How can I ensure my Samsung Series 7 is actually using the Radeon switchable graphics?

I have a Samsung Series 7 with the Radeon 6750M switchable graphics. The ATI software lets you force programs to use the dedicated card. However, I'm not convinced it is actually ever using it, as the frame rates on some non-taxing games (Portal, TF2) are merely OK. To make matters worse, it looks like the ATI Catalyst Control has vanished from my laptop. To make it even worse, you can't download the driver and ATI CCC from ATI's site, you need to download it from Samsung, and the ZIP they provide is corrupted.

patricksweeney

Posted 2012-03-24T21:10:11.287

Reputation: 158

Answers

The mobility checker on AMD's website will download the generic drivers if your system passes. Once you have the CCC, you should be able to check the GPU switching. The 7 series also has had multiple BIOS updates for the issue, and while it's not 100% fixed, the new BIOS at least lets you force it to use only either the IGP or the AMD.

The direct download for the current mobility drivers is http://www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/12-4_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc.exe, and a few other websites also host it with mods to work on unsupported systems.

SilverbackNet

Posted 2012-03-24T21:10:11.287

Reputation: 962

Change the power to high performance in the power options, surprisingly i managed to play fallout 4 with the same laptop by only doing that

Ecstasy

Posted 2012-03-24T21:10:11.287

Reputation: 1

You can perform a graphics benchmark (one is included with some Source-based games) both before and after you turn the setting on (do three trials to be sure). The Source-based graphics benchmark moves your screen through a set map, and measures the average FPS.

You should notice a significant increase in FPS after enabling the dedicated graphics card, but note that you need to keep the graphics settings the same during both benchmarks.

Breakthrough

Posted 2012-03-24T21:10:11.287

Reputation: 32 927

SOLUTION!

Hey guys, I had the exact same problem with my series 5. I'd play games and they'd still be running off of the Intel hd 4000 graphics, which blew.

The solution isn't on the AMD website. Your series 7 should have come with an app in the start menu called SW Update - I know, I thought it was just more bloatware that I'd never touch - but surprisingly enough it has an update for 1) System BIOS and...wait for it... 2) The AMD Graphics Driver.

Run the update (make sure your AC adaptor is plugged in or the BIOS update will fail). Once the update is completed, right click on your desktop and select Configure Switchable Graphics. Under the applications list, select a game/program you'd like to run with the more powerful graphics card and under Graphics Setting, select High Performance.

Run the game and voila! The switchable graphics should now kick in! Hope this helps.

ahmedami

Posted 2012-03-24T21:10:11.287

Reputation: 1

The software had this ability at that time, but back then AND even now, it still never turns on the AMD card. Running something such as GPU-Z will confirm as such. – patricksweeney – 2013-05-18T21:37:28.883

If you go to the Catalyst Control Center by right clicking on the desktop and selecting Graphics Properties, select PowerPlay and what you'll notice is that your laptop is likely set to run all applications on the more power saving graphics card if your laptop isn't plugged in. Try changing the settings to maximize performance and then run your game both a) not plugged in and b) plugged in to see if there's any difference. It should help. – ahmedami – 2013-05-26T22:22:44.147

Nope, as I said before, this isn't any different from how the software has always been. – patricksweeney – 2013-05-28T12:31:51.267