Ok cool now that I have your attention got an issue with the laptop im sure millions of others have to. 

The case of whether your laptop is using the graphics card or not (AMD Radeon HD 8670M 2GB)

So I downloaded FF 13 yesterday and am only getting like 20fps. Im surprised as that graphics card above is well above recommneded and my processor is i5-3230m. I finally figured out that you need to add the .exe launcher file for any game to "switchable Graphics application settings" and then select "high performance" for that file. as it was on power saving mode in the monitoring thing below in CCC. which is crazy as a default setting for a game. 

Anyway I boot FF 13 back up and its still around 20-25 fps. at 1920x1080 res and the minimum 2x AA. my laptop is clean as a whistle and has no clutter at all. regurlary clean. I mean it has trouble playing some games but besie the point. you would think changing from power saving to high performance would make a measurable difference, but no. 

So my question to any whizzes or people who have been through this silly ordeal manufacturers do with laptops is how can you tell if the game is using the graphics card? simply selecting high performance doesnt seem to be all there is to it. 

Thanks

Well, for Asus, they usually have a handy light on the laptop that tells u which video card its using! So for my Asus n35jf laptop, it has a blue light when its using the intel video card and a white light when its using the nvidia one!

And there is usually a way to force it in global settings so that all applications use the discrete gpu and not the integrated one

But either ways, the reason why FFXIII runs like shit on ur laptop is cause its a shit port. Like seriously, its a terrible port and if you do a quick google search, you will realize why

yea but 25fps on next to minimum settings. apart from resolution. It cant really be that shit.

Hmm, I don't remember a settings menu where you can adjust the graphical settings of the game... That was one of the main complaints about the game... So how are you even getting the "minimum" settings?

In mid december there was a patch. you can now change resolution and AA and shadow resolution. 

Also the patch states that its now 60 fps, but no matter how low i drop the resolution it still appears to be locked at 30fps. 

This is why I have always palyed consoles. PC gaming drives me nuts.

Hmm interesting! Well, I still blame the porting issues for most of the issues you are having although, a 8670M is a pretty weak GPU so the fact that you are even getting 30fps kinda surprised me considering all the complaints about the game. I mean, AA, resolution and shadow resolution aren't really that much settings to adjust compared to a typical PC game which has tons of settings to choose from. But yea, I would wait for more patches and check the Control Center to make sure its using your video card globally

but thats my question. in the control centre it says high performance while running FF 13, is that the only indication to say whether a game is using the GPU or the onboard one.

FFXIII isn't that optimized. My GTX 970 would drop to 30fps during battles, even at 720p!! Outside of battles it'd fluctuate. Take a look at the GAF thread to see all its issues.

Hmm, I guess so but I havn't used an Ati video card for a laptop before. For Nvidia, its "High Performance Nvidia Processor" and "Integrated Graphics" but if its just High Performance and Power Saving on urs, then yea, it probably is. You could also use GPU-Z and which ever video card shows up first when u run the program should be the GPU your laptop is using by default

Not much you can do unfortunately. FF13's PC port was optimized by 2 cats and a half eaten chicken wing.