AMD/Intel Hybrid Graphics works

[roudy1989]

Of course you can't see temperature when using integrated graphics: because de discrete one is "turned off"!

So, I put quotes in turned off by purposely, because in a muxless system, the switch is controlled by software in higher level. So, you can turn on again your discrete just running amdconfig command and restart your X server, and voila, the discrete graphic card is on again.

You can interpret it like the graphic card is not totally turned off, because your command send a signal to turn on the discrete GPU, and it turn on without reboot your operating system.

I really disagree with you saying that GPU in windows is colder than linux, because on Windows you have a software which manage applications that will use your dGPU. In linux, or you use dGPU or iGPU in each session, in this way, you have a colder system.

But, I've figured out that if you run amdconfig command you turn on your dGPU again for a while. Doesn't matter if you use it or not. That's the proof that you switch by high-level software in OS. If you kill the amdconfig command running, after a while the dGPU is turned off again (if you're using iGPU and just execute amdconfig to do anything).

In fact, the driver runs over Xorg management, if you want to run fglrx driver just change xorg.conf driver statement to "fglrx", if you want to use intel just change statement to "intel" and, of course, restart X. We can conclude that both graphic cards doesn't turn off completely, but, it draws little energy (just like in stand by mode)

So, I don't know whats your point or what you mean. Just clarify your question, please.

Okay. The system is muxless. As you said, the GPU switching is controlled by software and either one is used while the other one is set into low power mode.
Thus, it should be following:
* Using the integrated graphics card, the consumed power should be less then using the dedicated graphics card.
* Using the integrated graphics card should make the system being cooler than using the dedicated graphics card.

But that is not the point. Actually (under normal load), the system uses same amount of power independent to which graphics card is used. This implies, that using the integrated graphics card, the dedicated graphics card is NOT set into very low power mode properly (aticonfig --odgc shows the core is in 100Mhz and the memory is in 150Mhz current clock speed, using the dedicated graphics card). So there are power states in which the dedicated graphics card can be set. But since it has now - using the dedicated graphics card - a lower temperature I can imply nothing than it does not work properly when using the integrated graphics card.

While under Windows, where both cards are active, there is much lesser heat (it is actually no real heat - more "warmer" than Windows ) coming out of the laptop while idling / normal load.

I hope it is now clear enough what I wanted to tell you.

Cheers.

[Niccola]

Hi Niccola:

Again, thanks for the info, though that had some adverse effects for me (see below).

Some info I acquired on power usage with Catalyst. I had run a test earlier without Catalyst in which I turned on only Chrome and ran a particular Hulu flash video for 30 minutes, collecting information on percent of battery power left at 15 minutes and every 5 minutes thereafter to 30 minutes. Using a simple linear regression, I can predict, likely with good accuracy given the neat linear fit of the data, how many minutes of total battery life I could expect. Without Catalyst, I could expect 153 minutes, but with Catalyst (in dual graphics mode) I could expect 138 minutes. That's comparable to Win 7 (on the same machine), which had a predicted value of 132 minutes. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that having something that occasionally checks in with a more power-consuming chip will use more power. Of course, running a flash video in Hulu is not to be compared with, e.g., trying to run something more graphics-intensive. It's just that I fairly rarely use more graphics intensive software. Also, from what I saw in powertop (a program that calculates wattage used), the wattage used by the machine when Catalyst is switched to integrated graphics only seems lower than what I've seen without Catalyst (but with a bad install of fglrx from Additional Drivers that seems to block the GPU from running continuously at maximum).

Ok, so to more harrowing info. I can't clearly remember if I've ever, in the past couple months of my Ubuntu install, had the system hang on suspend. After installing Catalyst using the instructions here (both Steps 1 & 2), the system hung on the first suspect (the screen froze, I couldn't switch to a terminal, power consumption went to max, I had to hard shut down the computer). I then undid Step 2 in the instructions above because it's not clear to me what this accomplishes and I was hoping the suspend problem would clear up. That worked for about 3 suspends, after which that hung.

