NVIDIA Optimus technology

vn800rider

Senior Contributor Location: Darwen, UK Joined: May 15, 2008 04:32 Messages: 1949 Offline

Solved by

Jun 09, 2011 16:17

Following a couple of posts referring to this technology, and a short discussion with Dafydd, the following might be useful.

Optimus technology is automatic switching between a dedicated GPU processor and an integrated graphics processor depending on the needs of the moment, so to speak.

"When using non-taxing applications to accomplish basic tasks, like checking email or creating a document, Optimus recognizes that the workload does not require the power of the GPU. As a result, Optimus completely shuts off the GPU (and associated PCIe lanes) to provide the highest possible efficiency and battery life. In this case, illustrated in Figure5, the IGP will be used for all processing duties and will also act as a display controller to output the frames to the display.

As soon as applications that can benefit from the power of the GPU are invoked, like watching Flash video, gaming, or converting video from one format to another using CUDA, Optimus instantly enables the GPU. As shown in the figure above, the GPU handles all processing duties and the IGP is only used as a display controller to render the GPU‟s output to the display."
- from the NVIDIA Optimus technology white paper

In real life.
There seems to be some PD users that have high powered Optimus enabled laptops who experience poor preview/editing performance and it is not clear why.

Perhaps (and this is pure supposition on my part

) the PD editing workload does not "trigger" the switching, thus only utilising the IGP.

I have no way of testing any of this as I do not have such a system so maybe someone else can.....

An additional issue seems to be that the dxdiag file produced by such systems may not show the presence of the GPU and only indicates a low IGP which then confuses the issue as it appears the i7, 750Gb, 6Gb DDR3 laptop has only 64Mb of graphics.

Using the dxdiag as the main initial diagnostic tool may therefore have to be re-considered in such cases.

The NVIDIA Optimus technology white paper can be found on this page :
http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html
Download link here:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/LO_optimus_whitepapers.html

Cheers
Adrian

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 09. 2011 16:26

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

Bubba in TX

Senior Contributor Location: Central Texas Joined: Dec 12, 2009 21:32 Messages: 1332 Offline

Jun 09, 2011 18:52

This may be hard to actually see it in progress if it only "kicks in" as needed. You would have to run a Dxdiag while you are rendering something to get the Dxdiag to see it maybe? Also as you pointed out, as we have been telling some users in here that their video is sub par when it may in fact not be.

But would it be the fault of PD not invoking it or maybe also a combination of the processor and PD not communicating to each other. Or even a issue with the processor not kicking it in?

I think first there needs to be way to actually see it taking place. Or maybe a command to trigger it or setup. I can see why it would be useful to conserve battery life, but you would think if your are "plugged" in to power it would switch by default.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 09. 2011 18:53

__________________________________________
Windows 8 Pro 64 bit

CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Tutorials
PDtoots PowerDirector Tutorials

**NOTICE**
When you are asked to provide a DXDIAG you go the following link and do part "B". Your posted specs are NOT what we are looking for as they tell us nothing. The specs on the box of your computer mean nothing. The DXDIAG shows us how your computer is configured as it runs.

DXDIAG Link

Hoova

Newbie Joined: Jun 09, 2011 05:29 Messages: 4 Offline

Jun 09, 2011 22:42

I have had this problem, as my Samsung laptop contains one of the new I7 Sandy Bridge processors that uses Optimus technology. As was stated, my DxDiag stated that there was only 64mb of graphic memory available, when in fact I have a NVidia GeForce GT 540M graphics card using 1gb of memory.

After a bit of prodding, I've come across graphics card settings, where you can set the default graphics settings for each program. I will PD9 to use my NVidia card, and come back with the results.

FredB

Senior Contributor Joined: Sep 15, 2008 21:14 Messages: 1317 Offline

Jun 09, 2011 23:24

I agree, it makes details about the machine MUCH more important when looking at the DXDIAG for Optimus machines.

I am not yet convinced that the Nvidia GPU kicks in with PD9..although the Whitepaper does say

How Optimus Reacts: Optimus detects that a GPU Compute application has launched and powers up the GPU for the highest performance. As soon as the CUDA application is closed, the GPU will be turned off to conserve power.

it may mean that CUDA settings in PD9 must be set/detected for this to work.

However, the Nvidia Control Panel interface (shown in the Whitepaper for manual settings) appears to be related only to the 3D interface settings, not the standard interface settings. 3D is a separate Nvidia load and not required for PD9...that is why I still need convincing.

Some testing by Hoova would help. Let us know what you find Hoova!!


