How to run games on an external graphics card in Windows 11
In the event that you use a computer or laptop equipped with more than one graphics processing unit, that is, it contains an external graphics card, you can force your favorite games and programs to use the external card to ensure the best and highest possible performance by virtue of it being dedicated to graphics processing, unlike the internal graphics card, which is just Part of the main processor (Processor). Previously, doing this required modifying the settings of the external card via the NVIDIA Control Panel or its counterpart AMD Catalyst Control Center. But Microsoft has made it easier for users in recent versions of the Windows system, so that a specific graphics card can be chosen to run certain games or programs directly through Windows 11 settings .
By default, Windows 11 manages the process of selecting programs and games that are worth using the external graphics card instead of the internal (relatively weak) so that every program or game on the device runs on the internal card, and by monitoring its resource consumption when Windows detects that there is a high consumption of the unit Graphics Processing (GPU) The load on the external card is automatically shifted to handle the graphics intensive processing that the software produces.
However, the automatic conversion does not work with all the games and programs you run, sometimes you need to do it manually, if you notice that a game is running low performance even though your device has a powerful graphics card, follow the next steps to learn how to force this game to use External graphics card.
In the beginning, open the Settings application from the Start menu or by pressing the Win key + the letter I [e] together, and the settings will automatically open within the System section. All you have to do is press the first option, which is Display. Next, scroll down and click on Graphics to see a list of games and software installed on your device. The list does not include all programs and games, but only a few of them, or those that the Windows system recognizes and selects the appropriate graphics card for each of them. After clicking on any item, the Options option will appear, click on it to choose the graphics card.
In the Graphics preference window, there are 3 options: Let Windows decide to make Windows choose the appropriate graphics card according to the consumption stats of the selected program, Power saving option to save power when using this program by setting it to use the internal graphics card, and High performance, which forces the program to The use of an external graphics card is, therefore, the option that must be selected if you want to get the best possible performance when using this program or playing the game. After choosing, press Save and restart the program/game to see the effect of the change.
If the game does not appear in the list at all after pressing the Graphics option, all you have to do is click on the Browse button at the bottom of Add an app and from the pop-up window go to the game or program folder and select the executable file, then press Add to be added to the list . Then click on Program, then Options, and select the external graphics card.