I nevertheless held out hope that perhaps the problem would go away if I had Catalyst switched to integrated graphics using sudo amdconfig --px-igpu, as you suggested. This worked for a few minutes, then the system hung without even a suspend. I subsequently could boot into neither the GUI or a command line. Had to use Win 7 (on another partition) to swap to my original xorg.conf file so I could boot into Ubuntu. Maybe this setup is stable now--it does seem to be using somewhat less power than my system w/o Catalyst.

Anyway, it does seem that Catalyst makes my system unstable, and that may be helpful to know for others out there experimenting with this. My hardware is:

HP Pavilion dv6t
Intel Core i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.2GHz
Graphics: Radeon HD 6770M

That's weird because I have the same system than you (an HP pavilion, but mine is dv6 with i7-2670QM and we have the same video dard) and I am not experiencing anything like this.

Actually I was experiencing something like you described using Ubuntu 12.04 with gnome-shell days ago, are you using gnome-shell? if yes, post the following commands output:

gnome-shell --version

and:

uname -a

[Niccola]

jkn83 and roudy1989,
following things will be recommended for both of you. Particular things you should read individually quote scope:

Well,
I think both of you should first update your BIOS to latest version. After that, check the Dynamic Video Option in BIOS Setup. If present, you should put in Dynamic mode (to switch between cards) and NOT in FIXED mode (to keep always discrete GPU on)

sure that you made it completely, read your particular things:

hey guys i am having trouble setting up my switchable graphics card for my hp dv6-3143us i am running 12.04 and everytime i do a manual update with teh ati 12-6.x86 driver i reboot only to find im in low graphics mode!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834157466

I have switchable intel with ati 5650 mobility radeon...

what i am trying to do is get startx running because i am trying to do android development within eclipse...i cant create AVD device without my video driver being correctly installed...or at least startx being able to run under either intel or AMD...i get the badrequest error whenever i try to start my AVD device...really annoying

i have tried the guide posted and i end up restarting getting low graphic mode and having to reinstall my whole linux after several re-installs i realized i could just rm /etc/R11/xorg.conf

i am about to try this method...
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t...ef8b54d1dc9b70
but really unsure on what the hell i should do

i dont know if you guys can recommend anything i have tried the wikilinux guide and this guide and still end up getting into low graphics mode after removing fglrx and manually installing the new 12-6.x86 drivers

when i do a clean install of ubuntu 12.04 /etc/X11/xorg.conf doesnt even exist. Xorg.conf is created when 12-6.x86 ati driver installed but when I reboot i enter low graphics mode and end up pissed that I wasted another hour of my life trying to get this to work

when i do a clean install everyhting loads up fine i have video - i go to additional drivers and install fglrx now just because it is the safest way for me to get the driver installed...however as you all know this is not switchable... i still get the bad request error whenever i try to start my AVD device within eclipse because my video driver is not set up correctly and i believe startx doesnt start propertly


i have a clean install of 12.04 ubuntu and fglrx drivers installed through additional drivers
below is some info about my system

ME# startx
Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again.
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
for help.

fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Tungsten Graphics, Inc
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ironlake Mobile
OpenGL version string: 1.4 (2.1 Mesa 8.0.2)

lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Madison [Radeon HD 5000M Series]

/etc/X11$ dir
app-defaults rgb.txt xorg.conf Xsession cursors X Xreset Xsession.d
default-display-manager xinit Xreset.d Xsession.options fonts xkb Xresources Xwrapper.config

i have tried a couple methods to get it to work and keep failing on my install
so going to post here - Keep in mind i have gone through the manual install multiple times for the 12-6.x86 driver and then get to the end where i sudo aticonfig -whatever and then i reboot in low graphics mode everytime! <=hate to see this
i have a clean install of 12.04 ubuntu and fglrx drivers installed through additional drivers

what method should i use to get startx to work

First of all, to solve your android stuff you should ask for it in another topic, not in a GPU topic. Ok? Could it be related? Yes! But there are also more people with low graphic mode that already solved this problem, so, if you look for this solution in this topic, you'll probably find it!

and about this topic from gentoo: forget it! Just follow faithfully this thread (mainly the #1 post) and you get your graphic cards switch working.

