@@contentdeleted4978 You may need to try updating the integrated graphics drivers. I've experienced the same problem and even worst. when I turn on the hybrid mode(optimus) on my legion 7i, the display becomes stuttering. and yep, the igpu doesn't seems to work because of the missing intel uhd driver. Now I have the options to select the gpu drives in Nvidia display mode settings after the update. hope this help.
It would've been nice to see a performance comparison between "Switch automatically" (Advanced Optimus) and "Nvidia GPU only". In theory they should be identical, but just for peace of mind, to know that the feature works as intended.
Agreed, and a comparison to the amd equivalent in terms of performance increase and latency reduction as well as supported games both with advanced optimus and standard mux switching
@@davidpinheiro5295 AMD's equivalent is still very new and now doesn't even exist on any laptop on the market, not even the new asus g14. The first model should be the Alienware m17 R5, which has the option of a 6850m XT or 3080ti.
One thing to note is that with the reboot method, you effectively disable the igpu meaning it wont "steal" a single bit of the CPU power budget. Basically the CPU will have higher headroom to boost and such. I've seen that with the 5800H for example, it's pretty easy to hit the CPU EDC (current) wall with the igpu enabled. Therefore advanced optimus has the benefit of allowing you to still use the iGPU which in the end is nice, if you want to assign it to background tasks and reduce the load on the nvidia gpu. For example you can have the iGPU running wallpaper engine on your 2 monitor setup while you're gaming with the nvidia one.
I am thinking , it makes sense, sinds igpu is on cpu, disabling it will make the cpu less hot as wel which won't throttle back and u can use turbo most times
I completely agree with you Jarrod, I also leave Optimus activated, I leave the PC to decide which activity to perform based on the game I am playing, if the integrated card, or the dedicated one, does not cause me any annoyance, also because, 'as you mentioned, it is not convenient to tinker every time, to get a few more frames of quality.
Actually tested this out and hybrid mode in vantage. With hybrid mode on and advanced optimus, the integrated GPU is still powered on but is 0% utilized. With Optimus it will use both integrated/discreet as you know. Disabling Hybrid mode and restarting, the integrated GPU is not detected and I get 10 more watts of power limit. So: Advanced Optimus = 80 watts Hybrid mode off = 90 watts 10 extra watts resulted in a 15 FPS increase in Diablo 2 Resurrected. Saw all this with MSI overlay and having both GPU information visible.
finally a video that actually tested advance optimus... last year i seen alot of techtubers talking about it but never testing it .... i wonder if you can compare Mux vs Advance optimus
Thanks for this! I had selected Optimus on my x17 3070 and didn’t realise it was hammering performance as thought that was the correct way to use advanced Optimus. Will swap it over asap and look forward to frame rate increases!
Maybe it's best to disable igpu in bios, since it's bound to cpu , it will have less heat and will allow cpu to use it's max potential during turbo and won't throttle back
I need to ask is advanced Optimus a feature that is only included with specific new laptops? Or can we update the Nvidia drivers on our older 3060 laptops to get advanced Optimus?
Hey, Just got my X17R2 but I didn't know what was Advanced Optimus all about. In fact, before everything, I watched your X17R2 review and this video even though I'm a tech nerd, it's a must in order to know your machine better! Thank you a lot!
tysm for this explanation. Ive had my laptop for a few months now and did the research before buying it and everything using ur videos but since getting it ive forgotten 🤣 this video wasnt too long, cleared up everything i questioned and was very helpful so thanksss ♥
Hey there. I've got a question. When I deactivated Optimus, during gameplay,the screen varies between high and low brightness depending on surrounding. Why does this happen. I deactivated auto brightness as well.
Hey Jarrod! Can we get more benchmarks for gaming laptops on unity or unreal applications? I can prepare test scenes if needed. Would be better for game Devs who need a new laptop
I always play plugged in, and I don't particularly trust Advanced Optimus to reliably switch. I just went into BIOS and set it to dGPU only, and never have to think about it.
@@indo3052 As long as your frames aren't going above your screens refresh rate you shouldn't have any problems with screen tearing, so you won't need v-sync. And AO has nothing to do with that anyway. All AO does is dynamically switch between integrated and dedicated graphics for gaming. If you turn off AO you can go into graphics settings and choose the dGPU for gaming.
@@indo3052 As long as your framerate stays below your refresh rate, you'll be fine. Some games are optimized incredibly wel, like Fortnite. But the games themselves typically have a v-sync option in the graphics settings. G-sync isn't necessary.
