Optimus / Gsync and Thermals.

I have been reading on the subject for quite some time and I haven't found a solution/answer yet.

It is my understanding that on laptops, the eDP is the one that handles the screen. So GSync on laptops doesn't need the extra hardware chip for it to work.

So basically Nvidia is just validating screens for proper Gsync software functionnality. This raises the first question, are these GSync panels the same as the other normal panels and we are paying extra for not so much ?

Also, My understanding is that Gsync doesn't work with Optimus. So while idling or using a word document, will the laptop use a lot of power or will it be dead silent like the igpu ?

When you have gsync, I think the iGPU is useless on a laptop as it doesn't have access to the screen. Unless you have a mux chip, but these are not common.

any light on the issue will be appreciated.

 

You're pretty much on the money.

Gsync on: dgpu active, driving display all the time, higher idle power use (depends on gpu e.g. ~6W for each of my 1080s, ~4W for the 1070s in my project guinea pig laptop)

Optimus on: dgpu inactive until woken up when told to by driver, you can use Nvidia control panel to use dgpu only for apps you choose, igpu drives display, sub 1W idle power use, minor (single digit %) performance loss and latency increase when dgpu is active due to the routing through igpu and Pcie compression/decompression etc.

Gsync in laptops has no special hardware, it's adaptive sync that appears as an option when Nvidia chooses it to based on certification that costs manufacturer much $$$$$$ => manufacturer passes cost on to end user :/

 

Hey thank you for your answer.

I heard a lot of people say that optimus is not good as it creates a lot of problems and headaches for the end user, lower performance, etc.

What is you take on this ?

Can you measure the Power Consumption when the screen is turned off ? Does the nvidia chip still consume power ?

 

Great, thank you all for your insight,

now the thermal and noise question. If optimus is turned off using the MUX, will the fan be turned on all the time ?