Dxdiag not displaying graphics card

I guess this is a hardware related question

Anyway on we go

A few weeks ago Got a dell xps 15 laptop, Im supposed to have a " Nvidia Geforce gt540m" graphics chip. However whenever i run a dxdiag only the integrated chip is displayed (Intel (R) hd graphics family).

However when I go to device manager, display adapters both are present...
I recently downloaded the drivers for my chip off the nvidia website so I am currently ruling that out as a problem.

My main concern is that games and the like are not actually using my graphics chip and instead the integrated chipset, im running indows 7 home premium 64bit 6.1 build 7601 .

Any ideas? thank you

 

Disregard what dxdiag states. What does the Dell site state, for what came with that computer, when you enter the inventory tag assigned by Dell, and when you go into Device manger, what is the graphics device that is showing?

 

The device manager shows both the GeForce GT 540M and the Intel (R) Hd graphics under display adapters, and the dell website shows i have the gt 540, i dont doubt its physically but i want to know whether or not my pc is actually using this chip for games or whether its using the integrated.

 

Whichever happens to be set in Bios to be the default, is what games and the such are going to use. Now on some of the laptops, especially the Dell's, the Intel is for the LCD screen, the Nvidia is for the external through the Display Port & hdmi interfaces.

Here is some info from this past summer on the nvida forums http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=202848

 

Yes that is something i noticed, when i went into nvidia control panel it showed the integrated chip had the laptop display connected to it whilst the gt540 was just empty, but when i plugged my tv into the HDMI that port did get used i think.

So basically this gt540 chip is defunct unless i use an external display?

 

Correcttomundo.

 

Also, is there a way to check whether or not my laptop is using the gt540, because sometimes when i launch a high spec game such as crysis through steam it says that its not a recognised card.

When i try online spec tests (such as system requirements labs "can you run it")
it says i have the gt540, so surely its somewhat alive, i just wish it wasnt so confusing.

Also at startup i went into my bios, found no mention of graphics card/video card.

 

It will only use the gt540 if you are connected either through the mini displayport or hdmi as I have already stated. The onboard Intel gpu will be used when gaming on the lcd that is a part of your laptop.

 

Yeah, Connected it up to my tv, turned off built in lcd, and all of a sudden the dxdiag detected the gt540, okay thanks for your help good sir

Ive now got an incentive to get an Hdmi monitor and some mini display cables.

thanks

 

If have a hdset, you are set. Or just get a decent projector, which you can get for under $300 now days.