Windows 10: Force program to use one of two external GPUs?

Hey everyone,

My partner recently dismantled their desktop which left me inheriting a second gpu. I want specific programs to run on a specific card (gaming vs. productivity loads), but can't figure out how. Both cards are working, and show loads being applied in task manager. Both show up in device manager. I have the current drivers installed for both.

When I got into the Settings>Display>Graphics Settings>Graphics Performance Preference only one of my cards is listed as both the "Power Saving" and "High Performance" options. While this is technically correct based on the disparity between the cards, it's not what I want.

Is there any other way to use a specific GPU for a specific program?

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:)

 

Is there a way to force a program to use a secondary GPU?

I have 2 GPU's (Nvidia GTX 970 and 1080) and I want to force a program to use the 1080 for certain programs/games. Going to Settings>System>Display>Graphics Settings should give me the option to switch GPU's. Unfortunately it does not list both of my GPU's
nor does it allow me to change to another one, only the default GPU is chosen (the 970). This is a desktop computer and I have tried the Nvidia control panel and UEFI settings without much luck. If I tried selecting a program to run on my 1080 (through the
Nvidia control panel), it would still run it on the 970. I have tried switching the GPU's around with not much luck there either. If I can suggest to Microsoft the option in the Graphics Settings to list both GPU's for selection, that would be great. Otherwise
I don't know what to do. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you for your time.

 

Is there a way to force a program to use a secondary GPU?

Hi Zeond1987,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Community.

Are you getting any error message?

If you have a multi-GPU system running Windows 10, you can now manually specify the preferred graphics processor an app should use for performance or to improve battery life.

In order to force an app to use a discrete GPU instead of the integrated one, or vice versa to provide better system performance or battery life, I suggest you to follow the below steps.

1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon. Click on System.

2. Click on Display on the left side

3. Under “Multiple displays,” click the Advanced graphics settings link.

4. Select the kind of app you want to configured using the drop-down menu:

Classic app — these are your traditional Win32 desktop programs.

Universal app — these are those app available through the Microsoft Store.

5. If you select Classic app, you’ll need to click the Browse button to locate the “.exe” file to add the app. Otherwise, if you select the Universal app option, you’ll see a second drop-down menu to select the app.

6. Select the app you added from the list.

7. Click the Options button

8. Set the graphics preference you want to use:

System default — this is always the default setting, and Windows 10 decide which GPU to use automatically.

Power saving — runs the application on the GPU that uses the least power, which most of the time is your integrated graphics processor.

High performance — runs the application on the most capable GPU, which is most of the time an external or discrete graphics processor.

9. Click the Save button.

I also recommend you to update the GTX 1080 drivers from the manufacturer website, and
Check if that work.

Hope it helps,

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking Yes Or No

 

Is there a way to force a program to use a secondary GPU?

This is a desktop computer, not a laptop and the drivers are already updated. The 2 video cards I have are huge and would not fit in a laptop. I want to make a program run on either GPU and I was hoping that Microsoft could make it so that in the graphics
settings, I could choose which video card I want to use. As this is not a laptop, it does not list both GPU's, only the default one (the 1080).