On Windows 10, devices with multiple GPUs include the ability to set the preferred graphics card an app should use within the graphics control panels available from Nvidia and AMD.

However, since version 1803 (April 2018 Update) and later versions, Windows 10 includes a new section in the Settings app, which also allows to specify the preferred graphics card for traditional desktop and Microsoft Store apps to improve system performance or battery life.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to set the GPU an app should use on your Windows 10 laptop or desktop with multiple graphics processors.

Specify preferred GPU for apps using Settings

To force an app to use a discrete GPU instead of the integrated adapter on Windows 10, use these steps:

Open Settings. Click on System. Click on Display. Under the “Multiple displays” section, click the Advanced graphics settings option. Select the app type using the drop-down menu: Classic app — these are your traditional Win32 desktop programs.

these are your traditional Win32 desktop programs. Universal app — these are those app available through the Microsoft Store. If you select Classic app, you’ll need to click the Browse button to locate the “.exe” file to add the app. If you select the Universal app option, you’ll see a second drop-down menu to select the app. Use the drop-down menu and select the app. Click the Options button. Set the graphics preference you want to use: System default — (default) Windows 10 decide which GPU to use automatically.

(default) Windows 10 decide which GPU to use automatically. Power saving — runs the application on the GPU that uses the least power, which most of the time is your integrated graphics processor.

runs the application on the GPU that uses the least power, which most of the time is your integrated graphics processor. High performance — runs the application on the most capable GPU, which is usually an external or discrete graphics processor. Click the Save button.

Once you complete steps, the app you configured will use the graphics processor that you specified optimizing battery life or performance the next time you launch it.

It’s important to note that these settings will take precedence from the same settings available in other control panels (which you can continue to use).

Also, while you can manually set the preferred GPU for an app on Windows 10, ultimately, the app always decides which processor to use. This means that if you change the settings and the app continues to use a different GPU, you may need to change the preferences in the app itself.

If you want to stop an app from using a preferred graphics processor setting, select the app from the list, click the Remove button in the options page, and select the System default option.