You do you mate (though I'd argue you watch anyone's videos using your brain), Advanced Optimus is legitimately a great feature and you're only going to see it being more common going forward.
Just joking, mate. I started watching your videos back then, when you compared 6th gen i7 vs 7th gen.watched over 90% of your content.some videos more than twice.But I hate companies sponsoring channels that reviews their products. It may unknowingly affect the review.
Hi Jarrod! Great video, I was actually looking for some more in depth info about the advanced optimus. My laptop (gigabyte g5 kd) doesn't have it and I was wondering if you can not only review this (imho) really good laptop but also test it with an external laptop to see how much more frames you can get in different games. Also, i noticed that when you are testing fortnite you are not showing the results in performance mode. Since a lot of people play this game in a competitive way, they all use this graphical setting which boosts your fps by a lot :)
Hey Jarrod! I want to let you know I LOVE your tech reviews and they’ve been helping me make smart decisions when buying tech. Keep up the good work mate 👏
Thanks for this. I am just getting confused with the conflict between software Mux Switch control and Nvidia control panel, not to even mention the hybrid modes offered in some laptops such as Vantage in Legion. For example if you tick "hybrid mode" in the software but in the Nvidia control panel tick "Nvidia GPU only" which one will have priority? What happens after reboot? Secondly there are some conflicting experiences/understanding with hybrid modes whereby some users report issues with performance. Some also say you should only activate hybrid mode when gaming on battery while others say hybrid mode allow the laptop to switch to dedicated GPU automatically when gaming so no need to game on battery. It is also unclear if a reboot is needed as the laptop doesn't require it when switching on and off. I find these videos extremely helpful and I think would be great to do a proper review comparison of Optimus, Advanced Optimus, Mux Switch, Hybrid Mode, Reboot/Not reboot and how some big laptop brands differ regarding this. I am still more or less confused about what is the best, how to conciliate Mux switch software with Nvidia control panel and how reboots affects this. Thank you.
I have a "dumb" question but need to ask it. So the difference between Optimus and advanced optimus is the reboot thingy, but both use the same hardware feature which is the MUX switch ? In short you need a mux switch to use Advanced optimus as well ?
Optimus still passes frames through the igpu, however, advanced optimus is effectively an automatic, instant mux switch. I don't know about hardware requirements but i think it would be reasonable to assume that laptops with advanced optimus will have similar hardware to a mux switch.
I don't have any of these laptops you showcase since realistically I can't buy them all, but I like watching your videos it's really kinda entertaining and well made on my part so good job as always.
Hi @JarrodsTech :) I believe you forgot to say that an EXTERNAL monitor is always connected DIRECTLY to the dGPU, resulting in best graphic performance regardless of the selected mode. So an average user could select Optimus / Hybrid / whatever mode to get best battery life on the road (who would like to do heavy gaming on the road anyway?), and plug an external monitor at home and still get the best graphic performance without switching modes. Thanks!
I watched your video on the zephyrus g15 rtx3080 and bought it last week I was really thinking that it's battery would die in 1h like the one on my work laptop but it turns of the gpu when running on battery and that surprised the hell out of me The new laptops are really something else
I've had my 5800H/3060 Legion 7 Slim for a few days now and this video just surprised me that it has Advanced Optimus. I've been turning off Hybrid mode this whole time in Vantage. Also Jarrod, this beastly Legion 7 Slim is my favorite out of everything I've seen so far, I'm hoping you get the upcoming 2022 model to make a video with. Just seems best in class for form factor, power, and aesthetics. I prefer this in many ways over my 16'' M1 Max MBP.
Not intending to troll. I'm a PC gamer myself. Advanced Optimus sounds very close to what Mac laptops have had ever since Apple developed models with an IGP and a performance GPU. The Mac OS just switches automatically based on graphics load so this kicks in whenever more graphics power is needed, with no manual settings even offered. My 2015 MacBook Pro does this and this approach was around even earlier. I'm not suggesting the Mac is better - for gaming it's definitely not - just expressing surprise that the PC world doesn't, or at least didn't have an equivalent until now.
