NVIDIA's Optimus technology shows its graphics switching adroitness on video

Explaining automatic graphics switching and the benefits thereof can be a somewhat dry affair. You have to tell people about usability improvements and battery life savings and whatnot... it's much more fun if you just take a nice big engineering board, strap the discrete GPU on its own card and insert an LED light for the viewer to follow. NVIDIA has done just that with its Optimus technology -- coming to a laptop or Ion 2-equipped netbook near you -- and topped it off by actually pulling out the GPU card when it wasn't active, then reinserting it and carrying on with its use as if nothing had happened. This was done to illustrate the fact that Optimus shuts down the GPU electrically, which is that little bit more energy efficient than dropping it into an idle state. Shimmy past the break to see the video.

[Prevacator Posted Mar 3rd 2010 7:34AM]

Impressive demonstration.

[CaptainPlanet Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:19AM]

I think i'm getting this for my next laptop. But the age old question still remains:

Yes, but will it run Crysis?

[BigJayDogg3 Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:47AM]

@CaptainPlanet

That question is irrelevant to the topic at hand. Optimus isn't a GPU in and of itself. All it is is a graphics switching system.

So if you get a computer with a 280m and Optimus, then yeah, but with an Ion2? Hell naw.

[Poobla Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:52AM]

@CaptainPlanet
There's a new age old question now. Can you pull out your video card?
I never pull out.

[NikAmi Posted Mar 3rd 2010 10:05AM]

@Prevacator I need an Optimus solution for women.

[XIYL Posted Mar 3rd 2010 2:16PM]

@NikAmi I think you already turn them off just fine already.

[nickadaughtry Posted Mar 3rd 2010 2:34PM]

@Prevacator Yes, actually one of its core-features is its battery lifespan is pretty insane. Complete demo: http://bit.ly/nvidia-optimus-leaked-info

[nikescar Posted Mar 3rd 2010 3:03PM]

@XIYL
very nice work

[NikAmi Posted Mar 3rd 2010 7:36PM]

@XIYL Nice burn.

[schultz Posted Mar 3rd 2010 7:40AM]

very impressive, +1 for Nvidia

[SmilinGoat Posted Mar 3rd 2010 7:47AM]

I'd really like to see cards that switch from the main card to a energy saver mode when your not playing games or watching HD video, even in your desktops. why run SLi cards when your surfing the internet more than half of the time. sure they arnt taking up nearly as much energy, but they are still taking up far more than they need to.

[BigJayDogg3 Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:53AM]

@SmilinGoat

Because in a desktop it really isn't that big of an issue. Its plugged into a wall, not running from battery power. And the power draw of an idle card isn't so significant where you'll see large savings by going to the lower powered card.

I'm sure you'd have a few people that would buy into it, but I would think very few would. IMO after you drop 1500 bucks on a gaming rig, a couple hundred dollars a month more isn't that big an issue. You'd probably see more savings unplugging your electronics instead of leaving them in standby.

Though this is coming from someone who lives in an area with low energy costs. ^_^

[graey Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:03AM]

@BigJayDogg3
Imagine the savings when you turn off your stand-by equipment as well as shutting down your second graphics card..
Oh, and the low energy costs really is a non-argument, isn't it? Just because it's cheaper doesn't mean you can be wasteful, imho.

[BigJayDogg3 Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:37AM]

@graey

That still doesn't lead to mass market adoption, and as such, few if any businesses will dedicate resources to switchable graphics in a desktop. That was my point.

And yes, that argument is still valid. People do something because they feel they will get something in return. Money savings, a feeling of doing the "right" thing, an actual item, etc. Somewhere, they will get something. For me, I don't feel the difference between my using an extra 100 watts a month is going to make any difference in the grand scheme of things. Especially when I would have to inconvenience myself to plug everything back in.

Am I saying that (if I could afford it) I'll drive my car around while having 7 others sitting at home idling? No. That would be stupid. But if the only gain that is to be had is I save another 3 pounds of carbon from entering the atmosphere over the course of my lifespan, then I'm going to pay the extra 5 dollars a month and have all my stuff be ready for whenever I want it.

You can drive your Prius. I'll keep my truck.

[Stratus41298 Posted Apr 21st 2010 10:12PM]

@BigJayDogg3

I would love to see this technology adapted to a desktop. I sometimes feel guilty using my desktop to view this website when I could be using my laptop or phone.

I have a 3.1L Maxima but I still carpool when I can.

