Optimus igpu disable benefits?

I was just kind of curious about what you guys think about disabling igpu and how it can benefit the gaming performance, minus battery cost but I don't care I'm always plugged in when gaming and pretty much all the time on 15.6"+ laptop usage.

I get that heavy cpu/ fast paced online/esports etc games it will have a benefit from the other threads here. What about just offline open world games or just offline single player games in general? Will disabling it result in noticeable fps gain, say over 10fps? Will it lower heat overhead/fan noise afa cpu when playing those games? I can't imagine running the screen full time would have much effect on the dgpu.

 

If the dGPU is controlling output there is little benefit to disable the iGPU. If you can disable it in bios you'll save around .2W in power draw. If you disable it in windows you actually make it burn more power by not enabling a driver to set it in a low power state.

As for bypassing optimus, this has very little benefit in most scenarios. At 60fps gaming optimus performance is within 0-2% of direct dGPU performance. The fps numbers difference can get substantial at 400fps or so, but at this point the fps doesn't matter since you are far beyond the screen refresh rate. 120Hz or 144Hz displays maybe up to 5% improvement with direct GPU output.

There were some optimus vs direct output comparisons done in the 680m days if you want to try looking for that old data. I don't know how relevant that data is though. AMD Enduro performance improved greatly since then, while Nvidia for a while seemed to get worse afterwards.

Few BIOS allow for switching between Optimus and direct output. Mostly only Dell systems had this feature with a modified bios flashed.

 

The bios in my laptop has an option to disable igpu specifically so I could try it but wanted to get some info as to the benefits. Really old data I'm not sure would be relevant.

 

Lots of laptops allow for disabling Optimus: Lenovo Legion, HP Omen Intel models, most Clevo and Tongfang, some MSI and Asus as well.

There is a performance benefit to disabling it. Jarrod’s Tech on YouTube did a fairly in depth comparison. Don’t have the link but it’s easy enough to find.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I have Aorus 15p with RTX3070 and disable optimus is allowed here via Control Center. Some avg. fps with max quality:

Optimus:
- Horizon Zero Dawn: 89fps
- Division 2: 103 fps
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 115

RTX:
- Horizon Zero Dawn: 99 fps
- Division 2: 109 fps
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 124

So depending on game the difference is between 5 and 11%

 

Optimus can be a 10% performance loss, not including the 200+ fps bottleneck. There is no reason to game with it enabled if you have to option to disable.

 

Optimus also has an additional frame of input lag.

 

The difference between an optimus and dGPU only setup varies, but dGPU only will always yield the best performance.

The performance increases with dGPU only mode generally become more significant the more CPU bound the game is. For example, it is impossible for me to obtain 120 fps in Watch Dogs 2 on my Cyberpower Tracer III laptop no matter what setings I use (optimus only, can't switch to dGPU only), but I can get 120 fps on my Alienware Ranger if I drop the settings to low.

 

Looks like it will be a worthwhile thing to do, I'll definitely try it. Would have been nice if this had a software switch though, not a big deal but easier for judging the difference on my particular system.

 

Not meaning to spoil the fun but unless your laptop has a MUX switch (either physical or in BIOS), if you have Optimus, your dGPU likely passes through the iGPU (MUXless) meaning, unless you use the HDMI or DisplayPort to a monitor, disabling the iGPU will also kill the dGPU feed to the laptop's display.

You can verify how your laptop is set up by opening the Nvidia Control Panel, go to the PhysX section, and see if the laptop display is associated with the iGPU or the dGPU.

 

My only question about that is then why does the bios specifically have a setting to enable or disable the igpu then?

It says in the bios three options for display mode, 1. igpu only 2. dgpu only 3. MShybrid. I haven't restarted and tried it so far though.

This is some tongfang variant, under the gateway name, but I have not figured out which one.

 

Agreed. OP should memorize the steps to switch it back, in case the internal display output is shut off. I doubt a budget model like that has a mux switch.

 

Ok well afaik the way to get back would be to use an external screen or from some online research, during post into the bios the bios screen might work regardless and just switch back to mshybrid mode.

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...750h-rtx2070-discrete-mode-dead-screen.64119/

From here in this thread looks like not much gain, but of course every system is different

https://www.reddit.com/r/XMG_gg/comments/kqq2p6/gaming_performance_in_dgpuonly_vs_mshybrid_aka/

Here's some nvidia speak but it's pretty general

https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5097/~/nvidia-advanced-optimus-overview

Is there any way to check for a mux switch? I don't think there is a manual for this since it looks like it was a limited run for holiday sales.

 

You can just try it. If the internal screen goes dark, switch it back blind or using an external monitor.

 

Well from the first link I was actually going to test on msiab the usage of igpu during gaming, maybe if it's minimal it wouldn't be worth it. I just read the annoyance factors, ie no screen at all without lots of reinstall etc, in that first link and am wary now.

 

This.

