Solved Help me set primary adapter on AMD Catalyst 6520G+7670M

[Kaneda]

Hey guys,

Here's the deal - I'm new to this dual graphics thing and I noticed that on games I can't set the primary display adapter to my more powerful card 7670M. All I got on most of the programs I want to run (the windows aero experience as well) is the option to only see the 6520G (which is controlled by my quadcore CPU???).
There's no way to set my primary card to be just the 7670M (at least not on AMD Catalyst) - I thought the deal with "control" software was that I had some reasonable control over my hardware.

What I want: someone to tell me how to enable/switch/set my primary adapter to be the 7670M (I don't know how it works now, if it even switches to the more powerful card on applications or not). Do I need to disable the other one?
My drivers are new.

P.S. And before I forget - there's been BSODs these past few days that might've been caused by maybe a conflict between these two cards. The problem I get is the laptop freezes, I have to use the power button to shut it off and then - my HDD is not recognized as a bootable or even existing component, so I have to tap it a couple of times, restart and it works again.

My laptop is an ASUS K53TK, which for some odd reason came with a K43TK drivers CD. The laptop is new, 2 days old.
Odd stuff, odd stuff.

 

[Kaneda]

Ok, I installed GPU-Z, which was mentioned in another hot thread and it shows me (for the time being) that my AMD HD Graphics card (6520g) is doing all the hard work and the 7670m is idle, doing 0%.
Do I just load a game and check back in the desktop if the other one is stressing smth?

Come on people, a little help?

 

[oxymoron02]

The 6250G is classified as an APU meaning that it is integrated into the CPU in addition to sharing system memory to function as a graphics platform. Pairing that with a 7670 is pretty much useless particularly on a laptop.

Quite why the 6250 is insisting on being the primary graphics adapter is beyond me, although it may be exactly because we're dealing with an APU here. Did the laptop come with the 7670 already installed or was it something you requested of them, or installed yourself?

 

[Kaneda]

The 6250G is classified as an APU meaning that it is integrated into the CPU in addition to sharing system memory to function as a graphics platform. Pairing that with a 7670 is pretty much useless particularly on a laptop.

Quite why the 6250 is insisting on being the primary graphics adapter is beyond me, although it may be exactly because we're dealing with an APU here. Did the laptop come with the 7670 already installed or was it something you requested of them, or installed yourself?

It was installed.
I'd like to know how this whole Crossfire thing (is it, in this case?) works. If it supposedly saves me battery life with the cpu-hd-gfx card, then it makes a difference to me. And when I'm plugged in and the application is set to high-performance gpu so it works better - I'm also happy with it.
Does it work like this? Cause I don't have a clue.

My new question - SHOULD I even change anything, if it IS supposed to work like that? Cause maybe the laptop is using the integrated one for Win7 on purpose - since I don't need to stress anything while I just browse the net or smth/i.e. Win7.

 

[dsperber]

If your "other hot thread" is that one I have responded to (which mentioned using GPU-Z to investigate), I subsequently discovered that his dual-graphics HP Pavilion g6-2020ee notebook machine needed:

(a) BOTH drivers installed, for both the onboard Intel graphics, as well as for the ATI HD7670M graphics, and

(b) apparently there is some way (perhaps in BIOS, perhaps in some HP configuration utility, perhaps in Catalyst Control Center... don't know, read the manual!) to SELECT WHICH GRAPHICS YOU WANT TO RUN WITH.

Apparently, the low-power Intel graphics is intended for lesser performance needs and possibly battery operation, and the high-power HD6760M graphics is intended for gaming and plugged-in situations. But the notebook itself apparently supports user-selection of which graphics mode is in effect.

The HP site provides an ATI driver download for that model, where the driver package actually contains BOTH (a) ATI driver and Catalyst Control Center, and (b) Intel driver. So once this "dual-driver" installer completes, presumably the only thing left is to then choose which of the two hardware graphics methods you wish to make use of.


Is this helpful, for your own situation?

 

[Kaneda]

If your "other hot thread" is that one I have responded to (which mentioned using GPU-Z to investigate), I subsequently discovered that his dual-graphics HP Pavilion g6-2020ee notebook machine needed:

(a) BOTH drivers installed, for both the onboard Intel graphics, as well as for the ATI HD7670M graphics, and

(b) apparently there is some way (perhaps in BIOS, perhaps in some HP configuration utility, perhaps in Catalyst Control Center... don't know, read the manual!) to SELECT WHICH GRAPHICS YOU WANT TO RUN WITH.

Apparently, the low-power Intel graphics is intended for lesser performance needs and possibly battery operation, and the high-power HD6760M graphics is intended for gaming and plugged-in situations. But the notebook itself apparently supports user-selection of which graphics mode is in effect.

