My laptop is currently only using its integrated AMD graphics, even though it has an NVIDIA 3060 GPU that worked perfectly for the past four years. Recently, after updating the AMD driver due to some game startup issues, my laptop stopped using the NVIDIA card altogether. I've tried reinstalling both the NVIDIA and integrated graphics drivers manually, disabled and enabled the card multiple times, and checked the NVIDIA control panel, which shows that the 3060 should be in use. However, changing the global graphics settings to use the high-performance NVIDIA processor doesn't switch the usage from the integrated graphics. The 3060 isn't showing any errors in Device Manager or Windows logs. Does anyone know what's going on? I'm happy to provide more details if needed.
4 Answers
Consider using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to completely clear out existing graphics drivers and then reinstall the latest drivers fresh. Just running the installer doesn't always fix issues, but DDU does a thorough job that might help.
You might want to check the NVIDIA control panel again and ensure that you set the specific games or applications to use the 3060. Sometimes, the global settings don’t work as expected, and manual selection for each app does the trick.
Make sure that your monitor is actually plugged into the NVIDIA GPU and not the motherboard. If the monitor is connected to the motherboard, your laptop will always default to the integrated graphics.
Check your BIOS settings to see if there's an option to prioritize the NVIDIA GPU over the integrated graphics. Sometimes, there might be a setting that defaults to the integrated option even with a discrete GPU.
I've already tried that, and it still defaults to the integrated graphics, no matter what I set it to.