How to force NVidia 1060 on Surface Book 2

Question

Hi.....  proud new owner of a 15" Surface Book 2!

I cannot find where to tell the PC which GPU to use for an app.   I had owned the previous Surface Book and there was an NVidia Control panel thatgave you all kinds of control over that.

The new Surface Book 2 doesn't have that installed on it and it seems that it's stuck using the crappy Intel Pro 620 GPU on every piece of software.  I haven't modified ANYTHING since I unboxed it last night (in other words, I haven't screwed any drivers or anything up).   If I look under Device Manager, it shows both the Intel 620 and the NVidia 1060 as graphics adapters.

I'm sure this is something very simple but thanks for helping!

Answer 1

The NVIDIA Control Panel does not appear when pressing Start and typing because it is not in the list of apps in the Start menu. 

To open it, go to: Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, NVIDIA Control Panel.

Answer 2

try downloading the latest Surface Book firmware here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49497

go to your "system information" find "version" and download the firmware closest to that number.....

if all else fail...MS can "Fresh Start" your laptop.  Unfortunately, thats what I had to do but everything is working properly after that. Make sure you back up everything first.

Answer 3

Download 49497 doesn't work.  The setup for NVIDIA fails with a message stating "This graphics drivers could not find compatible graphics hardware."   I tried using ../SurfaceBook_Win10_1701000_0\SurfaceBook_Win10_1701000_0\Drivers\Display\dGPU/setup.exe.

Drivers in 56261 did not solve the issue.

I also downloaded GEForce 10 Series driver version "398.36 - WHQL" from the NVIDIA web sitesdrivers section.  No joy.  The installation reports that it could not find any compatible device.  Looks like the NVIDA graphics card/circuitry is dead.

Solution found:   https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfbook2-surfupdate/gpu-not-detected-in-surface-book-2/774e1993-4bd4-4e5b-a0b6-0b3197fedb42 

Go to Page 33 and look for post from 'jketola'.

All that is necessary is to Shutdown, remove the power cord, do a hard restart, then restart from the UEFI screen.

Answer 4

Right click desktop - NVIDIA Control Panel not there.  I purchsed my 15" Surface Book 2 in March of this year.  The NVIDIA card was present then.  However, something changed between then and now as I can't see the card at all.  Not in Device Manager and the NVIDIA item in control panel does nothing.

Answer 5

I click the NVIDIA item in Control Panel but nothing happens.