make sure it is using the AMD Card under the "ADAPTER" Tab.

Let me know if this works for you.
 

notasmartone

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
30
0
10,530


How do i set the orientation to landscape? I changed my resolution the first time i tried but I can't change my theme into aero, and i looked under the adapter tab but I couldn't find the place where i should see whether i was using AMD or Intel. I also couldn't run any games, it said that I needed to set it to 32 bit colour mode, but I already had it on 32 bit.
 

AnthonyStew

Honorable
May 1, 2014
144
0
10,710
There are currently some bugs with using the AERO windows scheme, I recommend using Basic. As far as the color mode thing, I am not to sure on what to try next. My only other solution is to download AMD Catalyst Control Center if you don't already have it downloaded. It has many options and tabs where you can adjust display settings, bit mode, refresh rate, and resolution for your GPU and Monitor. Try that and see if you can get anywhere with it.
 

notasmartone

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
30
0
10,530


I disabled Intel 4000 and my Catalyst control center stopped working and when i tried to open the program it said that I didn't have any drivers, I am going to download those again, and then try it once more.
 

notasmartone

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
30
0
10,530


I looked into the adapter tab again and all i saw was unavailable or n/a.
 

AnthonyStew

Honorable
May 1, 2014
144
0
10,710
Hmm. I am unsure at this point man, they both may be integrated graphics that run off each other. Can you physically remove on of the cards? If not, the gpu is integrated into the MOBO/CPU and thus requires both to be active.
 

notasmartone

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
30
0
10,530


How do I do that? I have a laptop so I don't know how to remove graphics cards.
 

notasmartone

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
30
0
10,530


It's funny I have a better graphics card and a better computer overall than my friend yet he has better graphics and performance than me, do you know why?