Appears that you didn't read this topic. So stop looking to another forums and go to post #1, follow instructions at first post carefully and you'll get your graphic card working.

If not, read my post #357 and follow instructions there. There are instructions to get information about your system related with GPU. Your Android Virtual Device will not solve your GPU problem.

What **** me off is guys that want quick answer before (or without) understand what's going on. So, RTFM post #1

Okay. The system is muxless. As you said, the GPU switching is controlled by software and either one is used while the other one is set into low power mode.
Thus, it should be following:
* Using the integrated graphics card, the consumed power should be less then using the dedicated graphics card.
* Using the integrated graphics card should make the system being cooler than using the dedicated graphics card.

But that is not the point. Actually (under normal load), the system uses same amount of power independent to which graphics card is used. This implies, that using the integrated graphics card, the dedicated graphics card is NOT set into very low power mode properly (aticonfig --odgc shows the core is in 100Mhz and the memory is in 150Mhz current clock speed, using the dedicated graphics card). So there are power states in which the dedicated graphics card can be set. But since it has now - using the dedicated graphics card - a lower temperature I can imply nothing than it does not work properly when using the integrated graphics card.

While under Windows, where both cards are active, there is much lesser heat (it is actually no real heat - more "warmer" than Windows ) coming out of the laptop while idling / normal load.

I hope it is now clear enough what I wanted to tell you.

Cheers.

I'ts really weird that but I'm sure that if you update your BIOS, and set DYNAMIC mode in BIOS setup you'll make it works properly.

after that, test if work switching between graphic cards

[roudy1989]

I'ts really weird that but I'm sure that if you update your BIOS, and set DYNAMIC mode in BIOS setup you'll make it works properly.

after that, test if work switching between graphic cards

My BIOS is at the latest version. I cannot set anything related to the graphics card in my BIOS.

But I think at the moment it is okay as it is. I got 40 minutes less working time now than in Windows. That is quite okay. It is still at 5 hours and more.

Hopefully the driver will be getting better in the future. And then, when the Sandy Bridge CPUs will have better support either (with Ubuntu 12.10 and Linux 3.5/3.6) there will be everything fine

[jkn83]

Niccola I tried rverything in post 1 then reboot into low graphics mode. i found this topic to be the most related to my problem so i posted here...there are 38 pages in this thread so i am trying to go back and dig through everything everybody posted but it takes time...so i just posted my issue here...

I am going to try to update my BIOS when I get home today...I thought i had updated too all the latest windows drivers when i was running windows 7 a couple months ago...if i already do have an up-to-date bios i guess i would beable to change the settings in my bios...so i am going to start there

if i dont have an updated bios i am going to try this when i get home from work today...
http://www.ehow.com/how_7256759_update-bios-ubuntu.html
http://tuxtweaks.com/2009/05/create-...buntu-freedos/

[Niccola]

My BIOS is at the latest version. I cannot set anything related to the graphics card in my BIOS.

But I think at the moment it is okay as it is. I got 40 minutes less working time now than in Windows. That is quite okay. It is still at 5 hours and more.

Hopefully the driver will be getting better in the future. And then, when the Sandy Bridge CPUs will have better support either (with Ubuntu 12.10 and Linux 3.5/3.6) there will be everything fine

I've figured out that people owning Samsung Series 7 Chronos are facing with switch problem both on Windows and Linux. That's bad! Seems a samsung design problem. What you can do is contact support and ask for a new bios release with Switchable Graphic option, and wait.

but you can have more try to improve your experience installing newer versions of ubuntu 12.04 kernel (I know that the last stable kernel release is 3.4.0 I am using right now and for me is the best one...) if you want to try this out send me an MP and I can send you a tutorial step by step

Niccola I tried rverything in post 1 then reboot into low graphics mode. i found this topic to be the most related to my problem so i posted here...there are 38 pages in this thread so i am trying to go back and dig through everything everybody posted but it takes time...so i just posted my issue here...

