LF HELP! How to make WoW use Nvidia display instead of default Intel?

Games, Gaming & Hardware
1

Hi! I’d like to preface this by saying while I love gaming in general, I never really was interested in the technical part of things, so I apologize if I don’t get a couple of details correct or require a more dumbed down explanation.

With that being said I’ll start off by listing my specs:

Lenovo Legion Y520 - Windows 10

Intel Core i5-7300HQ CPU@2.50GHz

8.0GB RAM

Intel HD Graphics 630

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

With this set-up I’ve been able to run games such as Senua’s Sacrifice, Diablo III, HoTS and LoL, on pretty high graphics with no issues on FPS. My MS is stable as well.

Now when it comes to WoW ever since BFA launched and they removed the full screen option, I’ve been dealing with horrendous FPS drops and stuttering, often times playing with 5-10 FPS even on 1 graphics. I eventually got used to it, but recently I’ve been starting to do more serious content in raids and dungeons, and it’s been an absolute hell. This problem is often very inconsistent, with some days functioning normal and getting a steady 50-60 FPS on the recommended 7 graphics settings then other days just simply refusing to work at all.

Here I’ll skip the journey I took looking through old threads and solutions online, and get to the core problem that I’ve finally figured out why this is happening. While in theory and through the options I’ve changed (System>Advanced>Graphics Card:set to Nvidia; Nvidia Control Panel, both Global and Program Settings for WoW, set to Nvidia, etc.) when opened due to the lack of a fullscreen mode that enables the switch, WoW still runs on the Intel card, as the windowed fullscreen is considered part of the primary display, that uses it.

Unfortunately due do how my laptop is wired, there is absolutely no way I can change the default display to use Nvidia. While there are BIOS and other control panel options for desktop users, my laptop simply doesn’t have them.

So, to finally get to my question, is there any way in which I can make WoW stop using the primary display and make it use the Nvidia one like it’s supposed and set up to? It’s the only game I encountered this issue with, and it has negatively impacted my gameplay severely.

Thanks in advance if you read so far! LF serious replies if possible.

2

Few days ago there was a blue post about WoW having a bug that causes it to use iGPU. Do you see GPU choice option within WoW settings?

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Could you possibly link me that?
If it’s the one in System>Advanced>Graphics Card, then yes. It has Auto-Detect, Nvidia and Intel, by default it was on auto-detect, but I’ve changed it to Nvidia. And while it says it uses Nvidia, in actuality it does not.

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There it says it “defaults to”. Odd that changing it in game has no effect. Maybe playing with Windows power plan and alike could help? If not you will likely have to contact their support more directly.

5

Anything in particular in the advanced power plan settings I should keep an eye out for? Is this problem worthy enough to submit a ticket for? I’m just concerned of getting a very generic answer.

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If you pick the performance mode it should be most likely to use dGPU where as power saving and alike are more likely to not use it. The can also be a “ultimate performance plan” which optimizes even more and maybe could affect that iGPU/dGPU decision making:

  • https://www.howtogeek.com/368781/how-to-enable-ultimate-performance-power-plan-in-windows-10/
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-LnnjsCAe8

And even Intel iGPU and Nvidia have their “plans”:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B8mFY-Ud0Y

Blues tend to watch and be active in the “Technical Support” subforum. With good description and list of things tried the response won’t be to generic (I hope).

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Thanks for the reply! I’ve tried working out the power plan based on those links above, and unfortunately none fixed the issue. I will repost this and add some extra steps I’ve done on the technical support forum then.

8

right click on nvidia settings in the bottom right corner drop down, selected geforce control panel and then set your prefered gpu :smiley: thats how i did mine

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