Sudden performance drop when using a new monitor (PC)

[Winzors]

I've been playing through the dx 12 version of witcher 3 on my laptop at 1080p (desktop 11900k + max voltage 3080m) and have mostly been having no issues, 60+ fps beside infrequently loading a save to find collapsed performance that can be resolved by simply closing the client and starting it up again

However, today I decided to plug in an external monitor (TV) via a HDMI cable and play, with all the same settings (including running at 1080p etc etc) and my performance has collapsed with massive frametime spikes that can't be resolved with a client restart. Moreover it can't be resolved restarting and running only on the laptop build-in monitor.

This collapse in performance seems to not affect anything besides the witcher 3, in fact, running the dx11 version fixed the issue entirely (I was playing without raytracing anyway) so I figured maybe it might just be some dx12 implementation bug.

I then tried to run the dx11 version on my TV and... same issue. Devastating collapse in performance which I can't seem to resolve. I've tried reinstalling the game. So now both dx12 and dx11 versions are borked and unplayable for me. Very weird. Again, other titles continue to run fine as normal, so it doesn't feel like the laptop has concurrently experienced some hardware issue or whatever.

Anyone else seen anything like this before?

 

[John_Russell]

Sounds almost like when you plug into the HDMI port the game is trying to use the 11900k's onboard graphics instead of the 3080

 

[Winzors]

How would I go about solving that do you think? I've never experienced something like this before.

 

[SigilFey]

You'll need to check your GPU settings. Here's an example using Nvidia's Control Panel:

If you're having issues, make sure that the setting is "All" or that your correct GPU is selected.

(Also, thread title updated for clarity.)

 

[Winzors]

That's a default setting, ser

 

[John_Russell]

The default's are often overridden by the laptop's firmware/BIOS so you may have to set it manually like SigilFey shows. You may even find you'll have to do that after every graphics driver update. Gaming laptops are always a bit dodgy when it comes to GPU switching and lots of game have problems with them for example AC Odyssey has always been dodgy with laptops some people have no problems and others have to fight like hell to get one to work and sometimes nothing works while they can play Origins or Valhalla just fine.