Another can't utilise Nvidia card thread.

[sejixrfc]

Can't for the life of me get Dolphin to utilise my Nividia gtx 680m.

I've read umpteen posts and tried various approaches, incl:

Customising the program setting in the control panel to use the Nvidia processor.

Setting everything to high performance (power management mode, power options)

Installing latest drivers.

Fresh clean install of the OS.

I've verified that the GPU is idle in GPU-Z (it maxes out the Intel clock), so please don't suggest that it's in fact using the gpu, it categorically isn't (the fans don't even start up).

Has anyone figured this out? Or does anyone continue to have the same problem? Is it a dead end?

[KHg8m3r]

You made sure that #2 is set to use the high performance Nvidia, right?



Don't set the dropdown in Dolphin to a graphics card, there are issues with that.

When you run a game using the OpenGL backend, look at the yellow text that appears. It should either say Intel or Nvidia. What are you getting?

[sejixrfc]

Hi KHg8m3r - thanks for helping out.

I had set dolphin.exe to use the nvidia card, and switched the power management mode to 'prefer max...'.

I don't have the option of selecting the discrete gpu in dolphin (the card doesn't appear in the dropdown).

When running in opengl, the yellow text specifies the Intel HD graphics 4000.

I should add that i'm only experiencing this problem with Dolphin, not universally.

[KHg8m3r]

Just another check, what version of Windows are you on?

When you right-click on Dolphin, do you see the following options?

[sejixrfc]

I'm on Windows 7 Home Premium.

I do have that option in the context menu, but it hasn't yielded any results.

I have a theory it might be something to do with the service. I'll report back if I find something.

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Nope, not any of the nvidia services.

Really stumped...

[KHg8m3r]

It may be an issue on Intel's side. Check with this to make sure all your Intel stuff is up to date: http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect

[admin89]

There is 1 user who has the same problem as you (His GPU is GT 520M)
After a clean installation of windows 8 + driver + latest Visual C++ (2013 version atm) , his issue was fixed

[sejixrfc]

(11-15-2014, 10:41 AM)admin89 Wrote: There is 1 user who has the same problem as you (His GPU is GT 520M)
After a clean installation of windows 8 + driver + latest Visual C++ (2013 version atm) , his issue was fixed

That's a particularly drastic measure. I've only very recently installed the os (less than a fortnight ago), and I'd rather get to the root of the problem before resorting to ham-fistedly re-installing everything.

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(11-15-2014, 10:34 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: It may be an issue on Intel's side. Check with this to make sure all your Intel stuff is up to date: http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect

Thanks for that. I thought I had the most up-to-date driver for the intel's graphics, but the detection tool you linked me to says otherwise.

I'll see what the new drivers accomplish!

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That seems to have done the trick [Edit: It didn't, sadly. BUT I did find a fix - see two posts below!], the graphics card's finally engaging!

Thanks KHg8m3r -- bit embarrassed that I missed that!

It still reports Intel when using the opengl backend, but the card does fire up it in dx11.

[sejixrfc]

Scrap that. It doesn't appear to be working anymore.

Something else must have been engaging the card.

I'm really at a loss....

[sejixrfc]

OK! I found a workaround.

This works for me, and hopefully it will help others.

Taken from: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2223176

"Right click [on your desktop] and select screen resolution. In this window you should click detect. If you can see two displays that are grayed out and named after your video cards, you're probably good to go [for me it was the monitor labelled 2].

Choose your Nvidia card and select "Attempt to connect anyway on (VGA)" [under the 'Multiple displays' dropdown] ...

Then, choose extended desktop [for me it was 'Extend these displays' under the 'Multiple displays' dropdown] and apply again . This will force-activate your discrete GPU."

From here you should be able to select your nvidia card from the dropdown menu in dolphin's graphic settings...and voila.