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I just replaced my laptop with a more powerful one with an i7-3630 and a dedicated 2GB Nvidia GeForce 650M processor. Quite to my disappointment, FSX gets about 20 FPS with default scenery!!! After hours of frustrating searches, it appears that Nvidia uses a technology called Optimus to "automatically" switch between the onboard Intel HD 4000 graphic card and the GeForce. Unfortunately, the Nvidia card never gets used and it isn't an option for selection in FSX (although it is visible and enabled in device manager)! I've found no way to disable Optimus (if that's even possible).

• In the Nvidia control panel, I switched the preferred graphics processor to "High Performance NVIDIA processor" but no luck.
• I disabled the integrated Intel graphics and no luck (just switches to some generic driver)
• I updated to the latest video card drivers and installed all updates... no luck.
• I right-clicked fsx.exe and selected "Run with graphics processor" and I selected the Nvidia. Still no luck.

Seems to be a VERY common complaint among gamers across the net. Looks like this laptop is going back to the factory unless someone has a solution.

Robert,

If the Nvidia card is not available in the FSX menu, you may want to replace the existing graphics setting in the fsx.cfg file. This should allow FSX to see the card since it is detected by your system.

As an example, here is what my fsx.cfg setting looks like:

[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690.0.0]
Mode=3840x800x32
Anisotropic=1

You would need to change the model number and resolution and this will then show up in the FSX menu (comment out the old setting so that you can go back to it if need be)

Hope this helps,
Maurice

Thanks a bunch Maurice! I'll definitely give that a try.