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    Disable Optimus?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by deadboy90, Oct 31, 2011.

  1. deadboy90

    deadboy90 Notebook Evangelist

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    is there any way a all to disable optimus on the r2 and r3's and switch graphics manually? I am considering an upgrade but I really dont like optimus, I prefer having control over what GPU my laptop is using.
     
  2. Rypac

    Rypac Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm pretty sure that you can't disable optimus but I can personally say that after 1 and 1/2 years use, I haven't had any problems with it at all. When there is the odd game which doesn't automatically switch to the Nvidia GPU it only takes about a minute to track down the .exe and add it to the whitelist. Like you say, you do lose that full control of your laptop GPU switching but you still get quite a bit of control and it is pretty good at switching itself when required. Plus, the optimus driver support is alot better than the hybrid graphics drivers of the R1!
     
  3. KurtH

    KurtH Notebook Evangelist

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    We sure wished we could just run the nvidia card only!
     
  4. katalin_2003

    katalin_2003 NBR Spectre Super Moderator

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    I have minimal experience with Optimus but i would like to know:

    What happens if you guys simply add "explorer.exe" to the list?
     
  5. abcxyz91

    abcxyz91 Notebook Consultant

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    You can't disable Optimus, but you can force the nvidia chip to run permanently. In the Nvidia control panel, Global Settings tab, select "high performance nvidia processor" in Preferred Graphic processor line. Hope it would help.