First time bootcamp user

So I recently decided to install windows 8 on my retina macbook pro because I heard its so easy and I need to work with visual studio 2012 for my MCSD certification.

Installed everything and got windows 8 working correctly, also installed all the drivers that Mac OSX gives you the option of downloading before the process.

My question is in regards to gpu switching, it seems that only the 650m is activated under windows 8, is there any way to enable gpu switching? even if its not on the fly, because I would prefer to have better battery life as I don't need the 650m for what I am doing.

Edit: After reading a bit I see that it is not possible to have gpu switching, but is there a way to just force the intel gpu? get rid of the nvidia gpu completely under windows?

 

In a word, no.

In many words, folks have been looking for a way to do this since Apple introduced switchable GPUs for OS X back in 2010 with essentially zero success. Some have gotten both the Intel iGPU and NVIDIA dGPU to appear in device manager by attempting an EFI install of Windows but with minimal to no functionality otherwise.

 

Aw that sucks, guess ill have to carry my charger with me as there is no way it will last as long as I need it to on battery with the 650m running on windows 8.

 

I'm even running into the issue of the 650m kicking in when I'm using Windows 7 under Parallels 7. Windows XP doesn't trigger the switch to the Nvidia GPU but Windows 7 does for some reason. Another odd note: my 2011 13" MBP and mid-2011 13" MBA all ran Windows 7 through Parallels just fine and they relied solely on Intel's IGP. Either way, you're SOL until Apple releases a solution and that is doubtful as people have been wanting switchable graphics, through Bootcamp, for 3 years now.

 

It might be an issue with Parallels 7. I have this problem with several OS X programs triggering the dGPU for no necessary reason. Parallels 7 is/was one of them (barely use it any more and I don't know if it's the same with version 8), as do Toast Titanium and VLC.

 

I think Windows XP used 2D rendering for the desktop. Under Win 7, using the default semi-transparent Aero theme, Windows Explorer uses D3D to render the desktop & windows. I think D3D is translated to OpenGL by Parallels, so running Win 7 as a guest OS is like running a hardware accelerated OpenGL application.

If you haven't already, open the VM options dialog and under Optimization/Power change the setting from better performance to longer battery life. If that doesn't work, you can turn off 3D acceleration entirely or just use gfxCardStatus to force integrated graphics.

 

Right now it isn't bothering me as I have to plug my Mac in when using Parallels anyway as that's when I'm running a series of programs under Windows 7 and OS X. My MBP would last a measly 2 hours on its battery with what I'm doing. I will keep that in mind though I'm pretty sure I have already adjusted those settings in Parallels 7.

 

with a VM in OSX you can use gfxCardStatus to force on your Intel GPU before launching the VM and have it run using Intel only.

 

In bootcamp you can also user NVIDIA Inspector to down clock the 650M to very low speeds which will save battery life.

 

I tried to do that but I am unsure which state I should be messing with, there are so many lol. P8/P0/etc. Got any recommended clocks I should set it at?

 

So I gave up on bootcamp, other than playing games virtualization has the advantage.

Better battery life (Able to force IGP through GfxCardStatus)
Instant Access through OSX
No need to choose what to boot to during start up
Can run windows apps as if they were on OSX (Parallels)
No need to create a fixed partition
Did I mention better battery life?

 

That's what got me to trade off my RMBP. Shame really.