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Actually using Integrated Graphics sometimes to save VRAM for Local AI

2026-10-07

Intel graphics for everyday apps: pros and cons

Short answer

Yes, it's worth trying. Moving browsers, Discord and the Steam window to the Intel UHD 770 should free about 3.9 GB of the AMD card.

That's enough for Gemma-4-12b to fit fully again, so answers should go back from 26–38 tok/s toward the ~140 tok/s.

The cost is one BIOS change and a restart of those apps whenever you switch them. Browser 3D and graphics-heavy web pages also run slower on the Intel chip. Games are not affected: they are not on the list, so Windows keeps them on the AMD card.

| Today, on the AMD card | Moves to Intel? |

| --- | --- |

| Brave 1.35 GB | yes |

| Vivaldi 0.67 GB | yes |

| Discord 0.64 GB | yes |

| Edge 0.58 GB | yes |

| Steam window 0.33 GB | yes |

| Chrome 0.30 GB | yes |

| Explorer and the Windows desktop 0.55 GB | no, they stay |

| Gemma (the local AI) ~7.2 GB | no, it gets the room |

Measured 2026-10-07 by the HUD's VRAM card. Windows starts pushing the model into system RAM once the card passes about 12.2 GB in total.

How it works on this PC

Only the first step is a one-time BIOS change; everything after it is a click in the HUD. Your monitors stay plugged into the AMD card the whole time.

  1. BIOS, once. Press Delete at boot, then F7 for Advanced mode. Go to Advanced → System Agent (SA) Configuration → Graphics Configuration and set iGPU Multi-Monitor to Enabled (some ASUS boards call it CPU Graphics Multi-Monitor). Save with F10. This reserves about 64 MB of system RAM for the Intel chip (ASUS).

  2. Driver, once. After the reboot, Windows Update installs the Intel graphics driver. Nothing else changes on its own.

  3. Pick per app in the HUD. Settings → "Graphics chip per app" lists the apps below, each set to Intel, AMD or Windows decides, plus a "move all to Intel" button. This writes the same per-app choice as Windows Settings → System → Display → Graphics.

  4. Restart the app. An app reads the choice only when it starts, so each app needs one restart after a change. The HUD shows which ones are still running on the old chip.

To undo: set the apps back to AMD in the HUD and restart them, or switch the Intel chip off again in the BIOS. With the Intel chip off, every app falls back to the AMD card no matter what it was set to.

Discord installs each update into a new folder (app-1.0.xxxx), and Windows keys the choice to the program's path. So the HUD re-applies your choice to the new path every time it starts.

Windows treats the choice as a request: an app can still pick its own GPU (Eleven Forum). The HUD's VRAM card will show whether each app really moved.

Downsides for every app

The big one is 3D speed: the Intel chip is far weaker than the RX 9070 XT, so anything that draws 3D in the app gets slower. Everyday pages, text, scrolling and video are light work for it.

| Downside | What you'd notice | How much it matters here |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Weaker 3D | WebGL/WebGPU pages, maps in 3D, browser games and GPU video effects run slower | Matters for kiiy2k and 3D sites; keep one browser on AMD for those |

| Frames cross between chips | Each frame is drawn on Intel and copied to the AMD card that drives the monitor. Adds a little latency and PCIe traffic | Usually unnoticeable in browsers and chat; worst case is very high refresh rates |

| HDR and variable refresh | Not checked on this PC: HDR video and smooth-scroll VRR in a browser may behave differently when another chip draws the window | Test once with an HDR YouTube video; switch that browser back if it looks wrong |

| Uses system RAM | The Intel chip has no memory of its own; it borrows from your 96 GB, about 1–4 GB with several apps open | Not a concern at 96 GB |

| One more driver | Intel's driver updates through Windows Update alongside AMD's | Low; only a risk if an update misbehaves |

| A few more watts | The Intel chip is on all the time | Small; its video engine uses less power than the AMD card's for playback |

| Apps may ignore it | Windows treats the choice as a request, so an app can still pick its own GPU | The HUD's VRAM card shows where each app really runs |

| Paths change on update | Discord moves to a new folder on every update | Handled: the HUD re-applies the choice at start |

What does not change: games, the local AI, the AMD card's own video encoder for recording games, and which monitor shows what.

