Hybrid graphics on Wayland?

Primoz · 2025-12-11 20:18:16

I recently installed Arch on my old laptop, which has both integrated Intel card and discreet Nvidia card.
Honestly I maybe should post this topic under Wiki, because my main question is is Wiki correct, that this is only available under Xorg, or is it just outdated entry that doesn't include how to set it up under wayland.
And while I'm at this, are the drivers even needed under wayland, because again all the wiki entries only talk about Xorg. While Wayland entries talk about KMS - which I assume means that all needed "drivers" are already done within kernel.
Honestly this isn't even that important. I did this on an old laptop, that nobody was using last few years. But it's probably useful info for people with newer hardware.
Thanks for all the answers in advance!

Lone_Wolf · 2025-12-12 10:44:35

Most of the https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PRIME# … offloading is not X-specific.

In your case the important factor is which driver/version is powering the nvidia card.
If you're using the nouveau driver https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PRIME# … rs_-_PRIME is valid.

For the nvidia driver you need atleast version 435.17 to have some support for hybrid graphics.
Please post the outputs of

$ lspci -knn
$ pacman -Qs nvidia

Primoz · 2025-12-12 13:13:54

Thanks!
lspci -knn gives me this (I'll paste only info important to this question):

0:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 5500 [8086:1616] (rev 09)
        Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:098a]
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915
...
04:00.0 3D controller [0302]: NVIDIA Corporation GM108M [GeForce 940M] [10de:1347] (rev a2)
        Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:098c]
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia
        Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia

and pacman -Qs nvidia tells me this:

local/egl-gbm 1.1.2.1-1
    The GBM EGL external platform library
local/egl-wayland 4:1.1.20-1
    EGLStream-based Wayland external platform
local/egl-x11 1.0.3-1
    NVIDIA XLib and XCB EGL Platform Library
local/lib32-nvidia-utils 580.105.08-1
    NVIDIA drivers utilities (32-bit)
local/libvdpau 1.5-3
    Nvidia VDPAU library
local/libxnvctrl 580.105.08-1
    NVIDIA NV-CONTROL X extension
local/linux-firmware-nvidia 20251125-2
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for NVIDIA GPUs and SoCs
local/nvidia-dkms 580.105.08-5
    NVIDIA kernel modules - module sources
local/nvidia-prime 1.0-5
    NVIDIA Prime Render Offload configuration and utilities
local/nvidia-settings 580.105.08-1
    Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
local/nvidia-utils 580.105.08-5
    NVIDIA drivers utilities

And KDE info centers does list both of my cards. So I guess it all worked out of the box already.
But I'm not completely sure, because trying to run command xrandr --setprovideroffloadsink gives me this error:

xrandr --setprovideroffloadsink nvidia Intel
Could not find provider with name nvidia

Same if I change nvidia to nvidia-dkms or try to add any of the numerical values shown with lspci -knn
Also this is what I get when I run xrandr --providers:

xrandr --listproviders
Providers: number : 0

V1del · 2025-12-12 15:32:10

xrandr has not and should not have much bearing on wayland so you should ignore that. Try e.g.

#Needs mesa-utils
eglinfo -B
glxinfo -B
prime-run glxinfo -B

and e.g. trying to run a game or so on steam (proton should default to pickup and use the nvidia card as the renderer, which you can for examdle verify by running things with DXVK_HUD=1 and/or mangohud)

Last edited by V1del (2025-12-12 15:33:50)

Primoz · 2025-12-12 22:39:29

V1del wrote:

xrandr has not and should not have much bearing on wayland so you should ignore that. Try e.g.
#Needs mesa-utils
eglinfo -B
glxinfo -B
prime-run glxinfo -B
and e.g. trying to run a game or so on steam (proton should default to pickup and use the nvidia card as the renderer, which you can for examdle verify by running things with DXVK_HUD=1 and/or mangohud)

Thanks!
This showed, that both graphics are enabled.

P.S.: I think I'll start a new Wiki related thread, because during my installation, I've noticed there's many cases where Wiki is very vague or doesn't specify if it's for X or wayland. And given wayland is more and more the default, it would be good to treat it as such in wiki.
I am willing to help, as much as I can at making this happen.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-12-11 20:18:16

Hybrid graphics on Wayland?

#2 2025-12-12 10:44:35

Re: Hybrid graphics on Wayland?

#3 2025-12-12 13:13:54

Re: Hybrid graphics on Wayland?

#4 2025-12-12 15:32:10

Re: Hybrid graphics on Wayland?

#5 2025-12-12 22:39:29

Re: Hybrid graphics on Wayland?

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