Dell M3800 - Disable Intel Graphics Adapter - How To?

Hi,

Not sure how to disable the Intel graphics but you can set nVidia to be the default graphics card for all applications.  Fundamentally that should have the same effect as what you're looking for.

How to set the default graphics card for all applications?

1. Launch nVidia Control Panel.
2. Expand 3D Settings and select Manage 3D settings.
3. On the right-side window, click Global Settings tab.
4. Under Preferred graphics processor: option, choose the desired graphics option.

You may update the global settings to get the latest applications associated with the graphics card.
To update the settings:

1. Click Manage updates... to update the global settings.
   The Manage Updates window is displayed.
2. Click Get updates to update the global settings.

At this point you should have 3 options.  Auto-select, High performance NVIDIA processor, Integrated graphics.  If you select the NVIDIA option it should then default to using that card for all applications.

For me to better assist in troubleshooting, please click my DELL-username and send me a Private Message with the Dell Service Tag number and your Dell Order number.

Let us know if you have any additional questions.

Todd

You'll need to follow through the advice from the Dell technician -- this is a muxless system, so there is no way to switch off the Intel GPU at the hardware level (there is on some systems -- just not on these).  

It's entirely software-controlled -- and whether the data is processed by the Intel or the nVidia GPU, it passes through the Intel GPU on its way to the display screen -- in other words, there's no hardware connecting the nVidia GPU to the screen, so there's no hardware or firmware control of the GPUs.

Hi EJN63,

Thank you for the excellent answer.

I have run some benchmarks on the Intel card (laptop screen) and the 3D performance is very good.  So good that the Intel board must be passing the 3D rendering back to the nVidia card.

When I query the display hardware it reports that the laptop screen is connected to the Intel card, however the external ports (ie: HDMI) are shown connected to the nVidia card.  How does that work?  I would think that all ports would be connected to the Intel card.  Any thoughts?

What I am ultimately after is to have two Desktops (SCREENS). One on the laptop display and one on an external display.  Currently I can only get one Desktop which spans the two displays, which is not what I want.

Thanks for any pointers you can provide.  Below is the reported hardware configuration.

pci@0000:00:02.0 is the laptop internal (eDP) display.

pci@0000:02:00.0 is the external HDMI display

# lshw -class display
  *-display               
       description: 3D controller
       product: GK107GLM [Quadro K1100M]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       version: a1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=nouveau latency=0
       resources: irq:31 memory:eb000000-ebffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:d0000000-d1ffffff ioport:e000(size=128) memory:ec000000-ec07ffff
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 06
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:30 memory:ec400000-ec7fffff memory:80000000-8fffffff ioport:f000(size=64)