The HP site provides an ATI driver download for that model, where the driver package actually contains BOTH (a) ATI driver and Catalyst Control Center, and (b) Intel driver. So once this "dual-driver" installer completes, presumably the only thing left is to then choose which of the two hardware graphics methods you wish to make use of.


Is this helpful, for your own situation?

Well I use an ASUS and there's no AMD driver for 7670M specifically, when I run the auto-detect tool from the AMD website, it just recognizes the 6520G (I guess because it's set as the primary adapter?).
If there is a separate driver for 7670M for me - please let me know, or provide a link.
AFAIK, there's no new drivers for these cards and new 12.8 CCC just reads my card as 6600 6700m series, which is BS, because it's from the 7XXX generation.
I wish there were a BIOS option, but the BIOS is practically empty, no tweaks at all, it doesn't even show my 7670M, just memory and the CPU with the HD APU.
My device manager shows me that I have 2 cards, but the "update driver" button doesn't do much.

I presume that it's supposed to work AFTER I've used a program and set it to high-performance. And supposedly it WILL NOT use the high-gpu when on battery power, only on plugged-in mode. Is this correct?
Sigh, I have a new laptop with a ferocious card on it and it still insists to use the APU as the primary.

If I disable the 6520G in device manager - what would happen?

 

[dsperber]

First of all, I have zero experience with this hardware. So I'm only doing my own searching, trying to find out more information and help out.

But one other person made reference to the "Performance" tab in Catalyst Control Center:

Yes, under the performance tab amd radeon dual graphics i enable dual graphics theres a picture showing a picture where apu+gpu joins together etc.
​

Have you investigated that? Any setup options or performance profiles or power reconfiguration to enable the second graphics card to "kick in"?

According to information about your motherboard:

The K53TK-SX0A8 from ASUS is a 15.6-inch notebook that incorporates AMD A8-3520M "Llano", which is a quad-core APU clocked at 1.60 GHz, with Radeon HD 6620G graphics. The APU's integrated graphics works in tandem with a discrete Radeon HD 7670M GPU, that has 2 GB of dedicated memory.
​

I honestly don't know what "works in tandem" means, nor how to enable it, other than that seemingly relevant "performance" tab in CCC.

Have you phoned ASUS for support?

 

[Kaneda]

First of all, I have zero experience with this hardware. So I'm only doing my own searching, trying to find out more information and help out.

But one other person made reference to the "Performance" tab in Catalyst Control Center:

Yes, under the performance tab amd radeon dual graphics i enable dual graphics theres a picture showing a picture where apu+gpu joins together etc.
​

Have you investigated that? Any setup options or performance profiles or power reconfiguration to enable the second graphics card to "kick in"?

According to information about your motherboard:

The K53TK-SX0A8 from ASUS is a 15.6-inch notebook that incorporates AMD A8-3520M "Llano", which is a quad-core APU clocked at 1.60 GHz, with Radeon HD 6620G graphics. The APU's integrated graphics works in tandem with a discrete Radeon HD 7670M GPU, that has 2 GB of dedicated memory.
​

I honestly don't know what "works in tandem" means, nor how to enable it, other than that seemingly relevant "performance" tab in CCC.

Have you phoned ASUS for support?

If it were that simple to just use the GPU via CCC - I'd know what to switch on.
The thing is - the DUAL Graphics mode is APU+GPU, but since the APU is set as primary adapter, if I turn off dual graphics, then I turn off the GPU and only APU is read. It shows on CCC, and on the DUAL Graphics tab - it shows only APU green, no GPU activity.
"Works in tandem" - means that they work together, jointly.
Some people have suggested I use the 12.6 Beta drivers, but the thing is - I've read that the core clocks change, the card is read as a 6xxx series model, some other modes are screwed up and that it's unstable. Some have mentioned leshcat drivers, etc.
I've read mostly that AMD has not released drivers for this model 7670M and that the dual graphics thing is stuck, because of this.
I don't mind the 6520G for now, but I'd hope that 2 cards could work in maybe a month of wait for some drivers....
ASUS won't help - it's AMD's fault for not making the drivers, but ASUS might tell me if I could disable the APU and use just GPU (with BIOS or smth, I have v2.06).

I do appreciate your help

 

[dsperber]

On the other thread, it was suggested that the second graphics card is enabled as "high-performance" from the desktop right-click context menu:

It seems that your lappy supports switchable graphics... just right click on desktop click on switchable graphics... then browse the content for the application u r using.. then click on high performance mode..
​

I don't know if that other HP hardware story applies to your machine, since that other machine had Intel HD graphics along with an HD7670M, whereas yours has a lower-level ATI graphics adapter along with a second ATI HD7670M.