App by app

Move everything below to Intel except one browser, kept on AMD for GPU-heavy web pages such as kiiy2k. Chrome is the cheapest one to keep, at 0.30 GB.

| App | Frees on AMD | Pros on Intel | Cons on Intel | Suggestion |

| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

| Brave (main browser) | 1.35 GB | Biggest single saving; video plays on Intel's hardware decoder | 3D pages, WebGPU and browser games slower; currently forced to AMD by an old setting | Intel |

| Vivaldi | 0.67 GB | Second-biggest browser saving | Same 3D slowdown | Intel |

| Discord | 0.64 GB | Voice and video calls are light work; screen sharing can encode on Intel's media engine | Updates move it to a new folder (the HUD re-applies the choice) | Intel |

| Edge | 0.58 GB | Rarely needs 3D | None in practice; the separate WebView2 helper in other apps is not affected | Intel |

| Steam window | 0.33 GB | Store and library pages are 2D | None for games: each game is its own program and stays on AMD; the in-game overlay runs inside the game | Intel |

| Chrome | 0.30 GB | Small saving | Same 3D slowdown | Keep on AMD as the GPU browser |

| Obsidian | small | Notes are 2D | Graph view animates slower with very large vaults | Intel |

| VS Code, Antigravity | small | Editors are 2D | None in practice | Intel |

Your own web apps. kiiy2k renders its retro effects with WebGL2 shaders and exports on the GPU, so it runs much slower on Intel: open it in the AMD browser. OmniTools converts video with ffmpeg in WebAssembly, which runs on the CPU either way. speed-reading and CogniSpan are 2D and run the same.

Not in the list: games, the local AI, AMD's own software, and the Claude desktop app (a Store app whose folder changes on every update, using 0.16 GB).

YouTube at 1x/2x speed (and beyond!!)

YouTube should play fine on the Intel chip at both speeds, up to 4K. Its hardware decoder handles AV1 and VP9, the formats YouTube mostly sends, up to 16K at 10-bit (Intel). Intel's Gen12 media engine decodes 8K at 60 fps (CNX Software), and the UHD 770 uses that engine family.

At 2x the player decodes every frame twice as fast, so the work doubles. Measured as pixels per second against that 8K60 ceiling:

| Video | Frames decoded per second | Share of the decoder's 8K60 rate |

| --- | --- | --- |

| 1080p60 at 1x | 60 | about 6% |

| 1080p60 at 2x | 120 | about 13% |

| 1440p60 at 2x | 120 | about 22% |

| 4K60 at 1x | 60 | about 25% |

| 4K60 at 2x | 120 | about 50% |

That arithmetic is mine, not a benchmark on this PC. Decoding isn't the only work: the browser also scales each frame and copies it to the AMD card for your monitor. So 4K at 2x is the one case worth watching.

One limit: Intel decodes H.264 only up to 4K. That doesn't matter for YouTube, which sends 4K as VP9 or AV1.

How to check on a real video: right-click the video and choose "Stats for nerds". The Codecs line shows av01 or vp09 (hardware-decoded formats), and Dropped Frames should stay near zero at 1x and 2x. If 4K at 2x drops frames, use 1440p for sped-up watching, or play those videos in the AMD browser.

Trying it, and telling if it worked

Start with the free step; do the BIOS change only if the AI is still slow with your usual apps open.

  1. No BIOS needed: close the browsers you aren't using and turn off hardware acceleration in Discord and Steam. Then watch the HUD's Local AI card: "Answer speed" should turn green, near 140 tok/s.

  2. If it's still slow: enable iGPU Multi-Monitor in the BIOS (see How it works). Then in HUD Settings → "Graphics chip per app", press "Move all to Intel", set Chrome back to the AMD card, and restart the apps.

  3. Check it moved: on the VRAM card, the apps' share should drop from about 5.7 GB to about 2 GB, and the moved apps should leave its list.

  4. Check video once: play a 4K YouTube video at 2x with Stats for nerds open; dropped frames should stay near zero.

Switching back: set an app to "AMD card" in the same Settings panel and restart it. No BIOS change is needed to go back.

Sources