Is there a way to use NVIDIA graphics card without Optimus?

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Is there a way to use only NVIDIA GPU in a laptop without Optimus since it does have quite an impact on performance?

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Hi @Gl0b,

I believe there should be a switch to turn it off in the BIOS/UEFI.

Be warned, though: This WILL lead to less battery life.

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The BIOS has only two options though, integrated and switchable without NVIDIA GPU only.

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That is what you’re looking for according to your original question.

Else, install the hybrid drivers then you can run all applications that should use Nvidia, like games, with prime-run.

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Well, it’s not perfect since it would be nice if the DE was running on NVIDIA GPU too but if that’s the only option does the prime-run command need to be inputted every time you want to launch that application?

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Are you saying performance is worse than with nouveau driver or…?
As I understand it Optimus switches automatically to give best performance for certain tasks? Is this not ideal? Does Manjaro not support this feature?

I use nouveau but have not stressed system yet.

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Yeah without Optimus performance is better but one of my biggest problems with it is that the DE is handled by the integrated GPU. Optimus lets you use NVIDIA GPU for DE but it has this thing where even when you use NVIDIA the image is still processed by the Intel GPU impacting performance quite a bit. The best option for me rn is to not use Optimus and use the prime-run command for some apps (which at least for me means worse desktop performance but software to be able to run smoothly). I’m not sure why with the NVIDIA GPU the desktop runs better with some stuff loading faster and less visual glitches.

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Thanks @Gl0b for reply. Very interesting but sorry I can’t be of help other than to use Nouveau driver as I do and let it take care of everything on three different Nvidia computers.
My Dell Latitude has Intel+NVIDIA graphics and nouveau works very well on many distos as well as Manjaro Xfce.
Just checked your graphics card on h-node and it is not recognized. There again neither is my NVS 4200M. Does your card have another name like GF119M…?
Good luck