Programs using integrated GPU while second screen is plugged to my laptop

Question

I have a problem with my laptop for some time. And I am saying for some time which is especially weird, because from what I remember it used to work fine before and I don't see the reason anything would change.

Basically, for some time, we are talking like year or more and it was getting gradually worse, I noticed more demanding programs or games lagging. What i recently figured is that it actually wasn't using my nvidia GPU, but instead integrated intel UHD graphics. I tried setting GPU used by programs both in nvidia control panel and windows graphics settings but it didn't help. Then I also figured that the reason is my laptop switching graphic cards it uses when I connect second screen (built-in screen uses intel and second screen uses nvidia). So it works fine on secondary screen but not the primary. My problem is, my screen is pretty old and I mostly use it for browser, discord, and other stuff like that, whereas laptop screen with much higher refresh rate and better colors i prefer to use for those more demanding apps.

My question therefore is - Can I switch around which screen uses which GPU? I know that I could turn off the intel one in device manager, but i would also prefer to give my computer a chance to use intel for other processes, not to use that much energy and let nvidia GPU focus on the main task. Perfect solution would be deciding which processes specifically need to use which GPU, but as I already said even though I set it in settings, I don't see any effect of it.

Laptop specs:
Processor: Intel Core i5-11400H

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU
RAM: 16GB

I would appreciate any kind of suggestions because at this point I am not sure what i can do to make it work.

Answer 1

Thank you for the information.

Make sure the Display Mode setting on BIOS is set to "Optimus"

Answer 2

The laptop model is Acer Nitro AN515-57-54S0
And yes, I am sure the graphic setting matches the file I mean.

Answer 3

What is your laptop model?

While running the game, go to the Details tab on Task Manager > Processes tab > Right click the top row and select GPU and GPU Engine to visualize the process that is using the GPU, right click the process > Open file Location. Compare to the file you selected on Graphics Settings to ensure you selected the right .exe file.

Answer 4

I guess one of the clear examples without going to rendering things and stuff would be just some good graphics game. Here is how it looks for me when i try to play Red Dead Online

Answer 5

Hi,

I'm Rodrigo and I'll help you.

It is not possible to change which graphics processor uses each screen because it is a physical connection.

The solution is the graphics settings which you already tried.

Did you check on the Task Manager the GPU usage? Can you share an example of an application you set on the graphics settings and how did it work on Task Manager?