But if you right-click on the desktop of your machine, is there such a thing as "switchable graphics" on the context menu, and if you follow that item is there actually a way to select individual programs and active "high performance mode" for them?

 

[Kaneda]

On the other thread, it was suggested that the second graphics card is enabled as "high-performance" from the desktop right-click context menu:

It seems that your lappy supports switchable graphics... just right click on desktop click on switchable graphics... then browse the content for the application u r using.. then click on high performance mode..
​

I don't know if that other HP hardware story applies to your machine, since that other machine had Intel HD graphics along with an HD7670M, whereas yours has a lower-level ATI graphics adapter along with a second ATI HD7670M.

But if you right-click on the desktop of your machine, is there such a thing as "switchable graphics" on the context menu, and if you follow that item is there actually a way to select individual programs and active "high performance mode" for them?

Yes, the mode is there, the selection is available, but all it does is set the laptop to high-performance mode i.e. more power consumption. It does not activate the card or enable the two present cards. That's the whole point. I can assign the application to high-pm, but it just uses the 6520G anyway.
Ok, on a side note - what would happen if I disable the integrated card from device manger? Is the 7670M going to wake up and take over? Please answer me this.

EDIT:

SOLVED this.

Everything works, the stock drivers are A-OK to handle. Checked with GPU-Z again and it uses both cards, tried on a demanding game GRID - all settings MAXED. GPU-Z registered the 7670M. It seems to me that this setup is quite rocking, because it will enhance the lifespan of the dedicated card, only using it on demanding games and the other one saving energy on simple games.

Thanks to everyone for their patience and tips/advice.
good day to all

 

[dsperber]

On the other thread, it was suggested that the second graphics card is enabled as "high-performance" from the desktop right-click context menu:

It seems that your lappy supports switchable graphics... just right click on desktop click on switchable graphics... then browse the content for the application u r using.. then click on high performance mode..
​

I don't know if that other HP hardware story applies to your machine, since that other machine had Intel HD graphics along with an HD7670M, whereas yours has a lower-level ATI graphics adapter along with a second ATI HD7670M.

But if you right-click on the desktop of your machine, is there such a thing as "switchable graphics" on the context menu, and if you follow that item is there actually a way to select individual programs and active "high performance mode" for them?

Yes, the mode is there, the selection is available, but all it does is set the laptop to high-performance mode i.e. more power consumption. It does not activate the card or enable the two present cards. That's the whole point. I can assign the application to high-pm, but it just uses the 6520G anyway.
Ok, on a side note - what would happen if I disable the integrated card from device manger? Is the 7670M going to wake up and take over? Please answer me this.

Well, I wish I had firsthand experience with this type of dual-graphics hardware, but I don't. I really know nothing about its behavior, how to confirm that both GPU's are working on your behalf "in tandem", etc.

Perhaps somebody else reading this thread who has experience with this type of hardware (or laptop) can give you more info.

I'd also suggest you contact ASUS (since it's their laptop), and ask them what gives.

And you can certainly pursue the same question in other forums, for example on this Notebook Users forum thread.


I'd really like to be able to help, but this dual-graphics hardware is an unknown quantity to me.

 

[Kaneda]

On the other thread, it was suggested that the second graphics card is enabled as "high-performance" from the desktop right-click context menu:

It seems that your lappy supports switchable graphics... just right click on desktop click on switchable graphics... then browse the content for the application u r using.. then click on high performance mode..
​

I don't know if that other HP hardware story applies to your machine, since that other machine had Intel HD graphics along with an HD7670M, whereas yours has a lower-level ATI graphics adapter along with a second ATI HD7670M.

But if you right-click on the desktop of your machine, is there such a thing as "switchable graphics" on the context menu, and if you follow that item is there actually a way to select individual programs and active "high performance mode" for them?

Yes, the mode is there, the selection is available, but all it does is set the laptop to high-performance mode i.e. more power consumption. It does not activate the card or enable the two present cards. That's the whole point. I can assign the application to high-pm, but it just uses the 6520G anyway.
Ok, on a side note - what would happen if I disable the integrated card from device manger? Is the 7670M going to wake up and take over? Please answer me this.

Well, I wish I had firsthand experience with this type of dual-graphics hardware, but I don't. I really know nothing about its behavior, how to confirm that both GPU's are working on your behalf "in tandem", etc.

Perhaps somebody else reading this thread who has experience with this type of hardware (or laptop) can give you more info.

I'd also suggest you contact ASUS (since it's their laptop), and ask them what gives.

