Member Avatar for Kinoje

Hi,

My friend has just bought an Asus K52JC laptop. This laptop contains an onboard Intel video card and a NVIDIA 310 graphics card; it runs with Windows 7, 64 and has 4 Gb Ram.

He wanted to use only the NVIDIA card, for gaming purposes. So, I went in the Device Manager module, disabled the Intel Graphics card and went into the GeGorce graphics's card Properties's to see if it was activated and working fine. It was. I then rebooted and upon opening up, the system installed a VGA driver, even though the presence of the Geforce card. I disabled the VGA card, rebooted, went into the BIOS and looked for the Video settings...

None appeared, except for a setting which offered a choice between soemething like Video native with Vista/Windows 7 and the option "Reserved". I chose the last option, saved and booted. Back in the Device Manager, I noticed the GeForce card was not showing, but the VGA card did... I went back to the BIOS, resetted it to it's original video settings, returned to the Device Manager and now saw the VGA card alongside the GeForce card. This time I uninstalled the VGA card, rebooted and saw that the Intel Graphics Card had reappeared, alongside the GeForce card. Both are running without conflicts.

When looking into the System Performance Module, I can see that the computer's performance has gone back to its original rating, which is 4,3.


I really do not know what else to do... My questions are: How can I make sure, when I am gaming, that the GeForce is the video card being used (me friend will love the answer...)? Can I open up the back of the laptop and reseat the video card as I would do with a Desktop, to solve this issue? Will this suffice? Praying for some help and a real good advice.

Edited by Kinoje because: n/a
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Short diagnosis and the key rule: this model is a hybrid/Optimus-style design, so the Intel integrated graphics must remain present and active while the NVIDIA chip is used as a render device — disabling the Intel adapter in Device Manager breaks that chain and causes Windows to fall back to generic VGA drivers. This is expected on K52-series laptops and is why forcing the GeForce by disabling the iGPU isn’t the right approach. (notebookcheck.it)

How to make sure a game actually uses the GeForce 310M (safe, supported way):

  • Install the correct OEM graphics package from ASUS (chipset + Intel + NVIDIA Optimus-aware driver) rather than trying to disable adapters.
  • Open the NVIDIA Control Panel → Manage 3D Settings → Program Settings, add the game executable and choose “High‑performance NVIDIA processor”; or enable the Desktop context menu and use “Run with graphics processor” on the game shortcut.
  • Leave the Intel driver enabled; let Optimus switch the GPU automatically. (asus.com)

Driver and BIOS tips (practical troubleshooting):

  • Download the K52JC drivers and any chipset updates from ASUS Support before trying third‑party packages; use the vendor package first to avoid Optimus incompatibilities.
  • If Windows installs “Standard VGA” after you tinker, uninstall display adapters, reboot, then install the ASUS package (or the official NVIDIA/Intel packages recommended by ASUS). Updating the BIOS/chipset can also help with stability. (asus.com)

About opening the laptop and “reseating” the GPU: most consumer laptops have the GPU soldered or use special MXM modules in only a minority of models — it’s not like a desktop card you can reseat, and opening the chassis risks damage and warranty loss. Use software checks instead: monitor GPU load with tools like MSI Afterburner or GPU‑Z while running the game to confirm the NVIDIA chip is doing work (Windows Experience Index won’t show game use). (en.wikipedia.org)

Notes: follow ASUS/NVIDIA installation order (chipset → Intel graphics → NVIDIA), do not disable the integrated adapter, and use the NVIDIA Control Panel to assign games to the discrete GPU.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

hi ,never heard of a laptop with 2 video devices ,and don't think you have one ,think you are maybe confusing chip set[yours has Mobile Intel® HM55 Express Chipset] and video device chipset ,a google search reveals the laptop has NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M,i would go to asus website and get the latest drivers for NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M, and reinstall it and leave it alone the laptop will use this device for both games and regular computing

Edited by caperjack because: n/a
Member Avatar for Kinoje

Hi Caperjack,

You are right, these are indeed chipsets! Sorry about this confusion... After I had posted, I went to Asus & downloaded the latest driver. Afterward, I updated the DirectX (the Gamer package), tested it O.k. My friend had been complaining about the quality of the images, the fluidity of the game he was playing, the lagging and all... I'll have to know more on chipsets. Me friend has his laptop back since yesterday. Have not heard of him today. He was supposed to play Starcraft II all night... Thank you for answering Caperjack, I appreciate! This solves my issue.

Member Avatar for caperjack

Your welcome ,actually i leaned something new when goggling the laptop model ,never heard of graphics switching on the fly .

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