Lagging when unpaused / game uses wrong GPU?

[jet41]

Have playerd CK2 on this laptop for more than a year. Always being able to run game on speed 4 no problem (until big endgame empire - then I had to stuck with speed 3 ) Around time Holy fury came out, I switch old HDD that was dying on me for new SSD + reinstall Win7 - most games now run better (tested witcher 3 and fallout 4)...except CK2. Now game slightly shutter from the start even on speed 3 and 50 years later its almost unplayable.
-All specs remainded the same except that new SSD.
-Graphic drivers are up to date.
-manually deleted both game and document folder and reinstalled - no change. Tried lower graphic setting (resolution, trees,..) no change

NOTE1: I don't have enough time clocked in to be sure, but it seems like EU4 gives me the same problem.
NOTE2: while uploading system log, I noticed it only mention integrated intel graphic and not Nvidia, despite my manual setting ( see screenshot ).
EDIT1: Skipping steam and running game directly via .exe file actually show Nvidia card in system.log, however lag problem persist. (both file attached)

I'm fairly certain problem is on my part and not Paradox's, still help would be appriciated. Thank you for your time.

 

[AndrewT]

It is the responsibility of nVidia to run the game on the right GPU. I can't explain why it uses a different one depending on how you launch the game, nor why that makes no difference.

But there is an installation problem with the nVidia (it is not listed under Display Devices)so let's fix that:

- uninstall your existing nVidia driver and all associated utilities (GeForce experience etc)
- reboot
- install the latest by fresh download from here:
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
- reboot again

Let us know what happens after that.

 

[jet41]

Reinstalled drivers twice , one time manually picking files from nvidia site and one time using their official assistant. No changes. Device manager and 2 free third party tools (driver fusion and driver booster) all swear I have drivers from december 2018 and that device works as intended. Program called "GPU-Z" show nvidia graphic kicks in when ck2 launch.

- Despite my effort nvidia in DxDiag still appear only as system device with "n/a" drivers path and game lags persist. Latest logs attached, though they may be same.
- On the internets, some nvidia tech trouble forum mention "optimus technology" and than card may not appear in DxDiag if not active at that moment.

Could it all be too much for good old Win7 even freshly installed? Our boy will soon celebrate a 10th anniversary. Or could hardware be dying on me? It has been used extensively for many years now. Yet other games give me no such trouble. Outside bending the knee try my luck with win10, I'm officially out of ideas. Thank you for your time.

 

[AndrewT]

That clean reinstall of the nVidia driver should have fix that Display Devices issue. You did it exactly as I described? What we are trying to fix is not which version is installed, but to ensure it is a clean good installation.

But I have no explanation for the actual problem you have, it frankly makes no sense.

 

[kimstad]

My game used integrated graphics when running through steam and Nvidia when running from exe.
Try changing steamwebhelper.exe to use Nvidia as well, that worked for me

edit: HF is more resource heavy, your RAM might be the issue 1686 MB ain't much