Technical Note: Checking and Maintaining an Nvidia Graphics Card

Reference: TN00265

Created: 31st July 2017

Last modified: 31st July 2017

Contents

1. About this Document 1

2. Determining the Graphics Card(s) Installed on the PC 1
3. Using Datamine Studio to Check the Graphics Card assignment 2
4. Configuring your NVIDIA settings 3
5. Updating the NVIDIA Graphics Driver 5
6. Installing Java 6

1. ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT

This document outlines procedures to determine the graphics hardware that is available with
your PC, and how Datamine applications can interact with this hardware.

Images and instructions pertain to Windows 10, and this information is appropriate for NVIDIA
graphics card installations only.

2. DETERMINING THE GRAPHICS CARD(S) INSTALLED ON THE PC

This procedure can be used to confirm which graphics card (or cards) is/are installed on the
machine, and what versions of the drivers are installed.

1. From the Control Panel, select Hardware and Sound | Devices and Printers |
Device Manager.

(Alternatively use Cortana to search for “Device Manager”).

2. Open Display Adapters to display one or more installed graphics cards:

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solicit, directly or indirectly (whether through an agent or otherwise) the participation of another institution or
person without the prior approval of the directors of the Company. Any form of reproduction, dissemination,
copying, disclosure, modification, distribution and or publication of this material is strictly prohibited.
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 3. Right-click the NVIDIA card that is listed and select Properties

4. Select the Driver tab to check the version of the driver

To download a newer version of the NVIDIA graphics card driver, refer to “UPDATING
THE NVIDIA GRAPHICS DRIVER VERSION”, below.

3. USING DATAMINE STUDIO TO CHECK THE GRAPHICS CARD ASSIGNMENT

This section will explain how to check to see which graphics card is being used by your
Datamine Studio product. This is especially important when there is more than one card
installed on the machine.

This procedure applies to Studio EM, RM, OP and UG.

1. Open your Studio product.

2. Once loaded, use the “Stack of books” icon in the top right corner to expand the drop-
down menu.

3. Select the About… option, e.g.:

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 4. Select OpenGL Info:

5. Under Vendor Information, check to see which graphics card driver is being used by
Studio.

4. CONFIGURING YOUR NVIDIA SETTINGS

To assign your NVIDIA graphics card to Studio applications:

1. Right-click your desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel:

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2. Select 3D Settings’ – ‘Manage 3D Settings:

3. Select the Global Settings tab

4. Expand the Global presets dropdown list and select [3D App – Modeling AFR]

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 5. In the Preferred graphics processor drop-down list, select [High-performance NVIDIA
processor].

6. On the Program Settings tab, expand the 1. Select a program to customize drop-down
list.

A list of all programs currently using the NVIDIA driver will be displayed:

7. If your Datamine product doesn’t appear in the list, it can be added: select Add and
scroll to find the relevant product, then select Add Selected Program.

8. Using the Select the preferred graphics processor for this program drop-down list, make
sure [High-performance NVIDIA processor] is displayed.

You can Test that the correct driver is being used now by Studio - follow the steps in
“USING DATAMINE STUDIO TO CHECK THE GRAPHICS CARD ASSIGNMENT”, above.

5. UPDATING THE NVIDIA GRAPHICS DRIVER

This procedure explains how to update the drivers associated with your graphics card:

1. Using a browser, go to the NVIDIA website at www.nvidia.com.

2. Select the location nearest to you.

3. Select Drivers | All NVIDIA Drivers.

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 4. On the Download Drivers page, locate Option 2: Automatically find drivers from my
NVIDIA products and select GRAPHICS DRIVERS:

5. Select ‘Run’ when the ‘NVIDIA Java Detection’ dialog is opened.

Please note that Datamine does not support, maintain or offer expert advice on any
products or services offered by NVIDIA Corporation.

6. INSTALLING JAVA
If the ‘NVIDIA Java Detection’ phase of the procedure above did not work (it may have been
blocked by your browser, antivirus or other intermediate service, for example) you will need to
install Java using the following procedure:

1. Using your web browser, go to the Java website at www.java.com.

2. Select Free Java Download

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3. Select Agree and Start Free Download.

4. If you are shown the following prompt, select to Run the install.

If your browser forcibly blocks the installation of web-based files, you will need to adjust
your browser’s security settings before retrying (consult your browser documentation
for more information).

5. Follow the prompts to complete installation of Java, then reattempt “UPDATING

THE NVIDIA GRAPHICS DRIVER VERSION”, above.
Please note that Datamine does not support, maintain or offer expert advice on any
products or services offered by Oracle Corporation.

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