And you can certainly pursue the same question in other forums, for example on this Notebook Users forum thread.


I'd really like to be able to help, but this dual-graphics hardware is an unknown quantity to me.

Thanks, I just reposted a while ago, checked the cards and they're both running fine.

 

[dsperber]

EDIT:

SOLVED this.

Everything works, the stock drivers are A-OK to handle. Checked with GPU-Z again and it uses both cards

Can you please tell us what you did, that "solved it yourself"?

At first you said you could enable high-performance, but it still only used the standard card. So what ELSE DID YOU DO, which now caused the second HD7670M to kick in, whereas it hadn't kicked in before (so you said)??

Others will want to know exactly what you did to "solve this".

 

[Kaneda]

Oh, well I reverted to the old drivers (via device manager) 12.3ccc, because the amd supply was incorrect and buggy. The drivers (stock), I believe, are custom for my laptop and I was just ignorant in believing I could run an old game on the 7670m. At first I tried Max Payne, but it proved capable on the apu, but on the game Grid - max settings brought out both cards. I was blind thinking dual graphics didn't work because I only tried it on a non demanding application.
My suggestion and advice to anyone with dual graphics - stick to stock drivers supplied by the manufacturer.
Simple as that.
But thanks for the support.

 

[LinusBE]

I have a similar setup (A6-3420M with 6520G and HD7470M) and the dedicated GPU is only used for DirectX 10 and 11 games.

 

[Kaneda]

I have a similar setup (A6-3420M with 6520G and HD7470M) and the dedicated GPU is only used for DirectX 10 and 11 games.

Thanks, good to know.
I had to update to the 12.8 ccc, because the setup is bsod with 12.3 stock drivers.

 

[Nutle]

Hi, I've recently got the same laptop as you - K53TK - and am having the same problem. I've uninstalled 6520G from device manager and let windows find and install it automatically. And it did - it found both 6520G and 7670M, and GPU-Z showed activity from both cards during GPU-demanding games. The problem was that every time after turning on the system it reminded that there were no gpu drivers.. So then I've tried installing 12.3 CCC just like you did, but it happened so that it didn't install any GPU driver - just some random tools that are probably useless. After that I've tried 12.6 - this one had GPU drivers to offer, but now 7670M is recognized as Radeon 6600 / 6700 M Series GPU, though GPU-Z shows its activities...

I'm new with all this driver-stuff so it's kind of hard to figure out what to do, what else to try and etc. So far I think I'm gonna leave that 12.6CCC and see how is it going to deal with 7670m in games.. So far it's capable of handling some games, but probably not how it could with normal drivers..

 

[Kaneda]

Hi, I've recently got the same laptop as you - K53TK - and am having the same problem. I've uninstalled 6520G from device manager and let windows find and install it automatically. And it did - it found both 6520G and 7670M, and GPU-Z showed activity from both cards during GPU-demanding games. The problem was that every time after turning on the system it reminded that there were no gpu drivers.. So then I've tried installing 12.3 CCC just like you did, but it happened so that it didn't install any GPU driver - just some random tools that are probably useless. After that I've tried 12.6 - this one had GPU drivers to offer, but now 7670M is recognized as Radeon 6600 / 6700 M Series GPU, though GPU-Z shows its activities...

I'm new with all this driver-stuff so it's kind of hard to figure out what to do, what else to try and etc. So far I think I'm gonna leave that 12.6CCC and see how is it going to deal with 7670m in games.. So far it's capable of handling some games, but probably not how it could with normal drivers..

Hi, [sveikas! ]

Install 12.8ccc, i've had the least problems with bsods using this version.
Apart from that - the laptop is buggy in and of itself.
Hopefully the 3 year warranty will come in handy.

Sekmes

 

[Nutle]

Labas

What other problems/bugs are you having with your laptop? Cause with mine so far there weren't many bsods so far (only one or two, during some installations and reboots afterwards, so it's quite understandable) and I hope there won't be any more.

Oh, and by the way, is your 7670M also recognized as 6600/6700 M Series Radeon? I mean, is this a thing for all k53tk's, or it's just a poor driver setup?

 

[Kaneda]

Well it's just been having random stuff like little shimmering horizontal lines on the screen. First in browsers, then in general. It stops after reinstalling drivers again. I don't know if it's a permanent issue, but it's happened to me 3 times already.

Mine is recognized that way too, but it's a manufacturing/driver problem. The system of 2 gpus is new to AMD, so they're too slow to make it right for every single piece of hardware they release.

That's my take on it.
Does your laptop heat up though? Mine goes to 60-70C.

Hope it goes well for you, at least the laptop is cheap (1400lt). 3 year warranty for this is really awesome, dont you think?