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Assuming I am using the following equipment...

  • motherboard with HDMI/DVI & no embedded graphics
  • discrete graphics card (nVidia or ATI) on PCI-E slot
  • Intel CPU with integrated graphics

...where should I plug my monitor into the computer?

Presumably, I'll get the fastest speed on games connected directly to the graphics card. But there is also power savings when connecting to the motherboard and accessing the Intel on-board graphics.

I've read that some motherboards can switch automatically between the Intel graphics and discrete graphics. Is that something that works well, and where do I connect the monitor to enable that?

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  • The CPU has onboard graphics? o.O
    – Synetech
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 7:10
  • Yes, quite a few of them do now. I meant to use the word "integrated", not "onboard". newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
    – Jeremy White
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 7:20
  • Well, other than the Sandy Bridge E, most current intel processors have their graphics built into the processor. I've not actually used a desktop sandy bridge part, but they're pretty efficient on laptops.
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 7:30
  • Great, why not just build everything into a single component. That way nobody can upgrade anything anymore and has to throw the whole system in the trash and buy a complete one to upgrade. And of course there’s no picking and choosing your own parts (not since Intel and AMD went their own ways). I guess modularization and standardization/compatibility are things of the past. :-|
    – Synetech
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 17:04
  • The only bad part about using the integrated graphics (in my opinion) is that it uses a portion of system memory. I'm not a huge fan of that.
    – Jeremy White
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 21:29

2 Answers 2

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It depends on what family of motherboard you have.

If you have a a P series (which disables the onboard graphics totally) plug it into the discrete graphics card.

If you have a Z68, H 61 or H68) series, its a bit more complicated - you need to install a piece of software called virtu which lets you use both at once, and switch off the discrete graphics as needed.There's a small performance drop when this is done, apparently. You should be able to get virtu off your motherboard's driver website.

If you're using virtu, you'll need to plug your monitor into your onboard video card.I'd suggest confirming this with your motherboard and software documentation however, since i've gone off reviews in writing this answer - i wasn't aware that virtu worked on H series motherboards.

There's a little more information on virtu here which confirms were you plug in the display out on the motherboard, and it goes into some detail on the install process, and has some benchmarks

Well its 2024. Virtu's dead but you can run discrete and integrated GPUs together with the correct bios settings on most modern PCs. I'm currently running one of my displays on the integrated graphics, and the rest on the discrete GPU.

Windows 10 and 11 will render applications on whatever GPU the monitor is on unless set explicitly

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  • Ah ha! That's exactly the answer I was looking for. I'm considering this MB btw. newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128507 Thanks!
    – Jeremy White
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 7:23
  • Wow... never knew there was graphics switching for desktops. Very cool @JourneymanGeek.
    – nhinkle
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 8:40
  • I didn't know the H series supported it either. Thats the nice thing about SU, I learn new stuff all the time. Virtu isn't just switchable graphics though, not in the same way as AMD Hybrid and Optimus - its closer to the approach that SoftTH takes - rendering stuff on the discrete card, and handing it over to the integrated video processor
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 8:48
  • Interesting. According to that link, it's not really worth it to use virtu. The benchmarks mostly suggest it doesn't work faster or draw less power.
    – Jeremy White
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 21:43
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You read it wrong about switching graphics cards - just there was some Atom graphics from Nvidia which could switch off and on while system worked. If you plug external graphics card internal card switches off.

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  • optimus on laptops and its AMD Equivilent i believe, and ion which is not what he's talking about
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 8:40
  • Exactly. There is no onboard graphics that switches external card on and off...
    – ZaB
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 9:31
  • There's a big red off button on the software
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 9:39
  • Badly you still need to change video output. And I thought woodoo graphics was clumsy and bought TNT back then..
    – ZaB
    Commented Feb 24, 2012 at 11:00

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