Device Manager shows AMD Radeon 6870 in display adapters, as well as Intell HD 3000. Computer seems to always be using intel.

Lord Dreth

Commendable
Aug 14, 2016
1
0
1,510
Hey Guys, I'm at my wits end for this.

So, these are my display adapters.
http://screencast.com/t/fzYiYYy6kY

When I did an uninstall and delete for both of these and rebooted, they reinstalled and are working fine now, but the issue is that when I uninstalled the Radeon GPU, my screen resolution didn't change. Upon uninstalling the Intel GPU, it did.

This lead me to believe that this isn't running the 6870 at all. So I tested some games after playing with some settings in the AMD Catalyst Control Center. Here's a short video of the settings.
- http://screencast.com/t/55NxTIc4

Now when monitoring after setting Mass Effect 3 specifically to performance mode within catalyst, it says high performance but runs the same as when I set it to power saving mode which I assume is the intel gpu.

What I'm wondering is, how can I tell when my AMD driver is actually running, and is there a program in which I can basically control this process?

This is an Alienware M17xR3 from 5 years ago btw.
 
Solution
Your laptop has dual/switchable graphics.

The Intel GPU is used for the Windows desktop and all Windows tasks where using high-performance graphics (AMD) would make no sense & would simply delete the battery faster.

To assign the AMD GPU to a specific program or game, use the Catalyst Control Panel in Windows Control Panel.

Once an app or game is assigned the AMD GPU, that setting will "stick".
Your laptop has dual/switchable graphics.

The Intel GPU is used for the Windows desktop and all Windows tasks where using high-performance graphics (AMD) would make no sense & would simply delete the battery faster.

To assign the AMD GPU to a specific program or game, use the Catalyst Control Panel in Windows Control Panel.

Once an app or game is assigned the AMD GPU, that setting will "stick".
 
Solution