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    W520 Optimus and Server 2008

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by bogatyr, May 13, 2011.

  1. bogatyr

    bogatyr Notebook Evangelist

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    Has anyone been able to get Optimus to run properly under Server 2008? I'm using this for my development workstation with Hyper-V but I play the occasional game.

    While the driver loads, it doesn't appear to switch from the Intel to the Nvidia when needed. I put the Nvidia control panel icon next to the clock and it doesn't show applications running under the Nvidia chip when I launch games. This is reinforced when AA is limited to 4x (Intel) while the 2000M offers 8x.

    Right now I have to launch Win7 on a VHD to play any games. Would be nice to not have to shut everything down if I want to relax for 30-60 minutes.
     
    bogatyr, May 13, 2011
    #1
  2. not.sure

    not.sure Notebook Evangelist

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    Switch to nvidia in the BIOS. Then it doesn't have a choice but to use the nvidia.

    Never heard of optimus running on anything else but win7 and (perhaps!) vista. That's why it's crap and hopefully will die (along with nv).
     
    not.sure, May 13, 2011
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  3. kirayamato26

    kirayamato26 Notebook Deity

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    I'd prefer it if Optimus didn't die along with NVIDIA. I need NVIDIA for driver updates, and Optimus to keep my W520's battery life at 8hrs+ without having to explicitly disabling the dGPU in BIOS.

    Anyways, OP, did you install the drivers from SWTOOLS? As I understand it, R2 and 7 are practically the same OS.
     
    kirayamato26, May 13, 2011
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  4. bogatyr

    bogatyr Notebook Evangelist

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    I installed the Optimus driver off of their website. I suppose I could put the factory raid drives back in and grab the original file from it. I'll try that tomorrow.
     
    bogatyr, May 13, 2011
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  5. Thors.Hammer

    Thors.Hammer Notebook Enthusiast

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    Do you have the desktop experience installed?
     
    Thors.Hammer, May 14, 2011
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  6. Volker

    Volker Notebook Consultant

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    NV is unfortunately not going to go away within the lifetime of the W520, but sooner or later tighter integration of GPU and CPU will at least end their current business model.

    The big flaw of Optimus, apart from working only on a single Windows version, is that a device driver can't reliably figure out whether a running program needs high framerates or not. Every now and then its either wasting battery because it erroneusly thinks it needs the discrete GPU or stuttering apps because it erroneously turned off the GPU. Really, dynamically turning off part of the GPU should be implemented in silicon, just as in the CPU. Plus a generous filling of bugs because Intel's and NVidia's drivers have to cooperate.
     
    Volker, May 14, 2011
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  7. bogatyr

    bogatyr Notebook Evangelist

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    bogatyr, May 14, 2011
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