Filename	Optimus_3D.jpg	Download
Description	Optimus interface for 3D Nvidia Settings only
Filesize	80 Kbytes
Downloaded:	801 time(s)

This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at Jun 09. 2011 23:40

James W

Senior Contributor Location: Lakeland, FL USA Joined: Aug 18, 2008 10:36 Messages: 911 Offline

Jun 11, 2011 07:56

You would think that there would be a performance setting where you could disable Optimus technology and only use the NVIDIA video card. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

vn800rider

Senior Contributor Location: Darwen, UK Joined: May 15, 2008 04:32 Messages: 1949 Offline

Jun 15, 2011 07:35

This blog (status unknown) adds a little to the debate :
http://3dvision-blog.com/nvidia-optimus-technology-and-3d-vision-dont-go-well-together/

Cheers
Adrian Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

Todd623

Newbie Joined: Apr 30, 2011 17:16 Messages: 13 Offline

Jun 15, 2011 21:04

I have this exact problem. My NVIDIA 540M only uses 1 to 3 % GPU while previewing, but 70 to 90% while rendering.
I just posted a new topic 'PD9 freezing during preview using NVIDIA 540M' on this forum. I'd be very interested in the resolution. Here are the highlights from my post.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I continue to have trouble previewing my work in the editing section of Power Director 9 ultra, latest ver. 9.0.02930

I have a brand new Dell XPS laptop with 64 bit Windows 7 and with a 2nd gen i7 720QM processor, 8GB DDR3 Ram, with a Nvidia

GeForce GT540M 2GB video card with Optimus. I have the latest NVIDIA driver 275.33. I get the same results with 270.61

When I insert any transistions between clips and play the movie in my preview viewer and it stutters or freezes.
Sometimes crashing the whole program. I've stepped down from the Full HD preview to the low resolution preview with the same results.

I have a GPU monitor and observe a 1 to 3 % usage of the NVIDIA GPU during playback.
I'd need to be able to view a close representation of my final rendering in order to edit properly. I'd also love to use the 2x or 4x fast forward on longer videos which currently freezes up almost immediately.

Side note. While rendering the GPU usage is at 70 to 100 % and renders my work quickly.

I have gone through all the preferences and the NVIDIA controls multiple times, both with tech support and trial / error.
Currently set with Enable NVIDIA Cuda technology and enable Hardware decoding.

I've cleanly reinstalled both PD9 and NVIDIA drivers numerous time.

FredB

Senior Contributor Joined: Sep 15, 2008 21:14 Messages: 1317 Offline

Jun 15, 2011 23:56

Another user in the forum is having issues with Optimus (it is a new technology so I expect a learning curve for the suppliers and programmers). They disabled the Optimus switch in the BIOS. They haven't yet reported back on success or failure to work better, but I thought I would include it in the discussion:
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/preList/17666/90010.page

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 15. 2011 23:57

Todd623

Newbie Joined: Apr 30, 2011 17:16 Messages: 13 Offline

Jun 18, 2011 04:16

I have a support ticket open with Cyberlink on this issue and a reply that says it is R&D hands now. I'll post when I hear something

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Jun 27, 2011 07:17

Hi,
Please check your Optimus/Nvidia settings. see the attached pdf.

If PDR9.exe displays as in the final image - means PD9 is using Nvidia GPU correctly

The information and pdf has been supplied by CL Customer Support.

Filename	Check NVIDIA GPU setting.pdf	Download
Description	Check your settings
Filesize	609 Kbytes
Downloaded:	1211 time(s)

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Jun 27, 2011 07:26

Hi Todd623,
Following my report on the Optimus/Nvidia and PD9 issue:
Item: 201
Please reference: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/17598.page#90983
Are the Nvidia settings shown in the pdf the same as what your set up is?
Please confirm you have carried out the same method as described in the pdf.
Thanks.

CL are also requesting a sample clip from you please, 5 to 10 seconds long, unedited attached to your reply please.

CL are still investigating.

Todd623

Newbie Joined: Apr 30, 2011 17:16 Messages: 13 Offline

Jul 03, 2011 23:04

Hi
Thanks for following up on me. Yes I sent CL(?) the information they asked for. Including a short clip. I'll just go ahead and post my screen shots for discussion.

Pic - Nvidia1 shows that PD9 should be utilizing the Nvidia card.

Pic - Nvidia2 shows PD9 previewing a simple clip, the nature sample with a light particle on top of it, it also shows my CPU monitor 2nd gen i7 using 82% of all cores to display the preview (it still froze), it also shows my GPU monitor using 0%.

Pic - Nvidia3 shows PD9 rendering a video, which is a much tougher task, the CPU monitor shows 39% usage and the GPU monitor shows 60% usage.

Same conclusion as long ago. GPU is not being used during preview.

Here is another wild question, how does a simple preview screen stutter or freeze a powerful CPU even without a GPU?
My old Dell 1.6Gz, 1G Ram, no GPU could handle previews that I had with Ulead.

I can't express my anguish enough about this issue. I really need some resolution to continue my work. What can I do?

Todd623

Newbie Joined: Apr 30, 2011 17:16 Messages: 13 Offline

Jul 03, 2011 23:07

Oh yes... the images


Filename	Nvidia3.jpg	Download
Description	Nvidia3
Filesize	268 Kbytes
Downloaded:	708 time(s)


Filename	Nvidia2.jpg	Download
Description	Nvidia2
Filesize	290 Kbytes
Downloaded:	711 time(s)


Filename	Nvidia1.jpg	Download
Description	Nvidia1
Filesize	272 Kbytes
Downloaded:	663 time(s)

SIMONMGREECE16

Newbie Joined: Nov 23, 2011 06:33 Messages: 4 Offline

Dec 26, 2011 12:27

Did anyone ever find a solution for this issue? I just upgraded to Optimus and my PD 9 completely stalls the moment I try to move anything onto the timeline?