Arch Linux

userak

Member

Registered: 2017-02-04

Posts: 42

Bumblebee or Prime ... Need your advice

Hey ! Guys ..

I have a laptop with intel integrated graphics and dedicated Nvidia 940M graphic card.

I want to configure my system to use the integrated graphic for the general usage and the dedicated graphic card under heavey load. 

I went through the arch wiki and google a lot, but there is still a lot of confusion ..

I want to be able to switch the graphic device on fly without logging out and also saving battery is important to me.

Bumblebee Vs Prime   what would you recommend ?

Last edited by userak (2017-06-09 15:13:35)

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A newbie archlinux user ...

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,435

Re: Bumblebee or Prime ... Need your advice

Well the question boils down to whether you want to use nouveau the open source driver or nvidia's propietary driver. If during the heavy load scenario you want to be able to use the best performance you can get out of your card, you will want to use the Nvidia driver.

If that is the case you have to use Bumblebee, given your other restrictions. If you intend to use nouveau you can use prime.

nannerpussy

Member

Registered: 2017-02-15

Posts: 96

Re: Bumblebee or Prime ... Need your advice

^ This guy knows his business and I think has answered a couple spurious questions of my own about dual GPUs. Just wanted to add that I tried both Bumblebee and PRIME and had an easier time installing and configuring everything with PRIME and open source (nouveau) drivers on the GTX770 card I had in a dual setup. In general with Arch I've found both the open source AMD and open source nVIDIA drivers to be easier to install, setup and manage, but like anything, your mileage may vary.

Last edited by nannerpussy (2017-06-11 02:32:39)