If it was that easy then a lot of people would of done it years ago. The purpose of a MUX switch is to use the Dedicated GPU as the main display giving you full access of Nvidia's Control Panel like a desktop and unlocking the full ability of your GPU. There is no excuse for gaming laptops to not have a MUX switch these days. Personally i have optimus (Hybrid mode) turned on because i need the battery life as i use my laptop for work and other tasks more than gaming. There are some performance increase with it off but the major performance gains is with e-sports games like CS:GO, Overwatch and etc.

 

Well the reason I'm interested is the relatively weak cpu in this budget model, I always have mine plugged in it's not an on the go business machine etc Free perf bumps always preferred to spending money lol

Anyways so from this ncp screen I can infer no mux switch then?

 

From what you indicated earlier, you are MUX equipped:



If you haven't disabled the iGPU in BIOS, then the system will appear in the Nvidia Control Panel like a MUXless laptop. If you disable it in BIOS, the iGPU won't appear in the control panel.

 

Okay I'll have to try it and see then.

 

Upadate: Mux switch confirmed by a user in my thread in the other manufacturers section for this model. Thanks to @sfinney76

 

What was already a good deal gets even better.

I’m very surprised this budget model comes with a mux switch. Makes me wonder what everyone else overcharging for their laptops is smoking...

 

I almost think the tongfangs just don't get into all that extra disabling/managing etc since so many of the smaller performance oriented manufacturers use their chassis and want as much options as possible for their knowledgeable customers to tweak. No reason for them, just cost more to have someone do it etc

 

Thats great!

Like i said in my earlier post there is no excuse for gaming laptops to not have a MUX switch these days.

 

Yeah I see a constant 15% utilization during gaming from the igpu, that's gotta have some effect on cpu and temps etc I would think. Once I get to a place for a restart will do this for sure.

 

Just thought I'd do a quick update, dgpu only works fine. A quick passmark gpu test (not the best I know and I'll do a 3dmark fsg/ts later) gives a 22% graphics score improvement with the same fan/power mode setting and this has xtu undervolt in the bios I did -50mv while I was there. Totally happy with that.

 

Update2 well 3dmark is a different story, I actually got a little worse score on FSG and about the same on timespy graphics. As I said I was looking mainly to help the cpu with less overhead for better fps so I'll do games benchmarks testing for games I have a record of hzd, gears 5 and eyeballed acod. Like I said I noticed on some games up to 15/17% igpu usage, this must have some benefit hopefully otherwise just go back to mshybrid.

 

i cant imagine it making a difference....what are you getting in firestrike

 

I'm covering this in the thread for my machine as it's specific to it. In short in FSG it's no benefit. In cpu games it's 10-20% or so about +6fps-10fps. GPU games it's a bit of a benefit. On Fallout 4 I go from a 60fps locked to 120fps with an average of 100fps. Top temps have actually fallen , mostly gpu. I don't really play the sort of games that would be the largest benefit like csgo etcThe ncp settings have a benefit of adjusting the screen color settings which I did. I want maximum tgp most of the time and this is the best way to get it. I can just switch back if in the rare case I'd ever use this on battery alone. I'm seeing some benefit so I'm leaving it on dgpu only.

 

I'm just glad the Alienware m15 R4 (with OLED panel) has NO optimus. Confirmed by multiple sources.

 

so you spammed just to sell your laptop? whynot sell locally

 

I'm having some issues getting my quadro rtx 3000 running as a dgpu after I install the driver. Any chance it might be a Optimus/mux problem?

 

Probably very minor direct effect on CPU and temps. Depends on the framerate. Most of the load is on RAM, having faster one should help. At the end of the day, it is a bit of a waste of RAM bandwidth and it might impact memory-intensive tasks.

I see almost no difference between Optimus and external monitor in TimeSpy. No perceptible input lag in high FPS games either. Some laptops are different though, for instance the new AW x17 has been reported to suffer pretty bad performance loss with Optimus. This might have to do with a combination of higher frame rates achieved by the latest systems, in combination with slow RAM.

 

Yeah temps seem to be the intel heater they've always been when gaming, 80-85c no matter what, but at least there's not any igpu overhead at all now.

Depends on the game too, I think with optimus off which I've had since discovering the MUX switch on this, I'm able to enable DSR and go 2k in most of the games I play for a constant 60+, which pushes a lot off of the relatively weak CPU for a less stutter prone system. I've never had stutter really, only in certain games at certain times(hzd in the city ). Thankfully most games are geared towards GPU and not CPU. In those cpu games I got a 5-10fps bump optimus off, which in some games is close to 20% fps improvement. I'm also thinking a lot of terribly optimized cpu games like ACOD are so because of DRM levels. In older games it does make a difference, for instane in FO4 with optimus it would max out at 60fps locked, after no optimus it went all the way up to 120fps average of 100fps, so the game must have somehow detected optimus and locked it to 60 despite the dgpu.