Hybrid video is designed to economize on power (the Intel video uses far less than the nVidia). As a result, the system should produce less heat as well, and last longer.
There is no way to disable the Intel video - nor to force the system to use the nVidia chip all the time. The system is just not designed to run that way.
Having the twin GPUs is the feature called Optimus. Optimus determines if the system needs to conserve battery power and will use the Intel GPU, and when 3D power is needed it will switch to the nVidia GPU. Here is nVidia's document on Optimus.
Thank you, guys, for your responses. After I posted my message, I saw this post stickied in the forum, and between that and your answers, I now know why there are two GPUs and what their purpose is.
Since power consumption is absolutely no concern for me (I always use the power adapter and never the battery), I would much have preferred to order a Dell laptop that simply used a single Nvidia or ATI GPU. I spent a lot of extra money to upgrade to the Nvidia and with this Intel onboard GPU running on my laptop, I feel a little cheated.
I have been reading up on this Optimus technology, and what's even worse is that it gives Linux major problems. I tried to install a desktop Linux and after I enabled the Nvidia driver, I couldn't even boot into Linux anymore. :emotion-45:
I tend to be like you and always use an AC adapter with my notebooks. I certainly understand your concerns here. You will be seeing this dual card configuration as long as Intel continues to integrate low energy GPUs in their processors. Our business lines, Vostro, Latitude and Precision has options to disable Optimus and video switching in the BIOS. Hopefully they will be doing the same for XPS soon.
ejn63
9 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
1
April 7th, 2012 05:00
Hybrid video is designed to economize on power (the Intel video uses far less than the nVidia). As a result, the system should produce less heat as well, and last longer.
There is no way to disable the Intel video - nor to force the system to use the nVidia chip all the time. The system is just not designed to run that way.
DELL-Terry B
4 Operator
•
3.5K Posts
0
April 7th, 2012 10:00
Thanks ejn53 good post!
go2doug
Having the twin GPUs is the feature called Optimus. Optimus determines if the system needs to conserve battery power and will use the Intel GPU, and when 3D power is needed it will switch to the nVidia GPU. Here is nVidia's document on Optimus.
www.nvidia.com/.../optimus_technology.html
TB
go2doug
38 Posts
0
April 9th, 2012 19:00
Thank you, guys, for your responses. After I posted my message, I saw this post stickied in the forum, and between that and your answers, I now know why there are two GPUs and what their purpose is.
Since power consumption is absolutely no concern for me (I always use the power adapter and never the battery), I would much have preferred to order a Dell laptop that simply used a single Nvidia or ATI GPU. I spent a lot of extra money to upgrade to the Nvidia and with this Intel onboard GPU running on my laptop, I feel a little cheated.
I have been reading up on this Optimus technology, and what's even worse is that it gives Linux major problems. I tried to install a desktop Linux and after I enabled the Nvidia driver, I couldn't even boot into Linux anymore. :emotion-45:
DELL-Terry B
4 Operator
•
3.5K Posts
0
April 10th, 2012 16:00
Go2doug
I tend to be like you and always use an AC adapter with my notebooks. I certainly understand your concerns here. You will be seeing this dual card configuration as long as Intel continues to integrate low energy GPUs in their processors. Our business lines, Vostro, Latitude and Precision has options to disable Optimus and video switching in the BIOS. Hopefully they will be doing the same for XPS soon.
TB