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Alienware, win 8.1 and nVidia GTX 765M... GPU never used :[


Hoamaii

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Hey guys,

 

I'm posting this in the hope that someone has had the same issue and found a working solution.

 

An old thread already discussed the same issue here (http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1338245-unable-to-use-nvidia-geforce-gtx-765m/), on Steam and even on the Alienwarearena forum but noone seems to have found a viable solution.

 

Here it is: I bought an Alienware laptop a few months ago with a lot more Ram and a better GPU than the one I have now. Only to find that ALL games were running incredibly slow (20-30 fps max, lots of lags and stutters, fans working full speed all the time) only to discover after installing Skyrim Legendary that games are running on the Intel Graphics 4600 instead of the nVidia GTX 765M.

 

I never paid attention before but I incidentally found that out because on Skyrim I bothered to check my Skyrimprefs.ini files.

 

I tried all possible solutions offered on the Internet to no avail. Spent 2 full days over the phone with Dell Support only to watch them remotely reinstall the whole system 3 times and messing up badly when installing the drivers (Alienware is NO LONGER what it used to be, I tell you!..). This only to finally reach the same conclusions I had reached on my own that indeed the machine never uses its nVidia Card and leaving me with a completely unusable machine atm. They're obvioulsy clueless.

 

Games' launchers do recognise the nVidia GPU and initiate settings on 'Ultra' quality, I also installed GeForce Experience which does recognise the GPU is there too - every 3rd party program sees the card - but Win 8.1 or the motherboard, or bios, just don't when a game is launched. And Win 8.1 (had no choice, Alienware no longer sells rigs on Win7) is so stupidly confusing I can't even find the full rig's specs in the config tabs.

 

I just can't figure out if it's a hardware issue or a software problem - anybody has had similar issues lately? Or could help me out with better knowledge than I have?

 

Thanks a lot for reading, guys... I'd really appreciate any advice...

 

Hoamaii

 

PS. That issue is not specific to Skyrim - when you run 3Dmark benchmark, it really shows that only the Intel Graphics 4600 is used.

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Hey guys,

 

I'm posting this in the hope that someone has had the same issue and found a working solution.

 

An old thread already discussed the same issue here (http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1338245-unable-to-use-nvidia-geforce-gtx-765m/), on Steam and even on the Alienwarearena forum but noone seems to have found a viable solution.

 

Here it is: I bought an Alienware laptop a few months ago with a lot more Ram and a better GPU than the one I have now. Only to find that ALL games were running incredibly slow (20-30 fps max, lots of lags and stutters, fans working full speed all the time) only to discover after installing Skyrim Legendary that games are running on the Intel Graphics 4600 instead of the nVidia GTX 765M.

 

I never paid attention before but I incidentally found that out because on Skyrim I bothered to check my Skyrimprefs.ini files.

 

I tried all possible solutions offered on the Internet to no avail. Spent 2 full days over the phone with Dell Support only to watch them remotely reinstall the whole system 3 times and messing up badly when installing the drivers (Alienware is NO LONGER what it used to be, I tell you!..). This only to finally reach the same conclusions I had reached on my own that indeed the machine never uses its nVidia Card and leaving me with a completely unusable machine atm. They're obvioulsy clueless.

 

Games' launchers do recognise the nVidia GPU and initiate settings on 'Ultra' quality, I also installed GeForce Experience which does recognise the GPU is there too - every 3rd party program sees the card - but Win 8.1 or the motherboard, or bios, just don't when a game is launched. And Win 8.1 (had no choice, Alienware no longer sells rigs on Win7) is so stupidly confusing I can't even find the full rig's specs in the config tabs.

 

I just can't figure out if it's a hardware issue or a software problem - anybody has had similar issues lately? Or could help me out with better knowledge than I have?

 

Thanks a lot for reading, guys... I'd really appreciate any advice...

