Why, after connecting an external monitor to a laptop, applications began to work using a discrete Nvidia graphics card?

Question

Video cards

I noticed that after I connected an external monitor to the laptop (and made it the main one), any applications began to work using Nvidia, and not the built-in video card (if it was used at all before). Browser, Zoom, Skype, system and other applications. Although earlier I noticed the use of Nvidia only when starting games.



What happened and can this behavior be changed? I know that with the help of Nvidia Control Panel I can specify the choice of GPU individually for each program (now it's set to auto-select), but it's quite cumbersome to do this for each application.

I will be grateful for advice.

Answer 1

Strictly speaking, auto-selection in 99% of cases is quite a sufficient condition.
Well, what's wrong with using a discrete card? Only more consumption? But the connected stationary monitor, as it were, hints at the use of a stationary and not from batteries.
Moreover, the resolution and frame rate of the monitor are likely to be huge - is it generally pulled by the built-in one?

Answer 2

In modern laptops with multiple graphics cards, port switching is done in software (look for software and hardware mux in laptops for more details). That is, the port for an external monitor is physically connected only to a discrete card. And if the application is running on the built-in, then the frames displayed by it are still copied to the discrete one (this is implemented somewhere in the drivers) and displayed on the monitor using it. Therefore, turning it off completely when using an external monitor will not work.

Answer 3

Try this

. If it does not help, then in the BIOS settings, set the use of integrated graphics.