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How do I force an application to use a secondary, identical graphics card?

Anonymous
2022-04-10T13:20:45+00:00

I have two identical graphics cards, both nvidia 30 series. I have the option of running them in SLI with an NVlink but I have disabled it for my use case. Thing is, I usually use one for some background computation and would like to simultaneously use the other one for something else, like a game. This works well when any one of the apps support switching between which graphics card it uses, like setting pytorch to device 'cuda:1' or Bannerlord (the game) which supports this feature natively.

However, when neither app support this both run on the same card and one usually ends up crashing due to high memory usage or both run poorly. I've tried messing around in the nvidia control panel with no success, and I've tried going into Settings>System>Display>Graphics settings and manually set the graphics card on a given application, but when prompted which device I want to use I just get the option between 'Power saving' and 'High performance' with the same card, and neither option changes the device.

Is there any way I can manually force a program to use a specific device? Like with some registry edit or using some third party software?

Regards

Vidar

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Settings

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-04-10T19:35:45+00:00

    Nope, I'm out of ideas. No amount of settings resets, reboots, and monitor switching/disabling seems to enable the option. Say, do you have both the Windows settings option and Nvidia control panel option?

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  2. Virginia M 40,820 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-04-10T15:05:07+00:00

    Is it a case that both are shown within the nVidia control panel but when choosing which GPU to use in said control panel it only offer you one GPU?

    Have you also cross posted over on the nVidia forum?

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  3. Virginia M 40,820 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-04-10T14:41:40+00:00

    Strange as the nVidia option works for me concerning a game problem.

    When you change the program to use a specific gpu did you restart the PC?

    If both GPUs are exactly the same then that might be the problem, Windows may not be seeing both GPUs. Are both shown under task manager?

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-04-10T14:34:36+00:00

    Hi!

    I'm running 21H2. As mentioned I've already tried both of those but neither really work. A half-baked workaround I've done is to just use a second monitor and connect each card to different ones which seems to work for most graphical applications but I still want complete control over which device a specific application uses which specific device.

    Regards

    Vidar

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  5. Virginia M 40,820 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-04-10T14:06:04+00:00

    Hello, I’m Virginia, I have 20 years of expertise in fixing my own & friends’ PC problems.

    Sorry to hear you’re experiencing problems. May I ask which Windows 10 build are you running - 2004, 20H2, 21H1 or 21H2?

    You should be able to set a specific graphics card for a certain program within the nVidia control panel.

    Or you can also try the Windows own gpu settings:

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

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