Laptop performing noticeably worse on own screen vs monitor

[ricksis]

So I've seen this thing lately with my Acer laptop. There's difference between plugging in another monitor or using the laptop screen. Every game I play (mostly CS GO, Dota 2) also runs much more smoothly if I use an external monitor; we're talking about 30-50fps on laptop screen compared to 60-90 fps with another monitor, for example LG W2442PE. I know it sounds silly, but is there anything wrong with the laptop (e.g. drivers, software, even hardware)? Is there anything I could do about it?


Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz
Manufacturer Intel
Speed 2.6 GHz
Number of Cores 4
CPU ID BFEBFBFF000306A9
Family 06
Model 3A
Stepping 9
Revision 15
Video Card 1 NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M
Manufacturer NVIDIA
Chipset GeForce GT 730M
Dedicated Memory 3.1 GB
Total Memory 4.0 GB
Pixel Shader Version 5.0
Vertex Shader Version 5.0
Hardware T & L Yes
Vendor ID 10DE
Device ID 0FE1
Plug and Play ID VEN_10DE&DEV_0FE1&SUBSYS_06481025&REV_A1
Driver Version 9.18.13.4411
Video Card 2 Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
Manufacturer Intel
Chipset Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
Dedicated Memory 128 MB
Total Memory 1.7 GB
Pixel Shader Version 5.0
Vertex Shader Version 5.0
Hardware T & L Yes
Vendor ID 8086
Device ID 0166
Plug and Play ID VEN_8086&DEV_0166&SUBSYS_06471025&REV_09
Driver Version 8.15.10.2712
Memory 8.0 GB
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit
Service Pack 1
Size 64 Bit
Edition Ultimate
Version 6.1.7601
Locale 0418
BIOS InsydeH2O Version 03.72.23V2.13
Version Insyde Corp. V2.13
Manufacturer Insyde Corp.
Date 01/17/13
Display Maximum Resolution 1920 x 1080
Sound Device 1 Realtek High Definition Audio
Driver Version 6.0.1.6543
Sound Device 2 NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) (WDM)
Driver Version
Sound Device 3 Intel(R) Display Audio
Driver Version 6.14.0.3090
DVD Slimtype DVD A DS8A8SH
CD Slimtype DVD A DS8A8SH
Drive 1
Size 385.8 GB
Free 29.2 GB
Drive 2
Size 79.9 GB
Free 649.4 MB

 

[taylorig]

Sounds to me like it's using the HD Graphics 4000 rather than the 730M when connecting to a monitor. Also is the Laptop and the monitor you are using both 1920x1080?

On a side note I'd look in to cleaning some of that "Drive 1 Size 385.8 GB Free 29.2 GB" at some point

 

[ricksis]

Yes, they are both 1920x1080. So your point is that in normal mode, the 730M is in use? Isn't the gfx card more powerful than the integrated graphics and should perform better on paper than?

 

[taylorig]

Yes. Indeed the 730M is more powerful than the integrated one but it's probably just a matter of going through some settings and manually selecting with GPU to use on which output.

I can't help you in this case as i'm not sure what you'd be looking at but it should be pretty straight forward. If not then Google is your friend

 

[kieranballard2]

This might not be any help at all, but then again, it might be..

Anyway, in my PC's UEFI BIOS (might be possible on whatever your laptop has, I think some old CMOS machines have it), there's an option called Primary Graphics Adapter (or something similar), try changing this option.

As I said, this may not help you, because it could be a completely different issue, but its worth a look.

Good luck.

 

[MrNeeds]

This might not be any help at all, but then again, it might be..

Anyway, in my PC's UEFI BIOS (might be possible on whatever your laptop has, I think some old CMOS machines have it), there's an option called Primary Graphics Adapter (or something similar), try changing this option.

As I said, this may not help you, because it could be a completely different issue, but its worth a look.

Good luck.

Nice find but completely useless as the laptop uses Dual GPU configs, it's called hybrid GPUs and Nvidia have a driver called optimus that deals with the task of switching between them, you have to (like taylorig has mentioned) go to the Nvidia control panel and choose which GPU to run the external monitor on, specifically, I can't tell you the exact setting because I don't have a Notebook with dual GPUs on to test but it shouldn't be that difficult to find.

MrNeeds