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According to Dell that is an Optimus laptop, about 6 years old.
Normally the switching of Graphics is automatic based upon what is set in the Optimus version of the Nvidia Control Panel.
gives windows 8 drivers for it. Thus I presume you are getting yours from Windows Updates, or are you using compatibility mode on the Windows 8 drivers.
You give us the details.
Dell's guide gives details of Optimus and how it works.
No idea what Dell's BIOS contains, but mine has no graphics settings within to change, and it is a somewhat newer Optimus Laptop.
With the components you have there you would expect the Nvidia graphics to be roughly twice as fast as the integrated Intel one, in terms of fps.(HD4600 -> GT740M). I have done comprehensive tests on mine (HD4600 -> GT740M).
You won't know about incompatibilities until further up the knowledge road.
This one is ancient it was apparently sold in may 2011, I bought it for 260 Euros. Its working well but I don't know what to do with the graphics, I worry about the nvidia card. There's no setting for the nvidia card or the integrated in this BIOS either, I just checked. So I dont have a clue what else can be done.
Have you checked your GPU to see if its working correctly? And,......... well simplest things first .... have you went into game settings and set it for full screen? The game itself is fairly old and may not automatically choose full screen with your cpu/gpu combination.
Last edited by indianacarnie; 01 Feb 2018 at 14:01.
"How do I check if I cant know if it is even being used???"
I do know with mine, only a have a few games mostly oldies, don't have that particular game on mine, but do have one from around that era.
What you can do is run something like HWMonitor(from CPUID) in the background, I use that for max temperature indication, but it has other uses as well as it shows whether the Nvidia Graphics is being used.
Another way, at least on mine is the Windows 10 Task Manager > Performance Tab > GPU 0(HD 4600) and GPU 1(Nvidia) is now shown.
The pre-requisite for that is WDDM 2.0 or later, I think ???.
That you can find out by putting "dxdiag" in to the run box. Look at the Display Tab. On mine that gives WDDM 2.O for HD 4600, and 2.1 for Nvidia GT740M.
After 4 years I'm some way down that learning road. I was at your point some 4 years ago.
Graphics Drivers - You and others probably won't believe me, but all I have done in 4 years is used Windows 8.1 and 10 updates for both Graphics drivers, it works fine(and Optimus), it really does. I'm using the Laptop now.