Acer Laptop: Switchable Graphics using i7 & AMD Radeon

Well, the Acer Aspire 7750G-9567 comes with the AMD Radeon 6650m, which doesn't appear to be compatible with new versions of Catalyst, or does there even exist a new catalyst version that supports that card?

TVeblen said:

I get this:

I think i've tried that, but it said it wasn't compatible.

The only drivers I've found that install correctly and provide the switchable graphics are the ones on the Acer site. The Catalyst Control Center has no option to select the 6650m as the main graphics though. Only get the pop-up asking which GPU I want to use when first running a program.

For those interested the XML files containing the choices for GPU selection are located in C:\Users\[User]\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE

Dark Byte said:

Well, the Acer Aspire 7750G-9567 comes with the AMD Radeon 6650m, which doesn't appear to be compatible with new versions of Catalyst, or does there even exist a new catalyst version that supports that card?

It's not that it is not compatible with the drivers, more that the DevID that Acer used for it isn't present in the INF. You could probably get it to install by adding or even just changing one DevID for the 6650m that is listed in the INF.

As a workaround, I had a lot of success using Actual Windows Manager. You can tell the secondary screen to run full size @ 1920X1080 it seems to wake up the card and my programs work sweet. Also set 'Pin To Desktop' to stop it from disappearing when you do other things. You can also set the window name at the top. Its not true fullscreen as such, but has worked great for me.

Here is an example of a Live Video Effects Demo I did using Actual Windows Manager to output to the sec monitor in 1920X1080 and recorded with fraps. Click hidef for better quality if u have a fast enough connection -
VDJ & VMS4 Video Effects Demo by DJ Cheers (1080) - YouTube

It has a 60 day full working trial period so you can make sure it will work how you want, before you pay for it. Its not cheap at US$49.95 but saved me getting another pc, so might help someone else.

Actual Windows Manager info and free trial download -
http://www.plimus.com/jsp/redirect.jsp?contractId=1644315&referrer=1021234

Acer Aspire 7750g-6662 just purchased and ran into this madness with the cards, has anyone had any luck contacting them and confirming a BIOs update or something in the works? Seems this forum is the only place I can find this being discussed. Would calling Acer and joining the crowd asking for this do any good?

I think part of the problem is these are priced so low, even with the great hardware, there are many non-gamers buying them who really don't discover or care about the switching issue.
My 7750G-6669 is downright cheap for the hardware installed. Sure wish they would fix the BIOS/Software issue though. I personally gave up trying to make them understand over the phone. An online ticket didn't accomplish anything either. Just get scripted responses.