How to Check Graphics Card in Laptop

Gamers, video editors, and graphics artists swear by the might of the graphics cards in their systems. A graphics card is a miniature marvel, indeed, packing a whole video computational engine on a chip, freeing your CPU to focus on other tasks.

Wondering how to check the graphics card in your laptop? We’ll walk you through easy ways to identify which one you’re using and locate its specifications in Windows 10 and 11. If you’re looking to upgrade your system, we’ve gathered the most up-to-date information to help you pick the best HP laptop with the right graphics cards for your specific needs.

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Contents

Getting to know your graphics card
How to check the graphics card in your laptop
Understanding graphics card specs
How to choose the right laptop graphics card
Updating your graphics card drivers
Let your graphics adventures begin!

Getting to know your graphics card

Graphics cards are electronic chips that do everything from displaying images on your computer monitor to rendering complex graphics when you play games or edit videos.

They typically fit into an expansion slot on your motherboard and add graphics functionalities, which comes in handy if you’re a gamer, graphics designer, video editor, or someone who enjoys simply streaming crystal clear 4K content in its full glory without stuttering and lag.

Some laptops have graphics on board the CPU itself, referred to as “integrated graphics,” while others have dedicated graphics cards, often also called display adapters, video cards, and GPUs. Dedicated GPUs are typically faster, as they feature a separate graphics processor with its own memory reserve.

How to check the graphics card in your laptop

It’s easy to forget what graphics card you have in your laptop. Luckily, you needn’t open up your machine to find it. You can quickly check your graphics card on Windows 11 or an older version with these five methods.

Use Settings to see your display adapter

You can conveniently inspect the graphics card in your computer from the system settings. Click the Windows Start button and open Settings. Search for Settings in the search bar if you don’t see the icon.

Select Display, and then scroll down and click Advanced display if you’re on Windows 11. If you’re wondering how to check the graphics card in a laptop running Windows 10, this option appears as Advanced display settings instead.

You’ll now see a list of all displays connected to your computer in the Display information section. For each display, the graphics card is mentioned next to the Connected to phrase.

Check your GPU in Windows Task Manager

Open Windows Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del on your keyboard and selecting Task Manager from the list. Click the Performance tab and on the left navigation pane, select GPU.

Find graphics card specs in System Information

This will display the name of the graphics card installed in your system, along with a host of graphics performance statistics, including the GPU Temperature and Utilization.

If you want to know how to check the graphics card memory in your laptop, you’ll find it under Dedicated GPU memory. As we shall see in a subsequent section, this is the amount of RAM available on your graphics card.

Find graphics card specs in System Information

Click the Start button and search for and open System Information. In the left navigation pane, click on the + icon next to Components, then select Display.

How to check the graphics card in a laptop from Control Panel

You’ll now see the graphics card installed along with its specifications, including Adapter RAM, Resolution, and Driver Version.

How to check the graphics card in a laptop from Control Panel

If you have an NVIDIA® graphics card, open the Control Panel on your computer, and click Hardware and Sound. Next, you’ll see the NVIDIA Control Panel option to learn more about your NVIDIA GPU and configure it as needed.

Use DirectX Diagnostic Tool to check graphic card in laptop

The Windows DirectX Diagnostic Tool helps identify the graphics card in your system. This method also works if you use older Windows versions, including Windows 7.

Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box. Enter dxdiag, press Enter, and if prompted, click Yes to continue. The DirectX Diagnostic Tool opens and lists your graphics card under the Display tab.

Understanding graphics card specs

Not all graphics cards are created equal - each has a specific configuration that makes it suitable for a particular task like high frames per second (fps) gaming, 3D modeling, or video editing.

GPU: The terms “graphics card” and “GPU” are often interchangeably used, but they’re not quite the same. Graphics card refers to the entire expansion chip as a whole of which the GPU is a part. The GPU is, in essence, the brain of the graphics card, which handles complex mathematical calculations to create the stunning visuals we all love. NVIDIA and AMD are the two most popular GPU makers.

VRAM: The Video RAM (VRAM) is the amount of memory available on your graphics card, measured in GB. The most common VRAM sizes include 4GB, 6GB, and 8GB. Consider getting the largest video memory you can for a superior graphics performance.

Core count: Modern GPUs are made of multiple processors called cores. While NVIDIA calls them CUDA Cores, AMD refers to them as Stream Processors. If you handle a lot of graphics-intensive tasks (think 4K video editing or gaming), prefer graphics cards with more cores over those with fewer ones.

Clock speed: Each GPU core performs a certain number of computations every second, which is determined by the clock speed (measured in MHz). For two graphics from the same architectural family, the one with a higher clock speed will outperform the other.

Resolution: Graphics cards send a stream of data to your display device via standard ports like HDMI, DVI, and USB Type-C. Each graphics card supports a set of resolutions like 4K (3840x2160 pixels) and Full High Definition (FHD, 1920x1080 pixels). If you’re into Ultra High Definition (UHD) gaming, pick a graphics card that supports 4K resolution.

Refresh rate: If you’re a gamer, this is one really important specification to watch out for when purchasing a system. The refresh rate is the number of times your display draws an image (measured in Hz). If you enjoy high fps games, choose a graphics card with a high enough refresh rate.

Driver version: Your graphics card needs special software called the display driver to communicate with Windows. GPU makers will typically release driver updates from time to time, so it’s important to ensure you have the latest driver version.

How to choose the right laptop graphics card

If you’re searching for the ideal laptop for your graphics needs, you can easily search the HP India Store by graphics card. Scroll down and use the Graphics filter on the left pane to search for laptops with specific graphics cards.

You can choose from cutting-edge graphics cards like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 3080 Ti, NVIDIA’s 2nd generation RTX GPU for best-in-class 8K video editing and 1440p gaming. The OMEN by HP 17.3 Gaming Laptop PC harnesses its 16GB G6X memory to amp up gameplay to a whole new level.

The HP ENVY Laptop 16 packs in a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, with 6GB VRAM that will suffice for most graphics enthusiasts.

NVIDIA optimizes its GPUs for specific purposes like 3D animation, high-resolution video editing, live streaming, and gaming. You can also filter for AMD Radeon graphics laptops on the HP India Store if you prefer the AMD user experience.

Updating your graphics card drivers

It’s crucial to keep your graphics card drivers up to date, as the latest drivers incorporate important performance and security fixes and can improve your graphics experience.

You can visit HP Support for the latest graphics card drivers for your laptop. Search for your laptop model to download the drivers. You can also visit your graphics card vendor’s website to download the latest graphics drivers.

Windows can also automatically update your graphics card driver. Click the Windows Start button and search for and open Settings. Select Display and then scroll down and select Advanced display.

Click on Display adapter properties for Display 1 and then select Properties. Go to the Driver tab and click Update Driver. Windows will now download and install the driver updates.

Let your graphics adventures begin!

The next time you play that immersive UHD game on your laptop or seamlessly skim through 8K video in a heartbeat, know what powers these experiences: your graphics card. The graphics card relieves the CPU of all graphics-intensive workloads.

HP laptops feature powerful graphics cards that make rich and realistic virtual experiences in the metaverse possible.

About the Author: Vidhu Jain is a contributing writer for HP Tech Takes. A Fortune 500 experienced brand storyteller, she’s a voracious reader who loves traveling and exploring the world.