Two display adapters

[Tony D]

I just installed Windows 10 on a fresh hard drive. It's in a Dell Inspiron 2320 All-In-One computer.

I noticed there are two display adapters:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M
Intel (R) HD Graphics​

I'm assuming the Intel adapter came with the Intel i5 chipset and that the other adapter was installed because maybe this machine has a NVIDIA GPU.

If that is true, how does one know which adapter is in use?
If that isn't true, why are there two adapters?

 

[allheart55 (Cindy E)]

I just looked at the spec's for this machine and it does come with both the NVIDIA and the Intel.

Integrated - Intel HD/HD 2000/HD 3000 Graphics

Discrete - nVidia GeForce GT 525M

Video memory - Integrated

Up to 384 MB of shared video memory

Discrete - Up to 1 GB

You can find the specifications in the PDF file HERE

 

[Tony D]

Thanks for the link.

Did some research and found that machines may use both adapters. It will switch between them as needed. Actually, I saw that in a post somewhere about a laptop. It would use the better driver when needed and switch to the other driver to conserve power. Don't know how it all happens, but pretty cool.

 

[Tony D]

I had a laptop in here a few months ago that had two graphic cards. You could chose which one to use when you right-clicked a video editing application program that was installed. Both drivers would be displayed. You could then choose which to use for that application.

 

[allheart55 (Cindy E)]

I've never come across that yet.

 

[Tony D]

It was an Inspiron 17R.
- from https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409923,00.asp

The Inspiron 17R Special Edition uses a switchable graphics solution to deliver enhanced GPU performance when it's needed, such as when gaming or using other graphics-intensive applications. An Nvidia GeForce GT 650M engine supplies the extra horsepower when the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 solution won't suffice.