I am going to try to update my BIOS when I get home today...I thought i had updated too all the latest windows drivers when i was running windows 7 a couple months ago...if i already do have an up-to-date bios i guess i would beable to change the settings in my bios...so i am going to start there

if i dont have an updated bios i am going to try this when i get home from work today...
http://www.ehow.com/how_7256759_update-bios-ubuntu.html
http://tuxtweaks.com/2009/05/create-...buntu-freedos/

You have same brand and series laptop than me, I am absolutely sure that you have latest BIOS update to install. And after update, you'll be able to select DYNAMIC mode in Switchable Graphic Mode in BIOS.

TIP: DYNAMIC mode means that you will switch between Cards constantly, if you want to use your iGPU and/or GPU or switch between them, you have to select DYNAMIC option. Dynamic option you have better low-power consumption, but dGPU performance for OpenGL features aren't max as in FIXED mode:

FIXED option means that you want to use just GPU with its full feature. This option provides better and full OpenGL features in linux (I dont know about windows) for HP, and it improves dGPU performance (but I think just for OpenGL features).
**** FIXED method is very dangerous in linux if you forgot or don't set the driver as fglrx (selecting your dGPU) and may cause system instability, hangs and crashes (seg. faults, etc...) and also increase power usage.
You should select FIXED just if you will use dGPU and have previously switched to it by amdconfig command.

I always keep my BIOS configuration in DYNAMIC, because I don't game. If you are a game guy and you are playing a heavy game, you should switch to dGPU, reboot your system into BIOS and select FIXED mode. Of course it will drain more power and your battery will ends fast. So, you have to make the choice depending your usage

Don't try to update your bios by linux. It's not safety and I don't recommend this. Just do it if your manufacturer have BIOS update tools for linux. Otherwise, don't follow not trusted tutorial. If you don't have Windows available to update your BIOS, read this thread.

But, trust me, this not work for every hardware. BE careful updating your BIOS, you can kill your pc

[slowtrain]

My system seems stable with Catalyst installed but the original xorg.conf in place. This is a good setup for me because it seems to be using somewhat less power (no idea why) and, when I want to use something more graphics intensive without the processor running full-blast, I can just swap in the xorg.conf file for Catalyst & reboot. I do have to avoid suspend in the latter case because it has that 'freezing' problem.

[Niccola]

My system seems stable with Catalyst installed but the original xorg.conf in place. This is a good setup for me because it seems to be using somewhat less power (no idea why) and, when I want to use something more graphics intensive without the processor running full-blast, I can just swap in the xorg.conf file for Catalyst & reboot. I do have to avoid suspend in the latter case because it has that 'freezing' problem.

What did you changed in xorg.conf versions you have?

I'm also using original xorg.conf file generated by amdconfig --initial -f command

But just it, I didn't change it to another xorg.conf file. I'll check if suspend problem happens with me...

[mohgabr]

$ sudo amdconfig --px-igpu
PowerXpress info: Diagnostic output from /usr/lib/fglrx/switchlibglx:
update-alternatives: warning: skip creation of /etc/OpenCL/vendors/amdocl64.icd because associated file /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/OpenCL/vendors/amdocl64.icd (of link group i386-linux-gnu_gl_conf) doesn't exist.
update-alternatives: warning: skip creation of /usr/lib32/libaticalcl.so because associated file /usr/lib32/fglrx/libaticalcl.so (of link group i386-linux-gnu_gl_conf) doesn't exist.
update-alternatives: warning: skip creation of /usr/lib32/libaticalrt.so because associated file /usr/lib32/fglrx/libaticalrt.so (of link group i386-linux-gnu_gl_conf) doesn't exist.
update-alternatives: warning: not replacing /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/xorg/extra-modules with a link.

PowerXpress: Integrated GPU is selected (Power-Saving mode), please restart Xserver(s) for changes to take effect!

now I have this result
I don't know how to restart the X server so i will try to reboot

After rebooting

$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Tungsten Graphics, Inc
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Mobile x86/MMX/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 8.0.2

I think it is working well now

[jkn83]

Finally updated my BIOS. I do not see a dynamic mode in the BIOS options where are you guys seeing this option?

i am running a dv6-3143us and hit esc on boot

Please help! =)