How to run 2nd monitor with 2nd graphics card?

Question

I have 2 graphics cards in my laptop:

1. Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000,
2. NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX,

Yesterday I got a 2nd monitor that I connected to my laptop via VGA cable, but for some reason its flickering gently (its noticeable on dark surfaces (colors) not so much in a browser or any white surface)

I tried a lot of things, but it seems that both (integrated and new one) monitor are located on Intel's graphics card, so I want to change that and put only integrated monitor on Intel's card and 2nd 22"" monitor on Nvidia's card, and try that...

Can you do that through NVIDIA Control Panel? Or there is some other way, maybe BIOS?

Solution

Short answer: No, it's not possible to have one monitor use integrated and the other monitor to use discrete on a laptop setup.

Longer answer: Your best bet is to put both monitors on the GeForce card. You can configure your laptop to only use the GeForce card all the time, but it will use more power (and hence, drain the battery faster when on battery) in that case.

To force the use of the discrete card, you can follow the steps in this thread.

Even longer answer: Many users have attempted to use both cards at once and they have generally not been successful on laptops. On desktops, using two discrete cards is possible, but usually integrated + discrete is also complicated. It's worse on laptops. It's possible that you could make this work under Linux, but the solution is going to be complicated and dependent on the specifics if the models of your video cards, the Linux kernel, Linux video card drivers, and so on. I would strongly suggest to just go with the both-monitors on discrete card solution. It should work for any use case, including gaming, just fine.

Comments

[Admin]

Okay, I appreciate your suggestion, I'll try to do that. I just want to fix the problem with flickering, not interested in gaming that much :D and I'm not concerned with power because I only use battery when I'm goin' somewhere, so I hope this will do it, updating status soon...

[Mekki MacAulay]

Ah, then yes, both monitors on the discrete NVidia card will fix your problem. Good luck!