Graphics Card Question

[Svichi]

Ok, first off I wana say that I'm not a tech guy, so forgive me if what I'm about to ask sounds incredibly dumb, lol.

Last Beta Phase 4 FFXIV ran on my Nvidia GeForce 650m and everything went smoothly (other than the server issues). Now when I booted up FFXIV I noticed that it was running on Intel HD Graphics 4000, and nowhere is the option to switch it to GeForce 650m.

So why the switch. B4 ran on my Nvidia, why is it back to the HD 4000 now?

Can someone with some knowledge on this get back to me on this please?

[SkyyMan]

This issue is not with FF14. switchable graphics is a stupid idea. the hardware chooses which GPU to use. you can try disabling the Intel through device manager so it forces the computer to only use the Nvidia GPU.

[Svichi]

Well, I'd rather not mess with that. If that's the gpu the game chose, I'll stick with it. I'm just confused as to why for the Open Beta the game was using Nvidia, and how HD4000, that's all. It's not like the game looks any less gorgeous, and aside the server issues, it's smoothly on Laptop High settings.

[qwaster]

You should be able to go into Nvidia setting in control panel and set the program to use that card.

[SkyyMan]

this is how switchable GPUs work... when the game is launched the hardware monitors how much resources is being used and then chooses which GPU is best for that task. the beta was not perfect and the launch of the game as had a few updates so the engine is probably running better since the beta so the game is not using has much resources. the end result is your hardware thinks it only needs to use the intel GPU vs GTX650. intel 4000 is a very decent GPU.

[Ezio]

You are using your on board Video card, you have to disable it.

[Svichi]

Thanks for all the great info on this everyone. I learned something new today, lol.

As for the suggestion to set the program to use with the card. I just tried that, but FFXIV don't show up on the program list usable with the Nvidia gpu. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Yoshi say something a while back that the game is still being optimized to be usable with Nvidia, or something to that effect? Could that be the reason why FFXIV is not showing up on the programs list in the Nvidia control panel?

[SkyyMan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Yoshi say something a while back that the game is still being optimized to be usable with Nvidia, or something to that effect? Could that be the reason why FFXIV is not showing up on the programs list in the Nvidia control panel?

yes the game is being optimized for nvidia hardware but your hardware is different. example: if you were to download the latest Nvidia driver for the gtx650 you will get an error massage reading "the gpu is manufacturer proprietary" meaning you can only use the driver the manufacturer of that laptop provides. also to note you cant choose which gpu to use. i have seen people change the power management settings on the computer to force the gpu to switch to the Nvidia or AMD.