How do I know if I am gaming on my dedicated graphics processing unit and not my cpu integrated one?

ashwon

Reputable
Feb 5, 2015
3
0
4,510
I have a GT 840M with 4 GB vRAM on my laptop. But I cannot handle Planetside 2 at the highest settings possible. Isn't my 840M supposed to be able to handle that? Or is Planetside 2 just very demanding even though it is a free game? Or was I running it on Intel HD Graphics all along?
 
Solution
If it runs at anything remotely playable, it's using the 840M and not the integrated graphics. The game is also not particularly well optimized. A desktop R7 250 struggles to hit 30 FPS on this game at high (not ultra) and the 840M is a bit below this. It's a very ordinary GPU in there, better than integrated, but it's a mid-end laptop GPU at best - don't expect the moon.

RobCrezz

Expert
Ambassador
you should be able to right click on the game icon, and choose "run with graphics processor" and select Nvidia, this will force it.

http://www.howtogeek.com/136123/htg-explains-what-you-need-to-know-about-nvidia-optimus/


It is fairly demanding game though, so dont go too crazy with the detail settings. Some high end desktop cards can stuggle
http://www.techspot.com/review/785-free-to-play-games-benchmarks/page5.html
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
If it runs at anything remotely playable, it's using the 840M and not the integrated graphics. The game is also not particularly well optimized. A desktop R7 250 struggles to hit 30 FPS on this game at high (not ultra) and the 840M is a bit below this. It's a very ordinary GPU in there, better than integrated, but it's a mid-end laptop GPU at best - don't expect the moon.
 
Solution

ashwon

Reputable
Feb 5, 2015
3
0
4,510

wait... does video memory affect performance as well?

 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator


Not really - VRAM doesn't make a GPU directly more powerful. And an 840M is a weak enough GPU that there are very few instances in which it could actually take advantage of 4 GB of VRAM as opposed to 2 GB - for practically anything actually needing 4, in the context of gaming, your GPU will likely not be fast enough to take advantage.

There are plenty of games you can play on an 840M, but there are a lot of things that you're not going to max out.