Retroarch won't use discrete GPU

RetroArch Additions Shaders
#1

Hi everyone, I’ve been using my old laptop with Windows 10 and a discrete Nvidia 1050 GPU. I recently tried out some CRT shaders, and I’m really into the metacrt shader, but it’s quite resource-heavy—even simple NES games don’t run at full speed.

I checked the task manager and was surprised to see that Retroarch wasn’t using the dGPU at all. I’ve already set Retroarch to use the discrete GPU as the preferred graphics card in both Windows settings and the Nvidia control panel, but it’s not working. Retroarch seems to default to using the integrated GPU and only switches to the dGPU when running heavy 3D content. However, it quickly switches back to the integrated GPU. In contrast, Firefox is set to use the Nvidia GPU in Windows settings and it picks the right one every time.

Has anyone else experienced this issue or have any thoughts on how to fix it?

On a side note, I’ve noticed something interesting with the metacrt shader. If you zoom in to only show the screen content, the game can suddenly run at full speed. However, the overall image becomes very dark, especially in the corners. Are there any shaders similar to metacrt but less demanding on resources?

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#2

Hi, fatzing. Welcome to the forum! :wave:

Sorry to hear you’re having this issue. I see you said you made changes in settings but I wanted to double-check some things.

Using NVIDIA Control Panel: 3D Settings > Manage 3D settings > Global Settings > Power Management Mode. What setting do you see? If available, try ‘Prefer maximum performance’. Hope that helps; if it does please let us know.

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#3

It was ‘optimal power’. Tried set it to ‘Prefer maximum performance’ but of no use. Retroarch still won’t always use the discrete card.

#4

OK, what about in System > Display > Graphics? Do you have an entry for Retroarch? You can select the desired GPU here. Sorry if you already tried this.

–edit–I forgot you said Windows 10; this applies to Windows 11.

#5

I have a gpu which is approx. 3 times faster compared with GTX 1050, and it can only run this shader at 1440p with like 80 fps.

So an integrated gpu would crawl with a very low fps count. If you are running 1080p and get some half-decent performance, then your dGPU is being used for sure.

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#6

You should be able to switch which GPU you want to use in RetroArch itself. I have a iGPU and a discrete GPU and can switch between them in RetroArch > Settings > Video > Output > GPU Index . Just focus with mouse or keyboard on the GPU Index and with keyboard left and right you should be able to switch between the GPU units. The best way is to start RetroArch without a game and do the change and then close RetroArch, so its saved in the settings. Then start RetroArch again and test your game.

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