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    turning optimum completely off?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by Macpod, Apr 28, 2011.

  1. Macpod

    Macpod Connoisseur

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    anyone know if its possible to turn optimus completely off and run the laptop off intel IGP? Id like to get as much battery runtime as possible and optimus seems to switch the GPU itself on when viewing some flash based sites.
     
    Macpod, Apr 28, 2011
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  2. Dreamliner330

    Dreamliner330 Notebook Evangelist

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    I think its the other way around. If you disable OPTIMUS in the BIOS, then nvidia card is always on...

    ...I wonder if there is a windows utility that forces it to stay on Intel graphics.
     
    Dreamliner330, Apr 28, 2011
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  3. Serephucus

    Serephucus Notebook Deity

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    That's what I was wondering. I know you can whiltelist apps to always use the NVIDIA GPU, but is there such thing as a blacklist, to always use the Intel IGP?
     
    Serephucus, Apr 28, 2011
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  4. sparklesmcgraw

    sparklesmcgraw Notebook Consultant

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    Yep. The whitelist lets you pick either automatic, Nvidia or Intel for any individual programme.
     
    sparklesmcgraw, Apr 28, 2011
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  5. Macpod

    Macpod Connoisseur

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    Does windows count as a program? haha.

    this sounds more troublesome than it needs to be i think.
     
    Macpod, Apr 28, 2011
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  6. froogle

    froogle Notebook Evangelist

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    You can also use the whitelisting program to set the Nvidia chip as the default quite easily.

    Honestly though why would you want to. For all its flaws, Optimus is great a optimizing the battery life of the machine when you are on the go (hence the name).
     
    froogle, Apr 28, 2011
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  7. Dakks

    Dakks Notebook Consultant

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    And I guess the opposite is possible too?
     
    Dakks, Apr 28, 2011
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  8. azizhp

    azizhp Notebook Geek

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    the only downside is that we are not able to leverage the SNB ability for transcoding video. Anand has shown that Optimus basically makes that unusable. Its a minor thing for most of us but if anyone is doing a lot ofvideo transcoding, a SNB laptop without optimus is better.
     
    azizhp, Apr 28, 2011
    #8