Arch Linux

Nilas

Member

Registered: 2020-11-10

Posts: 46

[SOLVED] Switch from using Intel integrated GPU to discrete NVIDIA GPU

Hi, when I did my Arch install I installed both the mesa package and the package nvidia in order to use NVIDIA Optimus. Since then I have found out that the support for using both the Intel integrated GPU and the discrete NVIDIA GPU is not very good on Linux and I would therefore like to uninstall the mesa package and switch to only NVIDIA graphics instead. How can I do that without breaking my install? What is the procedure? Would I have to completely reinstall Arch? When I try to remove the mesa package I get the following:

checking dependencies...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: removing mesa breaks dependency 'mesa' required by gst-plugins-base-libs
:: removing mesa breaks dependency 'mesa' required by gtk3
:: removing mesa breaks dependency 'mesa' required by libglvnd
:: removing mesa breaks dependency 'mesa' required by qt5-base
:: removing mesa breaks dependency 'mesa' required by zoom

Help would be much appreciated.

Last edited by Nilas (2020-11-16 11:31:21)

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,822

Re: [SOLVED] Switch from using Intel integrated GPU to discrete NVIDIA GPU

What is the connection between using only the Nvidia GPU and removing mesa?  libglvnd handles routing to mesa or the nvidia backend and it needs mesa.

Nilas

Member

Registered: 2020-11-10

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] Switch from using Intel integrated GPU to discrete NVIDIA GPU

You are right I should not uninstall the mesa package. How do I switch from using my Intel card to the NVIDIA card?
I can see that the Intel card is currently the active one by running the command glxinfo|egrep "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer":

OpenGL vendor string: Intel
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)

Last edited by Nilas (2020-11-11 00:02:01)

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,822

Re: [SOLVED] Switch from using Intel integrated GPU to discrete NVIDIA GPU

If there is an option in firmware to make the the Nvidia GPU primary and connected directly to the display then remove any configuration you might have done for other configurations and auto detection should be enough.
If there is no available option then follow NVIDIA_Optimus#Use_NVIDIA_graphics_only.

Nilas

Member

Registered: 2020-11-10

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] Switch from using Intel integrated GPU to discrete NVIDIA GPU

Okay, thank you

Last edited by Nilas (2020-11-11 00:22:44)

Nilas

Member

Registered: 2020-11-10

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] Switch from using Intel integrated GPU to discrete NVIDIA GPU

How do I configure the options of the firmware?

Nilas

Member

Registered: 2020-11-10

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] Switch from using Intel integrated GPU to discrete NVIDIA GPU

Okay I figured it out. I ran the command systemctl reboot --firmware-setup and changed the "Graphic Device" from "Switchable Graphics" to "Discrete Graphics" and now i get the following when running the command glxinfo|egrep "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer" :

OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce GTX 1660 Ti/PCIe/SSE2

Last edited by Nilas (2020-11-11 00:42:50)

TheDcoder

Member

Registered: 2020-06-06

Posts: 121

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Switch from using Intel integrated GPU to discrete NVIDIA GPU

Since then I have found out that the support for using both the Intel integrated GPU and the discrete NVIDIA GPU is not very good on Linux

Sorry for going a bit off-topic, but can you provide any citations which led you to believe this? I have been using Intel iGPU with PRIME Offloading for Nvidia graphics and it is working fine for me without a noticeable performance penalty so I am a bit curious.

Nilas

Member

Registered: 2020-11-10

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] Switch from using Intel integrated GPU to discrete NVIDIA GPU

Sorry for going a bit off-topic, but can you provide any citations which led you to believe this?

I actually cannot remember what led me to believe that . It had something to do with that I could not make my external monitor work, when using both the Intel integrated GPU and the discrete NVIDIA GPU. But I think I will reinvestigate what the problem was. I am most likely mistaken about the support being bad for using both GPUs.

Edit:
I have opened a new topic, where I try to make PRIME render offload work.

Last edited by Nilas (2020-11-11 15:19:54)