For those who don't get it, Advanced Optimus is like having an automatic MUX switch. Let me explain: - If you have built desktops before, *plugging your monitor to the motherboard* will let the iGPU (e.g. Intel HD graphics) drives the display, and whatever the dGPU (e.g. RTX 3080) renders will have to pass back to the iGPU to go on the display. This is essentially Optimus on most gaming laptops. - However on desktops we usually *plug the monitor directly to the dGPU* , therefore let it drives the display for maximum performance. This is similar to using the MUX switch and reboot on gaming laptops (the display disconnects from the iGPU and connects to the dGPU). - Imagine we can automatically connect the display to either the iGPU or the dGPU, without having to reboot. Boom, now you have ADVANCED OPTIMUS! Believe it or not, Apple Macbooks actually have this "advanced optimus" feature for years. I have a MBP 2015 with AMD r9 m370x and whenever the r9 is used, it'll show up under About this Mac --> Displays.
jarrod ,i have seen you wondering about why people are so overly concerned about thermals and temperatures, they want there loving system to last long , can you also focus on how long will a system would last without showing age instead of mostly concentrating on performance ,i think your change of view of reviewing laptops on components life basis will definitely change the perspective of industry more towards that, this is what people want , please do consider on how to test the expected life of components and also add a slot for that in your reviewing videos thank you,(please show some reaction to this comment ,so that i know , it is really effective way to communicate with you )
This is all great - as was finding hard to get the difference between the Optimus setting and the Automatic select setting. However... when connecting the blade to an external screen (via USB-C to Display Port - 120hz 4K cable), what happens then? It seems that it then has to go through iGPU because the Automatic select and DGPU options are greyed out and you can only select the Optimus setting. But can you preselect DGPU only before you connect the laptop - or do you have to then set to DGPU only in the bios then? I have the 11th gen 3080 15" model and when I have benchmarked on Timespy the scores seem to suggest that the external mointor is a direct connection to the DGPU as I see no difference in performance when DGPU only option is selected when playing on the laptop screen (c. 10500 score each time) vs when Optimus is selected when playing on an external monitor.... it's so confusing!
HDMI/Display-ports are attached to the dGPU only in recent Optimus enabled laptops, so yeah no options for switching there. It will automatically run on the dGPU only using Optimus. Using external monitors with Optimus laptops is such a hassle though, because as soon as you disconnect the screen, the dGPU will stay active meaning you have to reboot /sign out and in again or it will be a huge battery drain. If you are on Windows 10, there is even annoying stuttering in second screen only mode that is fixed by restarting / sign out and in.
I have a Blade with Advanced Optimus. With the laptop screen running and AO on automatic, the external outputs are routed through the iGPU. If you turn the laptop display off and only run on external, it shifts to running directly off the dGPU. I hesitate to call this a limitation but I wouldn’t call this behavior necessarily ideal.
@@dampflokfreund Thanks! I didn't know that - so the direct link to the DGPU is dependent on whether using the laptop screen only, laptop screen and external monitor, or shutting the lid so only the external monitor is used... I think the confusion is from not having anything to tell you if the DGPU is directly connected to the screen or via IGPU depending on those different scenarios... hope someone at NVIDIA reads this and takes note...
@@saturnotaku Yes definitely not ideal, I can't understand why the options to select what you want get taken away when you connect to an external monitor...
Hey Jarrod, looking for recommendations on a new laptop this year. Upgrading my Dell with GTX 1060 that's 6 years old. Looking at XMG/Eluktronics, razer, zephyrus g14, and Lenovo legion 5/i5? Do you have any ideas. Fairly decent budget. Let me know what you think
Can you let Nvidia know that when the display switches back to the integrated gpu, the dedicated nvidia GPU doesn't actually turn off, but apps keep using it in an idle state causing a power draw of ~10w extra for no reason. I am not the only one that is experiencing this...
OMG! This happens to me too you have to go in the device manager to disable and enable the GPU to finally get it to turn off!! Every single time you're done playing a game!!
So G-Sync turns on when you're in Automatic Select mode when you open a game? Or is it available only in "Discreet GPU only" mode? Also, I'm glad that the display doesn't turn off for a second during the mode switches.
Could you do a video on battery heat effecting CPU/GPU temperatures? I’ve heard setting your battery to AC Desktop mode helps keep the CPU temperature down, as well as prolong battery life. I’ve also heard setting it to charge from 50% to 80% prolongs the lifespan. Another point you could add would be whether or not to use Rapid Charging, and how it effects heat and lifespan of the battery. Lots of forums online complaining that after a few months their CPU are overheating, and I’m speculating it’s due to battery degradation.
