Using the dedicated GPU

Let Minecraft take advantage of your laptop's dedicated GPU to improve game performance.

Alexander Sorokin avatar
Written by Alexander Sorokin
Updated over a week ago

If you are experiencing low FPS when playing Minecraft through the Modrinth App on your laptop, despite having a good GPU and using several optimization mods, chances are your Minecraft is using an integrated GPU.

Integrated GPUs are meant for tasks that do not require a lot of computing, like your desktop interface, and use less battery power. Minecraft is a computationally intensive game, and playing it on an integrated GPU will result in poorer performance.

Checking which GPU Minecraft is using

To see which GPU Minecraft is using, start the game and join any world. Once in the game, press F3 on your keyboard. On the right side, look for the “Display” line, the next line will show the name of the GPU you are currently using, and the third line will show the GPU driver version.

Changing GPU preference for Minecraft

Before you can change the GPU preference for Minecraft, you need to find out where the Java that it uses is located. To do this, go to your Modrinth App settings (the cog icon in the bottom left corner) and scroll down to the Java settings where you will find the location fields.

Screenshot of Modrinth App settings scrolled to the Java settings section. Two fields are highlighted: Java 17 and Java 8 locations.

To change preferences, open Windows Settings. Navigate to the “System” tab, click “Display”, and then “Graphics” (at the very bottom).

💡 In Windows 10 this page is located in “System” category, and accessed through “Graphics settings” link in “Display” tab.

In the “Custom options for the apps”, click “Browse”. In the “Open” dialog, paste in a location of the Java which preference you want to change, and click “Add”.

Screenshot of the dialog to open a file. The path field at the bottom is highlighted first, it contains Java 17 location from the Modrinth App. The “Add” button is highlighted second.

Now that the Java is added to the list, you can click on it and choose “Options”.

Screenshot of the Windows Settings app with System > Display > Graphics page open. The button “Browse” under the “Add an app” section, “Desktop app” selector, is highlighted as first. The Java is executable at the end of the applications list is highlighted as second. “Options” button in expanded panel is highlighted as third.

In the open “Graphics preference” window choose “High performance” and click “Save”.

Screenshot of “Graphics preference” screenshot. Of all the preference options, “High performance” is highlighted as first. The “Save” button at the bottom is highlighted as second.

Complete this for both Java versions used by the Modrinth App and restart your game to see Minecraft take advantage of dedicated GPU and improved performance.

Have fun playing! 👾

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