How to disable the built-in video card on a laptop or computer?

The presence of two types of hardware solutions for processing computer graphics - embedded in the processor or motherboard graphics core and discrete video adapter has become almost the standard for modern computers and laptops. It should be noted the high efficiency of this approach for solving the mass of tasks of users and the personnel that serves the equipment. In some cases, there is a need to solve the problem: how to disable the built-in video card on a computer or laptop? The reasons for the emergence of this need and methods for solving the problem will be discussed later in the article.

When can the built-in graphics come in handy?

The presence of an integrated graphics adapter makes it easier to diagnose hardware components when there are problems with the PC. Among other things, since the failure of a discrete video card and up to its replacement, you can use the computer almost completely, except for tasks that require a powerful graphics processor, in particular, computer games and video processing software.

As for laptops, here on the first place comes energy saving. Switching to the built-in video card when performing tasks that do not require large computing resources, introduced into the system by a discrete graphics adapter, allows to save the battery charge of the laptop.

In most cases, there is no strong need to disable the built-in adapter. An exception may be a situation in which errors and malfunctions occur, and it is the graphics built into the motherboard that makes it impossible to fully use individual applications. In any case, before disabling the integrated graphics card of the motherboard, you should analyze the possible negative consequences of this solution in the event of a sudden failure of the external graphics adapter.

Methods

If you need to prevent the system from using the built-in graphics, you can use one of several methods. These methods allow you to easily disconnect the built-in video card, and turn it back on. The BIOS, device manager, and specialized software from AMD or Nvidia graphics card makers can help in deactivating the integrated graphics core.

Disabling in the BIOS

How to disable the built-in graphics card via BIOS? In fact, there is no universal instruction for all PCs and laptops. The fact is that the variety of models and BIOS versions led to a large number of variants of the sequence of actions for performing the required operation. In addition, not on every laptop or computer, the ability to disable the built-in graphics via the BIOS is provided by the manufacturer. Let's describe only common points:

1. After entering the BIOS, you need to find a section called Config, Advanced Settings or something similar.
2. The target point can be called Graphics Configuration, Integrated Graphics, OnBoard Video, Adapter VGA or otherwise, but in this case, in most cases, contain the word Graphics or Video.
3. The value of the found parameter must be changed to Disabled.
4. As for PC motherboards, to turn off the integrated solution it is usually enough to change the value of Primary Display to PCI-E.
5. Do not forget to save BIOS settings before logging out. Usually, the F10 key is used for this.

device Manager

Another answer to the question of how to disable the integrated graphics card is the use of built-in features of Windows OS, more precisely the device manager. The methodology of the method is as follows:

1. Open the device manager, which allows you to view all the equipment installed in the system. To do this, right-click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop, select the "Properties" item in the opened menu, and click the link "Device Manager" on the right side of the resulting window.
2. In the "Dispatcher" we find the section "Video adapters", by clicking on the name of which, we open the list of graphic cards.

Adapters have found, but how to disable the built-in graphics card? For this:

• Determine which solution is integrated. If this is difficult to understand, you can use the search for a component description by the device model on the Internet.
• Right-click on the name of the device to be disconnected and select "Disable" in the menu that opens.
• After confirming the intention to stop using the device in the request window, you must close the Device Manager and restart the laptop or PC.

Utilities of adapter manufacturers

Most computers and laptops are equipped with discrete graphics cards from one of two manufacturers - NVIDIA or AMD. Complete with drivers for these solutions, the user usually receives a special software package, through which the management of the functions of graphics adapters, as well as their configuration. Utilities provide a lot of features, including disabling unnecessary hardware components for the user. To understand how to disable the built-in graphics card using these tools, you need to find and run one of the following applications.

NVIDIA Control Center

To disable the built-in graphics or, in any case, to use it with various programs via the Control Center from NVIDIA, you should go the following way:

1. Launch the application and find it, and then open the item "3D Options".
2. Select the "Manage 3D settings" section.
3. Open the tab "Program settings" located on the right side of the screen.
4. We assign for each separate program the use of an exclusively external video card.

Catalyst Control Center

In most cases, the owners of graphic adapters from AMD company are available the Catalyst Control Center. The procedure for disabling integrated graphics is as follows:

1. Start the Control Center, find and open the "Power" section.
2. The line that we need to go to the switching screen of video cards is called "Switchable graphics adapters".
3. After clicking on the link above, a window opens, in which the choice of the video card is available for use. In our case, click on "High Performance GPU". After saving the settings, the system will start the applications without using the integrated graphics solution.

Hopefully, the foregoing has helped the reader understand how to disable the built-in video card on a laptop or computer. Regardless of the chosen method, do not hurry with the shutdown. It is possible, you can do without such a cardinal solution, and the problems with video adapters can be solved by other methods.