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How to check your graphics card on Windows 10 and 11

Windows can tell you which graphics card you have in under a minute, and it also shows you if you have two. You do not need to download anything.

In a hurry? The checker on the home page answers in one click.

Task Manager, the quickest way

  1. Press Ctrl, Shift and Esc together to open Task Manager.
  2. If it opens as a small window, click More details at the bottom.
  3. Open the Performance tab and pick GPU from the list on the left.
  4. The name of the card is in the top right corner of that panel. The memory it has is under the graphs, labelled dedicated GPU memory.

If the PC has two graphics devices you will see GPU 0 and GPU 1. Go by the names. The numbers do not tell you which one is built in.

Device Manager

  1. Right-click the Start button and choose Device Manager.
  2. Click the arrow next to Display adapters.
  3. Every line is a graphics device. Two lines usually mean a laptop with built-in graphics and a separate chip.

The DirectX Diagnostic Tool

  1. Press the Windows key and R together, type dxdiag and press Enter. If it asks about checking drivers, say yes.
  2. Open the Display tab. A PC with two graphics devices has a tab for each.
  3. The name, the maker and the display memory are listed on the left.

Settings

Open Settings, then System, then Display. Scroll down to Advanced display and choose Display adapter properties. The name of the card is at the top of the window that opens. On Windows 10 the same screen is called Advanced display settings.

PowerShell

Open PowerShell and paste this line:

Get-CimInstance Win32_VideoController | Select-Object Name, DriverVersion

It lists every graphics device and its driver version. If you add AdapterRAM to the list, do not trust it for cards with more than 4 GB, because Windows reports that figure in a way that stops at 4 GB. Task Manager shows the real amount.

If you only see Microsoft Basic Display Adapter

That means Windows has no proper driver for your graphics hardware. Download the driver from the maker of the card (NVIDIA, AMD or Intel) or from your laptop's maker and install it. The real model name appears after that.

Questions

I have two graphics chips. Which one does my browser use?

Usually the built-in one, because it uses less power. You can tell Windows to use the other for a particular program under Settings, System, Display, Graphics. The checker on the home page shows whichever one your browser is using at that moment.

Are the steps the same on Windows 10 and 11?

Task Manager, Device Manager and dxdiag work the same way. Only the Settings menus have moved around between versions.

Can I check without opening any Windows tools?

Yes. The checker on the home page reads the name from your browser. A computer with two graphics chips will only show one, so use Task Manager if you need to see both.

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