Some FACTS about Advanced Optimus and some of the 2021 Lenovo Legion 5 / 5 Pro / 7 with AMD 5000H CPU and nVidia 3000 GPU series : 1) It's not supported on most of the systems, even if they announced it as a main feature in the Lenovo Legion 2021 Event on March 5, 2021 - there is a video of it on TH-cam - the segment about Advanced Optimus starts at 1:29:42. The support can be easily checked in the System information tab in Help menu in the nVidia Control Panel. Only "Hybrid Mode" works with both dGPU + iGPU and you still need to reboot the system like a standart old school Optimus; 2) AO (Advanced Optimus) works on Intel Systems though; 3) Till today, there is no BIOS update that can enable Advanced Optimus in these AMD systems above, Lenovo Vantage "Hybrid mode" is the only option; 4) Specifically about Chaos VRay Benchmark v. 5.01 for the Rendering guys in the crowd: After testing my AMD 5800H + RTX 3070 (130Watt) in Hybrid Mode turned ON (which connects the AMD Radeon iGPU directly to the monitor for basic Software tasks) both scores - from the CPU only test & from the RTX Nvidia Raytracing test are showing better performance than the Switched OFF Hybrid mode - I am not exatly sure why - but my guess is that having the descrete Nvidia GPU connected directly to the Display (with iGPU turned fully OFF) takes on average more resources like overall Power consumption & Memory Allocation for User Interface away from the CPU and away from the Nvidia Raytracing Compute units in rendering compute intensive tasks than using the much more efficient integrated Radeon Graphics in the Ryzen 5800H to run the Display in general - the difference is ~ +5% Compute Performance in favor of the Hybrid Mode (iGPU + dGPU) corresponding to the old school nVidia Optimus Feature). 5)Especially for Gaming - "Hybrid Mode" turned OFF brings the best of the nVidia dedicated GPU.... BUT, depending on the nVidia drivers, some Apps like Discord or Blizzard Launcher with "Hardware Acceleration" option turned ON, underperform or even crash. I recommend turning off automatic Windows Drivers update by changing the "Device Installation Settings" in Windows 10/11 from "YES" to "NO" and backup before testing every new nVidia and AMD graphics driver, which is not recommended in the Lenovo Supported Drivers list. There is a whole thread of Comments in the Lenovo Forums by user called "N26" that you can check for more info -> "Lenovo Legion 5 PRO 16ACH6H - Advanced optimus support"
I have an IdeaPad gaming 3 2021 with the spec sheet saying it has advanced Optimus with the RTX 3060 model that I have and for some reason, I can't find anything about it in the Nvidia control panel or Lenovo vantage ........ SO is it just a mistake or there is something I am missing ????
Advance Optimus is such a slept on feature. It's pretty much required to get the best battery life out of your machine without the inconvenience of switching to full dGPU in BIOS for max performance.
It's still early days with Advanced Optimus, I'm sure we'll see some great improvements in its functionality in 2023. I believe it will also be added to more models too.
@@JarrodsTech Thing is the way the video is presented it seems we can make a boost from 124-158FPS as a methaphoric example, but in reality we already do this ( most of us thks to you ofc ). The only update is "Advanced Optimus is now automatic" I know making new and interesting content at this point might be incredibly hard, but I'm just saying this ain't of use for the most of followers.
Hi Jarrod, what's your take on the new Mac mini pro's performance versus window PCs/laptop? what's the PC combination equivalent of it? I wanna stay with Windows and I'm due for an upgrade, but idk enough about AMD, Intel, and Nvidia to make a good purchase and PC build. Would love for some help on this, thanks!
@@JarrodsTech thank you! I'm trying to get a PC to work with my PSVR2 and I'm having a hell of a time finding a DP that will run with the GPU. It seems like the only ones with a software MUX will switch (I can't get into bios in-store. I almost bought a G15 today, but I could switch the USB-C to use the GPU :(
I really love how you spend your time clarifying things that most of budget laptops have been suffering, especially that "NVIDIA Optimus thingy" which seems to be have been preventing me from getting the full potential out of my 3 years old gaming laptop, I never thought its performance would increase until I had to use an external monitor. The performance then changed 180 degree. Shame on those companies for not revealing such crucial intel to their users.
when using advanced optimus my laptop show a new monitor was plugged in and if i go to display options i see 2 monitors but i’m only using the laptop one, is this normal?