 

Hoamaii

 

PS. That issue is not specific to Skyrim - when you run 3Dmark benchmark, it really shows that only the Intel Graphics 4600 is used.

 

do you know how to access the bios settings?

post the machines ID / model number located on the bottom tag, there is also a serial number too. I need that to do a search.

Edited by Purr4me
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Hey Purr4Me,

Thanks for replying, I'm finally online with an Alienware specialist from Dell right now - and he started with updating the bios - now running more tests with him. I'll get back to you when this is done with the model number. Thanks :)

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ok, your in better hands than I.

your issue is the bios is not allowing the hardware to act.

During test. watch the pre-post in Dos mode at boot time and see what get's posted.

this is where the data shows it's self.

Edited by Purr4me
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Hey Purr4me, thanks again.

 

You're absolutely right, the problem came from the bios, and since it is attached to the motherboard, they offered to replace the motherboard. The Alienware guy ran all possible tests to check nothing else was to blame - and I now trust his diagnostics.

 

I also asked them to downgrade my OS to Win7 because honestly, I can't stand the incredible amount of useless apps Win 8.1 keeps running as background tasks, and I don't feel comfortable at all with an OS where I can't even find my way to my rig's specs or advanced setting panels. I gave it an honest try though but Win 8.1 (in my humble opinion) is just a load of crap - an opaque and pathetic version of Win 7 for dumb people - what PC users would want a user interface that makes their PCs look like a bad version of an iPhone?!..

 

My luck here was that I had been in touch with this Alienware guy (in Bratislava!..) back in December when they already had to replace my laptop screen and that guy had given me his professional email address - because Dell French support is just a helpless bunch of clueless and badly informed people.

 

The lesson to learn here is don't bother dealing with Dell, deal directly with Alienware if you can... but that only works if you speak English unfortunately.

 

Anyway, thanks for offering to help, Purr4me, I truly appreciate it and may come back to you (if you don't mind) if I get stuck again after my motherboard's been replaced.

 

Cheers from Paris,

 

Hoamaii

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deal directly with Alienware if you can... but that only works if you speak English unfortunately.

Don't go near Alienware at all. You can make a much better computer for much less money. Alienware is like getting an i7 for gaming, people get it for bragging rights but an i5 actual does just as well if not better for less money.

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Faildows 8 is a giant smartphone, indeed, but if you can run one, then the menus are no problem. The Control Panel is still a giant clusterfk that tries its best to deny you access to the essential tools.

However, a handy trick to keep in mind is that pressing the Windows key on your keyboard and X at the same time will open up a small menu that gives you direct access to things like Device Manager, Programs (install/uninstall), System overview, and all the other key features that everyone should be using regularly.

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Why would you want a laptop at all for gaming? You're better with a console; better graphics, more reliable, the list is huge. My GPU is much the same as the Op's, yet i don't even need to see his graphics to be able to say, without fear of being proved wrong that mine are far, far better then his laptop will ever get, plus when the 980 TI comes out i wont need to buy a whole new computer, but he will need a whole new laptop.

Edited by Nazgren
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Lol, guys, I agree with you - the laptop is just a side toy I indulged myself with to play or mod (and work :ermm:) on the go - but all the big stuff gets done on my destop (way too big to travel with me). I wish I had the hardware knowledge to build my own computer though but I don't. I thought that laptop was a good deal (and moneywise it was) but obviously I was wrong.

 

I thought twice about going back to Win 7 though because it's unlikely that Microsoft will ever step back from its obvious intent to mimic the Apple economy - and I wanted to try and get used to Win 8's new UI. But it really got too much on my nerves to have to click 12 or 15 times to sneak access to tools you can reach in a couple of clicks on 7. Ever since Vista, it became obvious that the so called "Personal Computers" are no longer 'personal', they're Microsoft's, period.

 

Many years ago, I switched from Apple to PCs because I hated loosing control on my machines - and now it looks like Windows is doing the same thing that Apple's been doing... :pinch:

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