3 ways to check if your laptop has a discrete graphics card or not

A discrete graphics card is a component that helps increase computer performance for high-graphics tasks such as gaming or design. So how to Check if your laptop has a discrete graphics card or not? This article will guide you through it in a simple and easy way.

What are laptop graphics cards used for?

Graphics card (GPU) is a specialized device to process image information on the computer such as brightness, sharpness, contrast, etc. of photos and videos so that they display more clearly and smoothly. According to design, graphics cards are divided into two types: discrete graphics cards and onboard cards that are attached to the main computer.

The graphics card is the device that connects the mainboard and the computer screen, helping to encode image and video information. The components of a graphics card include two main parts: graphics memory and GPU graphics processor, in which GPU is the most important part.

In general, this is the component that determines the quality of activities such as playing games, viewing images, videos, studying online or creating graphics on laptops and computers. Therefore, checking the laptop graphics card is as necessary as checking the computer's CPU configuration.

Instructions for checking whether a laptop has a discrete graphics card or not

Method 1: Check with the naked eye

Before checking the graphics card on your laptop, you need to know clearly what the difference is between the two types of onboard video cards and discrete video cards:

• Onboard video card: This is a type of graphics card that is attached to the computer's mainboard, allowing graphics tasks to be performed at moderate resolution.
• Discrete graphics card: This is a type of graphics card that can meet the visual needs of high resolution, and supports smoother gaming and more realistic color display for designers.

To recognize and classify these two types of cards, you can use your eyes. Check to see if the laptop body has logos of video card manufacturers such as Nvidia, AMD – ATI… or graphics card images. If not, your laptop probably only uses onboard video cards.

Method 2: Use the Run dialog box

Step 1: Press the Windows + R key combination to open the Run window and type the command line Dxdiag. Then, press Enter or OK to run the command.

Step 2: Select the Display tab to view information about your device's graphics card.

If the device only displays one Display item, it means the device only has an integrated graphics core inside the CPU. If the device displays two Display items, it means the device has a discrete graphics card. You can see the name, manufacturer, type and capacity of the discrete graphics card in Display 2.

Method 3: Use Device Manager

In addition to using the Dxdiag command, you can also check if your laptop has it graphics card leave or not via Device Manager. This is a way to manage devices connected to the computer, including graphics cards. You do the following steps:

Step 1: Right-click This PC > Select Manage.

Step 2: Next, select Devices Manager > Display Adapter.

If this section only displays one graphics card, it means the device does not have a separate card. If this section displays two graphics cards, it means the device has a separate card. You can see the name and status of the discrete graphics card here.

Epilogue

So you know how Check if your laptop has a discrete graphics card or not through two simple ways: using the Dxdiag and Device Manager commands. You can apply any method, depending on your preferences and convenience. Good luck!