How do i enable hardware acceleration?

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Deuteronomy_23-1

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
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i have recently replaced the harddrive in my laptop, and everything is running fine except games. games will not start as apparently there are a combination of direct3d errors, hardware acceleration errors etc. i think the central problem is actually the hardware acceleration, and i cannot find anywhere to enable or disable it? (i tried going through the change screen settings but there was no troubleshoot option)

so, if my problem is hardware acceleration, how do i enable it (keep in mind dxdiag says everything is good to go)
if not what could be causing my issues?

I am running windows 8.1, i have intel 4600 integrated graphics as well as a gt740m gpu
 
Solution
techgeek
Optimus is nVidia's initiative to conserve power when in light video use by disabling the nVidia GPU when it's not needed. Then when it detects DirectX, or OpenGL, or a specific executable, it switches the nVidia GPU on and routes all render calls to it. If Optimus doesn't detect the application correctly or Optimus isn't working, then all graphics usage is passed on to the iGPU. In some cases the application runs but is seriously performance crippled. In other cases, the application will refuse to run because when the application queries the driver for it's capabilities, it finds one or more functions or hardware resources missing or lacking. In extreme cases the application may attempt to run, but experiences instability due to...
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Deuteronomy_23-1

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Apr 11, 2016
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i installed the nvidia auto update program, it updated my driver to the latest version and i still have the same problem
 
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Deuteronomy_23-1

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
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so basically optimus is just there to switch the gpu on when the cpu needs more load?
in anycase, i reinstalled the the driver update for the gpu and all my games are working in compatibility mode for now, so i assume this is a small win, however im not entirely confident my problem is solved. i also switched all my games to only use the gt 740m when they start using the nvidia control panel if that helps in any way?

do u reckon whatever issue i was having would be fixed? im actually pretty sure though before i could play all these games without any driver updates or compatibility mode before i switched the hdd for my new ssd, what could have possibly changed?

 
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basroil

basroil

Glorious
Oct 19, 2013
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No, optimous just makes DirectX and OpenGL software run on the 740m rather than integrated graphics, it has NOTHING to do with CPU use. As long as your drivers are up to date the games should have automatically been loaded into the optimous settings. You don't need to upgrade drivers all the time, but making sure drivers are newer than all the games you have installed is a good idea, since you'll see higher performance.
 
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techgeek

techgeek

Splendid
Apr 11, 2004
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Optimus is nVidia's initiative to conserve power when in light video use by disabling the nVidia GPU when it's not needed. Then when it detects DirectX, or OpenGL, or a specific executable, it switches the nVidia GPU on and routes all render calls to it. If Optimus doesn't detect the application correctly or Optimus isn't working, then all graphics usage is passed on to the iGPU. In some cases the application runs but is seriously performance crippled. In other cases, the application will refuse to run because when the application queries the driver for it's capabilities, it finds one or more functions or hardware resources missing or lacking. In extreme cases the application may attempt to run, but experiences instability due to poor performance of the iGPU and the application will crash.

Though not technically related to CPU, the iGPU is located on-die with the CPU, so using the term CPU loosely can be forgiven.

If you are having application specific problems with Optimus (most things work, but one or two don't), you should be able to set up specific application rules for Optimus, in both directions. For instance if you find that when you are using Excel and Optimus turns on the dGPU (740m) when it doesn't need it, then you can set up an Optimus profile for Excel forcing the iGPU usage. Vica versa, if you are playing a game that Optimus doesn't turn the dGPU on for, you can make a game profile to specify that the dGPU is to be used.

In most cases nVidia updates game and application profiles so that most things will work without intervention from you.
 
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Solution
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Deuteronomy_23-1

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
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thanks for explaining optimus to me guys it helped alot, and yes i set the specific rules for the dGPU to be used for my games and it seems everything is working fine so far. over the next few days ill try a few different games and applications to check its all in order and ill get back to you and pick the best solution.
 
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