Nvidia Advanced Optimus and G-Sync with External Display

@keso1977  This is the first mention I've seen of Advanced Optimus.  Having just read NVIDIA's KB article about it here, it does seem like a nice evolution of the technology, since it removes the requirement to choose between battery life and maximum functionality, and make BIOS changes every time you wanted to use a different mode -- on the handful of systems that offered that functionality in the first place.  However, the intro portion of the article specifically says that it's designed for "an internal VESA Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) laptop display panel".  Additionally, a bullet point in the Behavioral Notes section says:

• The display will not switch to discrete GPU if there are any external monitors connected to the system

So it appears Advanced Optimus isn't designed for external displays, and can't be used even on the internal display when there are any external displays attached.  So in terms of whether you'll be able to use G-Sync on external displays, my expectation would be that you'd still be able to, but only if you have a system that has the external display outputs directly wired to the NVIDIA GPU, or a design that allows you to change which GPU controls the outputs with a BIOS option, as already exists on some systems today.  So Advanced Optimus doesn't seem to change anything when it comes to external displays.  It's just that external displays would prevent you from using Advanced Optimus to run G-Sync dynamically on a built-in display.  But today you can't use G-Sync dynamically on a built-in display at all, at least not without firmware-level switching.

@keso1977  Yes, I would expect that with external displays, you'd still need to have one of these three designs:

• Output hardwired to Intel GPU, in which case no G-Sync at all.
• Output hardwired to NVIDIA GPU, in which case G-Sync is available.
• Output wired to a muxer, in which case you can switch the active GPU with a BIOS-level setting

But I would not expect Advanced Optimus to be a possibility for external displays.  However, I don't see that as a major drawback.  The only scenario I can see Advanced Optimus delivering a benefit on external displays would be if you wanted to use G-Sync on external displays and also frequently used external displays while running on battery power.  But I wonder how many customers there are who really care about G-Sync and also run external displays on battery power frequently.

In terms of your system, NVIDIA Control Panel is not where you would look to change the GPU that controls the display.  As described in the article, that would typically be a BIOS setting, or in some cases a Fn key combination that might require a restart to take effect.  NVIDIA Control Panel is apparently where you will be able to manage Advanced Optimus, but the current Optimus does not involve GPU switching at all.  Optimus itself is just the technique that allows the dGPU to accelerate content on displays that are controlled by the iGPU.  The Advanced Optimus article just acknowledges that some systems use muxers that are controlled by a BIOS option in order to overcome some of the limitations of the current Optimus implementation.

To be clear, I don't know if the Alienware 17 R5 is capable of switching which GPU controls the outputs.  But if it is, you definitely won't find that option in NVIDIA Control Panel.  In terms of the preferred GPU setting, that just determines whether the dGPU activates to perform the rendering work or whether it stays completely inactive and lets the iGPU do everything.  It does not change which GPU directly controls the display itself.  That is one of the changes that Advanced Optimus will bring.

Thanks for the replay. I've read the Nvidia Advanced Optimus article, as well. Yes it says Advanced Optimus is designed for an internal VESA Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) laptop display panel and next, the display (meaning internal display) will not switch to discrete GPU if there are any external monitors connected to the system. So conclusion would be: external display supporting G-Sync, must be directly connected to dGPU in order to use G-Sync technology, but won't be available to use Advanced Optimus, correct ?

But, to elaborate on this. I have an older Alienware 17 R5 laptop, with Intel iGPU and Nvidia  GTX 1070 dGPU. I'm using external display as well. In Nvidia control panel I have NO such an option to switch between iGPU and dGPU. From there I can see, external display is connected to Nvidia dGPU. BUT in Windows settings under Display settings, I can configure for each application preferred GPU setting. There are 2 options: Power savings or High Performance. And indeed, it works, even with external monitor, as I can see in Task manager. With power saving mode, the Intel iGPU is mostly used, but with High performance mode mostly Nvidia dGPU is used, running the specific application. It doesn't look like Nvidia Optimus feature, but more like MS Windows feature. I've tested and it works. I hope something like this would be in latest laptops, as well....

Well, I asked about Advanced Optimus not just in terms of saving battery power but also to help decrease CPU and GPU temps, since I really like quiet fans. And with external display the system is under higher workload, what leads to higher temperatures. Anyway, Advanced Optimus is probably not the way to decrease overall system heat level. 

One more question about G-Sync. Does it work only through Display Port or also with other connections ? And what about with docking stations ?

@keso1977  Optimus isn't designed to address thermals or noise at all.  There are three main ways to decrease fan noise:

• Use better fan designs, although I don't know how well Dell's fans compare to state of the art.
• Use larger fans that can move a given amount of air by moving at a slower speed.  But larger fans require more space, which means larger/thicker systems.
• Generate less heat in the first place, either with more efficient electronics or by reducing performance

In terms of G-Sync, "traditional" G-Sync only runs over DisplayPort.  There's a newer version of G-Sync that only works on 16 Series and above GPUs and is designed to be used with certain LG OLED TVs.  That works over HDMI, but I think that's just a rebranding of HDMI VRR.  In terms of docking stations, you can run G-Sync through a docking station if all of the following are true:

• The docking station taps into a native GPU output on the system.  Docks that rely on "indirect display" technology like DisplayLink wouldn't qualify.  Dell's Dxxxx series docks do this.  But Dell's WDxx and TBxx docks tap into native GPU outputs, and since both USB-C and TB3 use DisplayPort protocol for video, they're ok.
• The video output from the system that feeds the dock is coming directly from the NVIDIA GPU, not the Intel GPU.
• The display connection to the dock uses DisplayPort, Mini-DisplayPort, or USB-C on both ends of the connection.  So for example USB-C to DisplayPort would be fine, but DisplayPort to HDMI would not work.

I have an M15 R3.

In terms of G-Sync, you can use them with external monitor, as long as you connect it via Display Port and the monitor is G-Sync compatible.

In terms of Optimus, it does support external monitor.

Hi I have also M15 R3 with core i9 10th generation and RTX 2070 Super. How can I know if I've G-Sync? I have a g sync compatible monitor, also Alienware. But with HDMI cable I get 240hz with some tears effect. I buy an adaptor from mini display port to hdmi but I can´t see g-sync al nvidia control panel. The only way is from minidisplay port to display port? unfortunately, this Alienware monitor doesn´t come with it. 
thank you

Alienware r14 resolve the problem:

https://youtu.be/WrKkrgovDMI