Eve Online can’t switch to GeForce gt555

I have a similar computer set up, and here is how I make it work:

1. Go to the NVIDIA Control Panel by right clicking on your desk top and clicking on "NVIDIA Control Panel".

2. In the default screen that pops up (it should be "manage 3D settings", and the "Program Settings" tab should be automatically selected), under "1. Select a program to customize:" hit the "Add" button.

3. From here, navigate to the folder where your steam games are located. For me, it is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common.

4. Select the folder for the game you want to use your NVIDIA card for, and find the .exe for that game (it's usually right in the main game folder). Select it and hit open.

5. Then, under "2. Select the preferred graphics processor for this program:" open the drop-down menu and select "High-performance NVIDIA processor".

6. Finally, hit apply in the far bottom right corner, and you should be good to go!

When you start the game from Steam, the .exe will be opened, which will now run with your NVIDIA card by default rather than your integrated card. I've noticed that most older games, when started, will use the integrated card by default. The method described above can be used for any .exe file, not just games in your steam library!

If you check your taskbar icons (next to the Windows clock), you should see an NVidia logo. Right-click it, and choose NVidia GEForce Control Panel (from memory, it's the second item).

In the window that opens, choose "Manage 3D settings" on the lefthand side.

You will now be presented with a window that allows you to customize:

• Global settings (first tab) - These are the default settings that NVidia will apply.
• Custom settings per .exe (second tab) - Here, you can define specific configurations.

For some reason, some games (in my case XCom) tend to favor the Intel HD Graphics. If you add your game's .exe to the list of custom settings, you can force it to use the NVidia card. (You can configure a lot more detailed options than just which card to use, but I'll leave that up to you to find out what you want to do with it. I usually just pick the correct card and do the rest of the configuration from in-game)

Sadly, I can't provide you with screenshots as I don't have my NVidia laptop with me at work.

Good tip: When adding an item, you will be shown a suggestion list comprised of the .exe processes you recently started. I tend to always start the game once (to test performance), close it, then go to the Nvidia menu. Every time, the correct .exe is the top suggestion because it's the last program I opened.