Use dedicated gpu only on laptop running Ubuntu 20.04

Question

I'm working on an Acer Nitro 5 515-43 with a dedicated NVIDIA GTX 1650 and an integrated AMD GPU. I want to use the dedicated GPU all the time. However the system uses the integrated one instead. What can I do to change this? Since the integrated GPU is an AMD one, the optimus/prime solution shouldn't work.

Here is some additional information about the GPUs:

$ lspci -nn | grep -E 'VGA|Display'
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Picasso [1002:15d8] (rev c2)

$ glxinfo -B
name of display: :1  
display: :1  screen: 0  
direct rendering: Yes  
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):  
    Vendor: X.Org (0x1002)  
    Device: AMD RAVEN (DRM 3.35.0, 5.4.0-39-generic, LLVM 9.0.1) (0x15d8)  
    Version: 20.0.4  
    Accelerated: yes  
    Video memory: 2048MB  
    Unified memory: no  
    Preferred profile: core (0x1)  
    Max core profile version: 4.6  
    Max compat profile version: 4.6  
    Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1  
    Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.2  
Memory info (GL_ATI_meminfo):  
    VBO free memory - total: 1756 MB, largest block: 1756 MB  
    VBO free aux. memory - total: 3016 MB, largest block: 3016 MB  
    Texture free memory - total: 1756 MB, largest block: 1756 MB  
    Texture free aux. memory - total: 3016 MB, largest block: 3016 MB  
    Renderbuffer free memory - total: 1756 MB, largest block: 1756 MB  
    Renderbuffer free aux. memory - total: 3016 MB, largest block: 3016 MB  
Memory info (GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info):  
    Dedicated video memory: 2048 MB  
    Total available memory: 5120 MB  
    Currently available dedicated video memory: 1756 MB  
OpenGL vendor string: X.Org  
OpenGL renderer string: AMD RAVEN (DRM 3.35.0, 5.4.0-39-generic, LLVM 9.0.1)  
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 20.0.4  
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60  
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)  
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile  

OpenGL version string: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 20.0.4   
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60  
OpenGL context flags: (none)  
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile  

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 20.0.4  
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20

$ lshw -short | grep -i  display
/0/100/1.1/0            display     TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q]   
/0/100/8.1/0            display     Picasso

The driver of the NVIDIA GPU is:

$ nvidia-detector
nvidia-driver-440

The OS:

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.  
Distributor ID: Ubuntu  
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04 LTS  
Release:    20.04  
Codename:   focal

The kernel:

$ uname -rm
5.4.0-39-generic x86_64

When i run nvidia-xconfig with root privileges and reboot afterwards, I can't get past the initial logo. Only rebooting in recovery mode and deleting /etc/X11/xorg.conf with a subsequent reboot allows me to use the PC again.

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 30 '20 at 12:36

4

After installing the graphics drivers from Nvidia, there will be an app installed called NVIDIA X server Settings. There is a section called as Prime-Profiles. Under that you can select performance mode (NVIDIA Graphics card only), On-Demand mode (like Windows, for basic task only integrated gpu, heavy task dedicated gpu), or powersaving mode(integrated gpu only).

Alternately you can run sudo prime-select nvidia which will select the dedicated NVIDIA card only.

Note: You will need a reboot to apply the changes.

answered Jun 30 '20 at 12:36

Abhay Patil

2,545
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Thank you for your answer. However the Nvidia X server Settings app opens just as an empty window save for the two buttons labelled "Help" and "Quit" at the bottom. Running `sudo prime-select nvidia` and rebooting also doesn't seem to change anything. I meassure the activity of the gpu with `nvidia-smi -l 1` – Kevin Jun 30 '20 at 12:51
@Kevin try reinstalling the drivers. First purge and autoremove the old drivers and then install again. Btw what is the output for `nvidia-smi -l 1` – Abhay Patil Jun 30 '20 at 12:59
Sorry for the delay, i will try a complete reinstall of the drivers during the weekend. – Kevin Jul 02 '20 at 09:35
So what i did: `sudo apt-get purge nvidia*` `sudo apt-get autoremove` `sudo apt-get install nvidia-drivers-440` `reboot` the graphicscard gets detected in the settings. But when i try to open the NVIDIA XServer setttings i still get a blank window. – Kevin Jul 02 '20 at 20:55
@Kevin If you are using pop-shell on GNOME, then the xserver settings willl be blank. You will get an option to select the GPU in the top right setion of the screen, under power (maybe). Else try `sudo apt autoremove --purge nvidia*` and install the drivers from the nvidia website https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us. here select the linux 64 bit under the operating system. – Abhay Patil Jul 02 '20 at 21:26
Even this fails. From /var/log/nvidia-installer.log i get this error:/tmp/selfgz3389/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-430.09/kernel/common/inc/nv-linux.h:1593:6: error: "NV_BUILD_MODULE_INSTANCES" is not defined, evaluates to 0 [-Werror=undef] – Kevin Jul 02 '20 at 21:47
Thank you! I had problems on Dell Precision 7520 with dedicated NVIDIA Quadro M1200 (driver 515.76), that second 2k monitor had "lagging" mouse. After setting NVIDIA (Performance Mode) in PRIME profiles, second monitor is smooth, window resizing when dragging is without lags, CPU utilisation is lower and laptop fan is not triggering so often! – Jaroslav Štreit Oct 27 '22 at 17:25

Use dedicated gpu only on laptop running Ubuntu 20.04

1 Answers1