- #NVIDIA CONTROL PANEL ONLY SHOWS 3D SETTINGS LAPTOP HOW TO#
- #NVIDIA CONTROL PANEL ONLY SHOWS 3D SETTINGS LAPTOP DRIVERS#
When selected you’ll see a screen titled ‘Manage 3D Settings’ which by default displays the ‘Global Settings’ tab. Once open look, for the ‘Manage 3D Settings’ drop-down menu on the left. The Nvidia Control Panel is the app needed to govern when and with which applications the Surface Book chooses to leverage its Nvidia GPU. Alternatively, you can find it under the ‘Hardware and Sound’ section in the Windows Control Panel (if still it doesn’t appear, try restarting your Surface Book).
#NVIDIA CONTROL PANEL ONLY SHOWS 3D SETTINGS LAPTOP DRIVERS#
Once your graphics drivers are all up to date, as with the previous step, open up the Start menu, but this time, search for the ‘NVIDIA Control Panel’. The subsequent menu screen gives you the ability to ‘Search automatically for updated driver software’ – choose this option (making sure you have an active internet connection) and if your Nvidia GPU isn’t up to date, this will download the latest drivers and take you through the installation process. The third option from the right should be the ‘Update Driver Software’ button this is the one you want to click. Select the Nvidia GPU and mouse over the new icons that appear on the toolbar above. Once Device Manager is open, look down the list until you see ‘Display adapters’ and unfurl this list to see both ‘Intel(R) HD Graphics 520’ and ‘NVIDIA GeForce GPU’. Alternatively, open the Control Panel, click on ‘Hardware and Sound’ and then select Device Manager from within the Devices and Printers sub-menu. Open the Start Menu and type ‘Device Manager’ into the search box. This step won’t be essential for every user, but it’s a worthwhile endeavor even if only to make sure that your Surface Book’s Nvidia GPU is running on the latest drivers. To get the best performance from your Surface Book, keep the screen and keyboard portions connected. Don’t detach the keyboard if you want to harness the extra power of the Nvidia dGPU
It’s an obvious one, but if you didn’t realise it, the more powerful Nvidia GPU is housed in the base of the Surface Book, meaning the moment you undock the digital clipboard portion of the device, it only has the option of using integrated graphics. Thankfully, with a tiny amount of tinkering you can guarantee that you get the added power of the Nvidia dGPU with these simple tricks. Despite the extra oomph, however, it’s sometimes tricky to tell whether or not you’re actually using the Book’s discrete GPU or it’s simply falling back on its lesser integrated graphics hardware.
Microsoft’s Surface Book is a powerful and unique piece of kit, not least because it features a detachable design with a secondary graphics card courtesy of Nvidia.
#NVIDIA CONTROL PANEL ONLY SHOWS 3D SETTINGS LAPTOP HOW TO#
Here’s how to ensure that you have the added power of the Surface Book’s dGPU, as and when you want it.