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Resolved Question

Can't use dedicated GPU (Help)

Aug 24, 2017 5:53PM PDT
Laptop forcing Integrated Graphics: The Issue
I purchased a HP Pavilion laptop in late 2016. The laptop was advertised as having both an integrated Radeon R5 graphics processor and an internal dedicated Radeon R7 M440 graphics card. When I attempted to run games such as DOTA 2, Skyrim or CS:GO on the laptop, they ran at very low FPS (even at minimum settings) and the graphics looked terrible as well. Even after going into the AMD Radeon Settings (via the right click menu on the desktop) and checking if there was an 2GB R7 Card (which there was), it was clearly not in use when I was running games or CAD programs.



I know this because on the launch menu in Skyrim, the only graphics card available to switch to was the R5.



To try and solve this problem, I downloaded programs such as CPU-Z and GPU-Z. On CPU-Z, the graphics card showed as the 512 Megabyte Radeon R5 GPU, which was surprising because the Radeon settings showed both. In GPU-Z, however, I was able to switch between the two processors (the R5 and the R7) and view all of the specifications.

R5 'Stoney Ridge' in GPU-Z


R7 M440 in GPU-Z


R5 'Stoney Ridge' in CPU-Z


PC Specifications in CPU-Z


The attempted solutions.
I have already tried:
1. Going into the BIOS. My BIOS, after endless searching, still does not appear to have an option to change between fixed and dynamic GPU states.
2. The R7 is not so good. I have searched online for R7 benchmarks. Video capture of the R7 in displays superior performance in the linked video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJSIKNFlo8Q
In addition to this, the R7's specs for gaming (clocks, memory, shader and texture render speed and teraflops) are superior to the GPU on my PC (AMD Radeon HD 7770). My old HD 7770 runs League Of Legends at 300 fps, and DOTA 2 (at highest possible settings) at 45 frames per second. If the R7 is better, why does it run DOTA at the lowest settings (nearly unplayable) at 10 frames per second? It is because it is not the R7, it is the R5 rendering the game.

My R7 is lying dormant inside my laptop and I don't know how to get it to work. Please help me.

Discussion is locked

ZilvtheArtist has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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This is a warranty issue.
Aug 24, 2017 6:03PM PDT

Back to HP to correct or refund. You make one mistake and that's not yelping the moment you found it broken.

Maybe the full model number was in your very nice long post but without it I can't see if folk found fixes or if there's an issue with the games and that model laptop.

What else I run into are folk that format the machine and can't get the GPU to engage. Again, the same answer. Install the OS as supplied by HP.

Post was last edited on August 24, 2017 6:07 PM PDT

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PS. Read priors.
Aug 24, 2017 6:11PM PDT