Minecraft uses OpenGL and this causes issue when you have a laptop with switchable graphic cards, for example tandem ATI + Intel as I have.

Out of the box my laptop uses Switchable Graphics  Method which selects which processor (card) to use by application needs. For everyday use it’s really nice and all.

But.. CCC (Catalyst Control Center) is unable to assign discrete (ATI) card to Minecraft. It insists on using Intel card, which have very poor OpenGL support. Let’s face it - it wasn’t intended to be used for this kind of tasks. With it I’m getting (outstanding!) 16-20 FPS :/

fortunately there is a way to get Minecraft working after all :)

Please read my instructions all to the end before trying this - if you won’t it might not work.

1. In CCC switch to “Advanced view” in Properties and then find Power -> Switchable Graphics Method in menu on your left.

2. Choose (see screenshot for details):

   • “Select the graphics processor manually or based on power source”
   • “Apply”

3. Immediately reboot computer. For me it worked simply by choosing “restart” option from Start Menu.

4. If you fail to reboot right away windows will cancel your changes in CCC and restore default mode!

5. That’s it. After reboot you will be able to manually select you graphics processor for all running applications, including Minecraft :) After this operation I get 120 FPS or so :) Sky is the limit ;)

Important: If after switching your desktop will look like it has no graphics card driver installed (low resolution etc.) go to the “drivers manager”, find your graphics card and install automatically new drivers. They are in system, but Windows just couldn’t apply them. After another reboot - all will be up and running :)