Very often, laptop users have to figure out which graphics accelerator is installed on the laptop. This may be due to many reasons, including the installation of some ultramodern game and any other software that can use this device during operation, or when it is replaced, say, in the event of a failure. But how to determine the type of video card on a laptop, and even find out its most detailed specifications? If there is no problem with obtaining information only on the model name and its manufacturer, then the characteristics are not so simple. The following is a few general universal methods that will help clarify all these issues.
How to determine the video card on a laptop using standard operating system tools in the simplest way?
Before figuring out the type of equipment installed, it should be clearly understood that most mid-range laptops are equipped with exclusively integrated, rather than discrete graphics adapters. Discrete cards can be installed mainly on gaming laptop models, and sometimes on devices called ultrabooks with large screen diagonals. Thus, some of the proposed methods may not give complete information, which applies specifically to integrated chips. Nevertheless, some general information about the installed graphics accelerator can be obtained even using Windows tools.
To begin, let's see how to determine the video card on a laptop using the information tools of the operating system itself. Apparently, all users know that in Windows the necessary brief information is displayed in a special “Device Manager”, in which you can manage the hardware and some virtual components, as well as their drivers.
Thus, there is nothing easier than invoking the corresponding information section (for example, using the devmgmt.msc command from the Run console) and viewing the name of the graphic chip in the video adapters section. In addition to the main name of the device, here you can also define special identifiers VEN and DEV, by which you can find the driver that is most suitable for the accelerator for those cases when the system cannot install it on its own.
Getting adapter specifications through screen settings
Now briefly dwell on how to determine the video card on a laptop using the screen settings.
To do this, just call the menu through the PCM menu on the free space of the "Desktop", then use the screen resolution settings item, and then on the adapter tab to view the necessary information.
However, with the latest updates for Windows 10, this technique is not suitable, so you can use the “Control Panel” and the section responsible for graphics (for example, Intel HD Graphics).
After opening a special manager, go to the parameter and support item, where the type of accelerator will be indicated on the information page.
Note: using adapter information can provide complete information that includes the amount of allocated memory for discrete chips only (for example, if you have an NVIDIA graphics card on your laptop), but for discrete adapters, these parameters will usually not be shown.
Using System Information
You can also use the system information (msinfo32), where you need to select the display item in the component section.
Again, only general information can be presented here, and additional characteristics can sometimes be shown, for example, only if a discrete type AMD or NVIDIA video card is installed on the laptop.
How to find out which video card is on a laptop using DirectX?
All the above methods do not give a complete picture of the necessary parameters of an integrated graphics accelerator, which is mounted directly on the motherboard. How on a laptop to determine a video card of this class and get its additional characteristics, for example, when you need to know the full amount of allocated memory? This confuses many users.
Meanwhile, in Windows of any generation there is an interesting tool called the DirectX dialog, which is called from the Run menu by the abbreviation dxdiag. In the main window, you need to go to the screen tab, and in the upper left block the parameters that the user needs will be displayed.
Information Utilities
However, maximum information can be extracted using specialized third-party utilities. You can find a lot of such programs today, but the most worthy of all are the AIDA64 (formerly Everest), GPU / CPU-Z, and Speecy applications.
In them, information is presented in the most expanded form, and not only on the graphics accelerator, but also on all devices and software environment of the computer.
Which way is better?
But which of all the described techniques is best for the user? Naturally, it is the third-party software products that look the most complete, and not the means of the Windows systems themselves. No one should doubt this. However, if they are not at hand, or the utilities are paid, as is the case with AIDA64, you can simply use the DirectX diagnostic tool. For owners of integrated chips, this is almost the only acceptable way to “fetch” parameters regarding the total amount of allocated memory. By the way, about the files of the main drivers of such devices, the information here looks more intelligible and understandable.