Asus notebook runs on two graphic cards?

[Billcoke]

I did a check on my Asus K43S and it shows that it is running on two graphic cards, how is that possilbe?

 

 

 

[Flameblade]

The intel HD graphic family is the "on board/ integrated" graphic card, while the Nvidia Geforce 6100 is the "dedicated" graphic card.

 

Normally dedicated graphic cards are more powerful but it consume more power, and integrated/ on-board graphic are weaker in performance but consume lesser power.

On-graphic card are normally found on cheaper laptops/ budget computers.

 

Nowadays laptops come with switchable graphic cards selection which consist of both the dedicated and on-board graphic together in the laptop.

If you require more graphic processing power, select the dedicated graphic and if you desire longer battery life you can switch to the on-board graphic card.

 

Hope my simple layman explaination answers your question, I may not be 100% correct as my computer knowledge is quite rusty nowadays.

 

Cheers!

Edited March 19, 2012 by Flameblade

[Billcoke]

  On 3/19/2012 at 12:42 PM, Flameblade said:

The intel HD graphic family is the "on board/ integrated" graphic card, while the Nvidia Geforce 6100 is the "dedicated" graphic card.

 

Normally dedicated graphic cards are more powerful but it consume more power, and integrated/ on-board graphic are weaker in performance but consume lesser power.

On-graphic card are normally found on cheaper laptops/ budget computers.

 

Nowadays laptops come with switchable graphic cards selection which consist of both the dedicated and on-board graphic together in the laptop.

If you require more graphic processing power, select the dedicated graphic and if you desire longer battery life you can switch to the on-board graphic card.

 

Hope my simple layman explaination answers your question, I may not be 100% correct as my computer knowledge is quite rusty nowadays.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Many thanks. But how does the notebook deal with this two graphic cards, it does auto switching? eg: when doing video editing or watching, which graphic cards does it use?

[Flameblade]

  On 3/19/2012 at 12:53 PM, Billcoke said:

Many thanks. But how does the notebook deal with this two graphic cards, it does auto switching? eg: when doing video editing or watching, which graphic cards does it use?

 

You can only select it manually. Right click on desktop, select "configure switchable graphic" to switch between the on board (power saving GPU) and dedicated graphic (high performance GPU).

 

if sometimes you can't change the graphic card mode and you get an error, close all windows ( internet explorer, window media player etc. ) and try again.

 

Cheers.

[2009k]

The graphic card driver or control panel will indicate what software requires the gpu in which it will switch over.