FAQ: Troubleshooting Intel iGPU systems with Premiere Pro

Do you have a dual GPU systems that feature an Intel iGPU? Is your dual GPU setup not working as expected? Before doing anything rash, please check the following:

• Make sure the discrete AMD or NVIDIA GPU is set in Project Settings > General for the Mercury Engine Playback Engine: CUDA or Metal are the typical settings.
• If you are working with H.264 and HEVC material, hardware acceleration using the Intel iGPU is favored for decoding and encoding due to Intel Quick Sync technology. It is set correctly by default, but you can verify those here. You can also use the settings to disable Quick Sync decoding and encoding (not recommended when working with H.264 or HEVC footage).
• Some GPU playback and accelerated process are still handled by the discrete GPU automatically when working with this footage, like GPU accelerated effects.
• Update: the GPU now assists decoding and encoding if the format is H.264. Note that QuickSync, if available, is used in place of GPU decoding and encoding. It is more performant, typically.

• If the expectation is that the discrete GPU should be more performant, that is not the case with H.264 and HEVC material because of Quick Sync. 
• If you are working with other material besides these formats, then the discrete GPU might be more performant.

Info regarding Video Drivers for the Intel iGPU

• The 2019/2020 version of Premiere Pro (version 13.0 and later) requires a recent version of the Intel graphics driver. 
• We recommend updating your Intel drivers to the baseline drivers or above.
• If you have a laptop from 2018 or earlier, you may not be able to use the Intel iGPU becauase the drivers are no longer available.

For more info on this topic, see:

Adobe Help Documentation: GPU Accelerated Rendering & Hardware Encoding.
Adobe Community article: FAQ: Everything you need to know about GPU use in Premiere Pro.