Intel/NVIDIA Notebook Graphics Question

[D3T0X]

Hi, everyone. I'm having some trouble telling whether or not my dedicated graphics card is being used when I open up a game on my notebook. I just bought an Alienware m14x r2 from a friend of mine, and it does not have a function key to switch the graphics from the on-board Intel card or the NVIDIA dedicated card.

I've ran both DiRT 2 and World of Tanks at higher settings, and the frame rates are in the low 20s. I have a hard time believing that the graphics card can't handle something like that. Is there any way to tell what GPU the computer is using when I'm in game?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ja6on]

Your laptop would only have one gpu surely? you want to look at updating drivers but that wont make much difference.

I think you have the gt 650m 1gb so med graphics is probably your limit.

 

[D3T0X]

Your laptop would only have one gpu surely? you want to look at updating drivers but that wont make much difference.

I think you have the gt 650m 1gb so med graphics is probably your limit.

I actually have the 2gb version, but I doubt that makes much of a difference. I've seen people getting much better framerates than what I've been getting. For example, when I installed Skyrim and it detected my graphics to determine the video settings. The detected graphics it gave me were the Intel (R) HD Graphics 4000. From what I've read, the m14x uses the built-in graphics card for tasks that are not graphically demanding like using Microsoft Office or browsing the web. When a game is started up, the computer should switch to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics card. I'm thinking that the computer isn't doing this. When I start Skyrim, I get maybe 20 fps on medium-high settings, and I've seen people get twice that with the same computer.

Here's the computer specs: Intel Core i7 3610QM, 8GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM, 500GB 7200RPM HD w/ 32gb SSD cache, NVIDIA GeForce GT650M GFX w/ 2gb GDDR5, 1600x900p Display.