Confused about my Laptop Graphics Chip

[EvilKupo]

Hello everyone!

So I got this laptop as "bonus" at my last job (HP Pavilion dv6t-6c00 CTO Quad Edition) so I know very little about what's inside. So over the past few months, I've had issues with graphics, nothing major and I've been able to fix them (I think) but in that process, I found that some programs tell me I have Intel HD Graphics 3000 (HP) and others tell me I have ATI Radeon HD 7470M (HP). To be exact, Dxdiag says I have the Intel while yougamer.com says I have the AMD.

Recently, to fix a graphics issue, I had to update my drivers. My add/Remove programs only showed I had AMD drivers. Thinking they must have been installed by mistake, i uninstalled them and installed the newest Intel ones.

While messing around in Device Manager for other reasons, I realized it said I had both under "Display Adapters", so now I'm starting to think the INtel is built in and the AMD is an actual chip. The AMD one currently says "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)" which I'm assuming is because there is no drivers for it.

So now I'm wondering what I should do. Does this mean that there is a separate AMD card in there? If so, which drivers should I have installed, or should I have both installed? The HP website is no help.

Sorry if this is a bit long, especially if it's a simple solution, but I've never messed with laptops much, and even less with dual video cards. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[infoiltrator]

The laptop CPU is an Intel Sandy Bridge chip with integrated HD3000 iGPU.
The AMD GPU is one of several possible configurations.
The graphics are listed as switchable, IE use the HD3000 graphics for light loads and the GPU for gaming or other GPU intensive tasks.
This allows you extended battery life when discrete GPU graphics are not required.

I do not know if there is an internal auto function or not.

 

[Saffron]

It would be preferable to have both of the drivers installed. Get the latest HD3000 drivers from Intel and the latest HD7470M drivers from AMD. It isn't completely necessary since you can use either/or but as already stated you can use the HD7470M for some gaming.

 

[EvilKupo]

Ah okay, I'll install the AMD drivers, also.

Is there a way to set it so that the AMD is always the one working? or does it auto switch depending on necessity?

 

[BigChickenJim]

Ah okay, I'll install the AMD drivers, also.

Is there a way to set it so that the AMD is always the one working? or does it auto switch depending on necessity?

There is, but you've got to configure it on an application-by-application basis. My laptop also has switchable graphics. To access the options/application list, right click on any empty desktop area and select "configure switchable graphics." It will open a Catalyst Control Center window and allow you to specify which particular applications you want to use discrete or integrated graphics in. Some applications will make use of both the APU and the GPU to improve performance. I'd recommend leaving those application settings alone.

If you simply leave it as-is, the best option will be automatically selected. To be honest, I recommend you just leave it on auto as it tends to do a pretty good job figuring out which graphics module to use.

Hope that helps.

 

[EvilKupo]

Thank you everyone!

I just installed the AMD drivers and the computer is working a whole lot better just from that.

@BigChickenJim I found it interesting that after I ran a few games and checked the switchable graphics, they were all set to unassigned and it says that you won't get good performance that way. To see if this was true, before messing with settings, I opened Rift with it unassigned and it was choppy and really slow. Closed the game, set it to High Performance, reopened it and it ran smoothly (on the exact same in game settings).

Same thing happened with Minecraft. I set the option to alert me when a program is unassigned. Is unassigned supposed to be auto? Or maybe my computer doesn't have an auto feature with it?

Either way it's working good now, and thanks everyone for your help.