*How to make DayZ use dedicated GPU?*

[iSkillzorz 5]

I currently play on an intel i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz, (x4) asus n53s laptop. I am looking forward to building a gaming pc later this year, but this is a problem that I need an answer to that will be necessary for both computers. I have an nvidia gt 540m 1gb as my dedicated gpu that I use for games, and I have intel hd 3000 graphics for day-to-day programs (like iTunes, chrome, etc.). My graphics card holds up fine in all the games I have (css maxed out plays at 35 fps, tf2 is at 50 fps, nba 2k11 at 100 fps). Anyway, DayZ really has me stumbled. I know how to make programs use different gpu's, but in DayZ, I feel like the performance is the same no matter which card I use. In fact, I got the same fps. Here's the 3D application settings tab I have for DayZ/Arma2 OA (settings.png). All this time, have I never really been using my nvidia gpu at all? Also, I used to be able to do the autodetect gpu thing on nvidia's website. Now, it never detects it, and even the canirunit program just detects my intel hd 3000. DayZ used to run fine for me around 30 fps (one time, it was even 60 fps) before nvidia came out with driver updates and before dayz came out with big updates. Now, 30 fps is a long shot and my average is usually 23. With shadows, AA, postprocessing, Anisotropic filtering, etc. off, there is only a difference of 4-5 fps between playing on low settings and very high settings. My Question is, how can I make sure DayZ is using my nvidia gpu?

[rustledmyjimmies 361]

You can't, that's just arma

[iSkillzorz 5]

You can't, that's just arma

Someone finally agrees with me.

[h3retic 224]

yee arma 2 is a bit of a pain for gpus

no matter how good the gpu is, it will still lag in cherno...

gtx670 oc'ed, still only 40-45 fps in cherno, really sad.

Edited March 30, 2013 by h3retic

[byrgesen 1341]

I am playing on a Lenovo G780 laptop and i can clearly feel a difference when i boot up the Nvidia card, compared to intel HD. But Arma in general isnt to happy with mobile CPU's, they have a hard time keeping up.

yee arma 2 is a bit of a pain for gpus

no matter how good the gpu is, it will still lag in cherno...

gtx670 oc'ed, still only 40-45 fps in cherno, really sad.

That would be because Arma is primarily run on your CPU, so even with a killer GPU, you still need a massive CPU to run it fine. On the other hand it doesnt really care about your ram, because its reading directly from the HD, insted of filling the RAM like most other games, so SSD makes a huge difference.

This becomes even more apperent when you go play Arma III :)

Get a goooooood CPU, a sweet SSD and a AMD card, they seem to perform alot better then Nvidia in Arma, costs/perfomance wise.