[grouver Posted Mar 3rd 2010 7:49AM]

i want this on a macbook pro with a similar control utility. OFC this is not very likely since a macbook is supposed to be "easy to use". pls, steve prove me wrong this time!

[HardcorePooka Posted Mar 5th 2010 12:59AM]

@(Unverified) What control utility? Optimus is completely automatic graphics switching. Nvidia's goal was to make it completely seamless to the end user. I think this is a huge step forward. IIRC Asus already has some laptops coming out with this(their site is "undergoing maintenance" right now so I can't check). I will be looking in to this for my next laptop purchase for sure.

As to having it in desktop systems, I think it could happen(right now their goal is laptops due to battery life issues) but I know I would love it. Having my graphics card shut down when it's not being used would be great. The power savings wouldn't be a huge deal, but the heat and noise generated by the GPU are not inconsiderable.

Anyways... way to go Nvidia. That live demo really was pretty awesome.

[pauldovi Posted Mar 3rd 2010 7:50AM]

Lenovo's new T410s is currently in limbo mode over the Nvidia graphics card and swappable graphics. It launched in early January but best estimates of shipping is mid-April! What's the deal? It looks like it works fine here.

[Samunosuke Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:06AM]

Wow, now all I need is an expresscard in an updated ul80jt and i'd have found a perfect laptop.
Long battery life - check
Ok processor - check
Mid-range graphics card - check
Know what scratch that. Just remembered the abyssmal screen quality and lack of USB 3.0. But Nvidia's optimus looks great.

[oringal Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:06AM]

ati should come up with something like this too. mainly because i prefer ati over nvidia

[scottishgeek Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:42AM]

@oringal not starting a war, but WHY do you like ATI over NVidia?

[BigJayDogg3 Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:02AM]

@scottishgeek

From what I've seen the price to performance ratio favors ATi, but I'm still an Nvidia fanboy, especially with the graphics switching that's coming. I give it a year to let the early adopters work out all the kinks, and let the price premium drop. Then I'm buying.

[nemein Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:10AM]

@oringal
Nvidia really puts ATI/AMD to shame by coming out with this type of switching and graphic/processor integration even BEFORE them, what with them being a merged entity and all.

I personally do like the ATI cards over Nvidia at the moment since the new Nvidia 300 series cards are just renames of the old cards... while ATI offers DX11 cards. But of course they don't have software-based switching, so....

[Templarian Posted Mar 3rd 2010 2:00PM]

@oringal, simply sum up what everyone thinks. ATI is horrible at drivers. Nividia is really good at them.

I still want to see Nvidia win, they simply do cooler stuff. Tegra, this, but sadly they have fallen behind just a bit, but it is not like a Nvidia card can't run all the games out there.

[Nitesh Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:38AM]

Then it should be called OFFtimus. HA! Get it? Get it?!

[graey Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:05AM]

@Nitesh
You know, that would actually be funny if they called it Ontimus now.
Which they don't.

[keplenk Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:39AM]

I hope they make a minipci-e version.

[Leindurstit Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:42AM]

Good god do I wish the Alienware M11x had this.

[Ninjanun Posted Mar 3rd 2010 8:54AM]

@Atkins Just imagine this mixed with better batteries; laptops able to run for several days on a single charge with some high intensity graphics work. The future is now folks

[Tr00per Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:42AM]

Pretty cool advancement for the laptop lines i suppose. :)

[pcfishhk Posted Mar 3rd 2010 10:36AM]

When will we get this in a MBP?

[paul34 Posted Mar 3rd 2010 10:48AM]

@Atkins

Progress has to be approached from all angles. Not only do batteries need to get better, but the technology that loads it needs to be more efficient as well.

[HellFlyer Posted Mar 3rd 2010 11:13AM]

Really cool , I hope we will see Optimus running desktops pretty soon especially now when Intel Core i5 have integrated GPU

[jocantonio Posted Mar 3rd 2010 11:42AM]

@HellFlyer: That will create a monster!! Imagine with new intels i7 processor graphics would render at least a 50% better and faster.

[JClay Posted Mar 3rd 2010 11:31AM]

I would like to see this in the desktop models also.

[jivetrky Posted Mar 3rd 2010 12:14PM]

@Atkins

Yeah darnit, Nvidia, make better batteries than the ones you make currently.

[savagemike Posted Mar 3rd 2010 1:33PM]

Ha....
they might have at least introduced the mute guy in the back who actually probably had a hand in developing it.

[bureX Posted Mar 3rd 2010 4:38PM]

No longer will I have to sacrifice battery life for the ability to play a game every now and then. Awesome.