Disabling on-board graphics

[BarryLlewellyn]

Hi, last summer I bought a PC here, and over Christmas, decided to upgrade the gpu from a GT630 to a HD7870. Everything went well, installed the latest drivers etc. and I could play games like BO2 on ultra, running on the graphics card. But when I went to play Minecraft (Java game), it seemed to be playing it off the onboard graphics. My monitor is plugged into the gpu, and the gpu is being used for high end games, but it doesn't seem to be used for anything else (videos etc.). My mobo is a M5A97 EVO, and my CPU is a FX-4100 (crap, I know! ). I checked the UEFI, and I couldn't find an option ANYWHERE to disable the onboard graphics. The closest thing I could find was an option to 'Initiate Graphics Adapter' under 'Advanced'. The two option giver were PEG and PCI. It didn't make a difference as to which option I picked.
I have the feeling that its somehow in some sort of hybrid mode thing, as the gpu seems to cut in and out (going from like 0% usage up to about 80 and then suddenly back to 0) every so often. The fps also changes from like 30 to about 80, different times I play it. There doesn't seem to be a pattern, and the fps/gpu usage doesn't seem to be limited, as it goes all over the place. On my previous card (GT630 (which came with my PC)) was being used as the main card, and the onboard graphics played no part in it at all. Everything was done from the GT630. Anybody know what option was set in the UEFI to disable the onboard completely?
Anyone have any ideas as to what's happening here? Any help/suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[vanthus]

You should have the option to disable onboard graphics from the device manager,right click device/disable.

 

[BarryLlewellyn]

Thanks for the suggestion Vanthus. Nope, took a look and there's no option there. (bios > advanced > device manager). Somebody was telling me that there's an option in Java to select which graphics you want to use, but I couldn't find it anywhere.. Do you know does the 'Initiate Graphics Adapter' have anything to do with it? I tried both and it does nothing, so I'm pretty sure it doesn't. And that's the closest thing I could find to it.

 

[vanthus]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you,but I disabled the onboard graphics from device manager on one of my computers,nothing to do with bios and it does the business.
To access device manager,type device manager in search box,or
click start/right click "computer"/properties/on the left hand side select "device manager"
then right click device and disable.

 

[BarryLlewellyn]

Ah, ok, thought you were talking about device manager in bios. When I go to device manager in windows 7 I can only find the HD7870, and not the onboard (I'm looking in the display adapters section. Should I be looking somewhere else?). Although I know for a fact that the computer is still using onboard as the first option, and the 7870 as the second option.

 

[vanthus]

Ah, ok, thought you were talking about device manager in bios. When I go to device manager in windows 7 I can only find the HD7870, and not the onboard (I'm looking in the display adapters section. Should I be looking somewhere else?). Although I know for a fact that the computer is still using onboard as the first option, and the 7870 as the second option.

It should show under "display adapters" in device manager,unless it is already disabled in bios settings.

 

[BarryLlewellyn]

Its not there. And there doesn't seem to be any option in the bios to disable it. Since Minecraft runs off Java, the computer may think that its an application, and not a game, resulting in it running off the onboard. If you right click on Java, there's usually an option to pick which graphics to use, but its not there for me..