M11x graphics drivers (General Discussion)

[be77solo]

I am using the 195 Dox drivers with the hybrid "fix", and both cards show up, but I'm about 99% sure that with these drivers the Nvidia GPU never turns off. Both GPU's show up, and we have the option to change over with the taskbar switch, and it does change between the two, but both are still running. Battery life reflects this as windows is showing a life of ~4.5 hours, where as with stock drivers and fresh bootup with the integrated enabled, life is ~8+ hours.

Even with stock drivers though, once I switch to the Nvidia and then back to integrated, the life never goes back up either, as others mention. So once enabled, the Nvidia GPU never is disabled with even the stock driver.

So, for now, as I am playing some games that need the newer drivers (namely Metro 2033), I have the bios set to only use the Nvidia, so integrated is completely disabled, and never shows up period. That for me right now is an acceptable solution for the added performance and support of the newer drivers. As a side note, the newer drivers do downclock to lower clocks properly when at desktop, idle, etc so power usage/heat isn't too terrible.

Dell does need to fix the problem they have with their drivers of GPU switching. It's clearly broken.

[Sirhcz0r]

Apparently 197.16 is official now on Nvidia.com. I'm going to try them out.

[ninja2000]

I am using the 195 Dox drivers with the hybrid "fix", and both cards show up, but I'm about 99% sure that with these drivers the Nvidia GPU never turns off. Both GPU's show up, and we have the option to change over with the taskbar switch, and it does change between the two, but both are still running. Battery life reflects this as windows is showing a life of ~4.5 hours, where as with stock drivers and fresh bootup with the integrated enabled, life is ~8+ hours.

Even with stock drivers though, once I switch to the Nvidia and then back to integrated, the life never goes back up either, as others mention. So once enabled, the Nvidia GPU never is disabled with even the stock driver.


Dell does need to fix the problem they have with their drivers of GPU switching. It's clearly broken.

I have found on stock drivers that once you switch back to intel it does keep the 335m enabled. If you put the laptop to sleep and bring it back it is then properly disabled and you will get decent battery life again.

I tested this with a kilawatt meter and got results as follows:
intel/min brightness/wifi on/idle = 11w
switch to nvidia/min brightness/wifi on/idle =20w
switch to intel/min brightness/wifi on/idle = 20w
sleep then resume still on intel = 11w again

[Nautis]

Ohh I didn't notice this thread before.

Hybrid Graphics on Doxs driver is a bit buggy which is the discrepancy you may have noticed with switching. You guys are saying with the M11x the taskbar switch is not working with Doxs driver?

I am Dox and LaptopVideo2Gos Hybrid Graphics guy BTW. <- Do not post when half asleep kids. What I meant to say is that I am the Hybrid Graphics guy at LV2G. I am not Dox (Tho Dox does post on NotebookReview.)

[ninja2000]

Hi Nautis,

Thanks for popping in. As far as I understand the tray does switch with your Dox drivers but you cannot use the M11x switch hotkey. this is not really an issue.
The problem is when the driver switches from nvidia to intel it doesnt shut off the nvidia card. Therefore the unit generates more heat than it should and battery life drops through the floor!

I dont know if this is something you could look at or if its an Alienware BIOS issue?

[Mackan]

Hi Nautis,

Thanks for popping in. As far as I understand the tray does switch with your Dox drivers but you cannot use the M11x switch hotkey. this is not really an issue.
The problem is when the driver switches from nvidia to intel it doesnt shut off the nvidia card. Therefore the unit generates more heat than it should and battery life drops through the floor!

I dont know if this is something you could look at or if its an Alienware BIOS issue?

I hope someone takes a look on this as well. Switching gpus should power on/off the cards, not keep both of them powered on, right?

[Rhenus]

I am currently trying to install the latest gfx drivers on my M11x (197.xx) but I keep running into problems. Once I install the driver my on board gfx stops working all together, I can't get my 335m to turn on and I am stuck in 800x600 resolution.

This is what I am doing:

1. Download from Nvidia
2. Double click and let it auto-run
3. Reboot

After reboot all hell breaks loose. Though I am never prompted to reboot. Only way to fix is to re-install the old driver.

Can someone give me a step by step on what to do?

Cheers

[jsgiv]

That's because you can't, technically, use the drivers from NVidia - only from Dell's support site (i.e. the older drivers). The M11x has a Hybrid Graphics engine. If you want use the latest drivers without issue - probably the only option you have is to force the laptop to enable discrete graphics only (via the BIOS) and install the latest drivers. Problem with that is that you're going to end up with a very large overall impact to your battery life/performance.

[Rhenus]

Thanks, I will try and work around this later. Might be a case of driver jumping when I go travelling.

[dallow]

I have found on stock drivers that once you switch back to intel it does keep the 335m enabled. If you put the laptop to sleep and bring it back it is then properly disabled and you will get decent battery life again.

I tested this with a kilawatt meter and got results as follows:
intel/min brightness/wifi on/idle = 11w
switch to nvidia/min brightness/wifi on/idle =20w
switch to intel/min brightness/wifi on/idle = 20w
sleep then resume still on intel = 11w again

Thanks for that info... hmm.