Windows 10: Why would NVIDIA Optimus activate only for Laptops and disable for PCs

Discus and support Why would NVIDIA Optimus activate only for Laptops and disable for PCs in Windows 10 Graphic Cards to solve the problem; For those who don't know Optimus is some sort of a technology NVIDIA developed in order for laptops to have the ability to switch between multiple GPUs... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Graphic Cards' started by nIGHTmAYOR, Aug 23, 2019.

  1. Why would NVIDIA Optimus activate only for Laptops and disable for PCs


    For those who don't know Optimus is some sort of a technology NVIDIA developed in order for laptops to have the ability to switch between multiple GPUs integrated when needed .

    They often claim that this approach is to save power and is not needed for PCs really as those do not run on batteries to need to save power (wondering about all people now shifting to led lights home just to save on bills) .

    It is controversial however , it is known that there is a performance gain noticed on laptops with such setups as then Intel manage to lift the load of all desktop 2D/3D overlays and memory consumption (Yes the load persist even if in background) leaving the NVIDIA GPU and its memory all dedicated to 3D rendering .

    Now what dazzles me is that you get same drivers for laptops and PCs from both Intel and NVIDIA and yet however those drivers manage to somehow detect weather the setup is a laptop or a PC in order to enable or disable Optimus technology .

    So I'm just wondering how exactly the driver is able to tell if the setup in hand is a laptop or a PC for one thing , and weather there had been any trick or mean or a 3rd party tool to fool the technology into working on PCs and that's another .

    P.S I did not tackle the issue from AMD perspective but i am sure they have similar technology to Optimus and approach to PCs handling .

    :)
     
    nIGHTmAYOR, Aug 23, 2019
    #1
  2. madman404 Win User

    Can a specific driver update be disabled? (NVIDIA optimus driver issue)

    My windows 10 laptop uses NVIDIA's optimus technology, and for it to work, the computer must be running a very specific Nvidia and Intel driver version provided by the OEM. Windows 10 has been updating my Intel driver despite all attempts to disable windows
    update and thus has been constantly breaking optimus and wasting my time on constant re-installs. I'd like to still receive security updates although I'm ready to stop if it means fixing my computer. Registry tweaks and stopping windows update in services
    have also failed. Is there something I can do?
     
    madman404, Aug 23, 2019
    #2
  3. W1zzard Win User
    [GPU-Z Test Build] Fix for crash with NVIDIA Optimus

    This build fixes crashes/hangs when using GPU-Z on a laptop with NVIDIA Optimus.

    Known issue: PCI-Express version and speed will not be displayed while Optimus is active
     
    W1zzard, Aug 23, 2019
    #3
  4. Why would NVIDIA Optimus activate only for Laptops and disable for PCs

    Is it possible to check if the dedicated gpu is active or not + being monitored? (Nvidia Optimus)

    I have a laptop (Msi GV62) with GTX 1050 graphics card and optimus system with it. And my question is, how can I check if optimus is active or not? If my dedicated graphics card is active in any way or not?

    I found that I can have an icon in tray, that informs me if dedicated gpu is active or not. But I found that it is not 100% accurate and works with delay. E.g. TechPower GPU-Z uses dedicated graphics card by monitoring it, but icon in tray says that it doesn't run on my dedicated GPU. If I hit many many times refresh in GPU-Z then I can be lucky enough to see for a short moment in tray icon that dedicated gpu is active. But as I say, for a little period of time + doing massive refresh in GPU-Z. Although GPU-Z is constantly monitoring dedicated graphics card, it is active but tray icon says that it isn't

    Another example is that Msi Afterburner when is running is making dedicated gpu active almost all time, it looks like ON, OFF, ON, OFF but tray icon doesn't show it, it says GPU is inactive and doesn't even list Msi Afterburner

    This cause my dedicated GPU to stay activated and get a little little bit more hot overtime instead of being disabled and staying cold.

    Let's say I don't know I have GPU-Z running and it monitors my gpu. How can I tell that there are applications that are monitoring my gpu and what apps they are?

    In other words, how can I know what applications are currently monitoring my gpu?

    Is there a way to list all programs that are currently monitoring my gpu? Just the way like seeing which apps are running on gpu

    If it is possible to have absolutely knowledge of all applications that are currently using or monitoring the dedicated GPU...

    This tray icon is: Determining which graphics card is used with NVIDIA Optimus
     
    Krystian Walicki, Aug 23, 2019
    #4
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Why would NVIDIA Optimus activate only for Laptops and disable for PCs

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