Ok, but just know that it's based on all of his own experiences and hours testing with optimus/mux/advanced optimus, and he gets asked about the features all of the time in comments. Any results shown are his data and the same he'd show in any review (they weren't "supplied" results). This was an informative/explanation video he'd make anyway even if not sponsored. And the sponsorship goes back into purchasing laptops to review. 👍
WIth Advanced optimus and enabled only discrete graphics you can ran some older games better, like Diablo II, Command and Conquer Generals, etc... Some of these games didnt even run with integrated graphics, so you have to bypass them by run iGPU only :) And if they run, graphics didnt usually switch automatically to discrete graphics and playing is laggy...
acer nitro 5 doesnt have mux or advanced mux, im getting around 60 fps on all my games and it really sucks bcos i was not expecting less than 100 fps with an 105 watts tdp rtx3060 laptop gpu, I really recommend to go and choose the laptop option with advanced optimus or a mux, the performance with optimus is ridiculous in any laptop, you will have 100 fps less in any games! yes, i've been playing games at 20 fps bcos of igpu bottleneck
Weren't laptops doing this over 10 years ago with optimus technology. I remember an old Acer laptop I had that a low end nvidia dGPU and onboard intel. Could have sworn it was meant to auto switch when you rana game....
You're half right 🙂 Vanilla Optimus has always meant to switch between iGPU and dGPU for the *workload*. However, the signal still needed to go through the iGPU and that causes a performance and latency hit. A "manual" mux switch solves that, but you have to reboot. What Advanced Optimus does is switch the workload AND automatically bypasses the iGPU (like manual mux)... BUT you don't have to reboot. It's the best way to not have to think about anything and just always have optimal performance. 👍
Can you help me with choosing a laptop? I have narrowed down to two options 1. MSI Delta 15 2. Lenovo Legion 5 What would be better? Asus rog laps are way too expensive, so it has to be out of those two
Amazing explanation and helped me clear my mind a bit. However, really frustrated with my Legion 5i Pro Gen 7 as Advanced Optimus doesn't work at all when using external screens. Or at least mine as they're connected through a TB3 dock. It's locked on Optimus, so being crippled here.
TB3/4 routes the display data to the TB controller on the CPU which sends that data to the iGPU, which is why the laptop has to use Optimus when accessing the dGPU. If you want to use the dGPU with an external monitor, you'll have to connect that monitor to a dedicated HDMI/DP port on the laptop. Most dedicated HDMI and DP ports are connected directly to the dGPU.
@@afc8981 Yeah, I understood that, thanks. It's just a bit frustrating and a bit surprised TB as a technology is so limited in this regard. You a massive bandwidth connector perfect for multiple display outputs, but you will never be able to use them without your CPU crippling what your GPU would be capable of. It seems like a big design flaw.
dude, i watch this video because suddenly i get an armoury crate update, there is a option for nvdia advance optimus on gtx 1650, get it on old tuf fx505dt, and i have this weird icon on taskbar that's say "currently set to armoury crate audio mode" when i right click it, it show launch audio setting and disable effect, do you know something about this? because i try to search it but cant get anything
2:46 The bottom of the graph should read "milliseconds" and not "frames per second"!
My laptop only shows 3d setting
@@contentdeleted4978 You may need to try updating the integrated graphics drivers. I've experienced the same problem and even worst. when I turn on the hybrid mode(optimus) on my legion 7i, the display becomes stuttering. and yep, the igpu doesn't seems to work because of the missing intel uhd driver. Now I have the options to select the gpu drives in Nvidia display mode settings after the update. hope this help.
I don't have that option in my Nvidia Control panel
@@DariusOD i dont have it either
@@jonieboi69 I got it now
It's like optimus, but more advanced 🥁
Bad-dum-tsss
Autobot ....roll out !
Great repeat, thank you very much!
Uhh rrr ee eehh aay
Optimus.. prime?
It would've been nice to see a performance comparison between "Switch automatically" (Advanced Optimus) and "Nvidia GPU only".
In theory they should be identical, but just for peace of mind, to know that the feature works as intended.
Agreed, and a comparison to the amd equivalent in terms of performance increase and latency reduction as well as supported games both with advanced optimus and standard mux switching
@@davidpinheiro5295 AMD's equivalent is still very new and now doesn't even exist on any laptop on the market, not even the new asus g14. The first model should be the Alienware m17 R5, which has the option of a 6850m XT or 3080ti.
@@Supcharged whats the name of amd equiualent?
@@profiyntroz5186 Smart Access Graphics.
In my own tests between the two options, I found no difference other than margin of error
Our man Jarrod's never tired to give us information about gaming laptops 💪
keep it up
It's literally a sponsored video 😑
i mean its his job
Sorry, i read it as tried😂...no offense but videos are definitely great
It's nothing compared to RGB boost 😎
We'll have to cover that one in a future video 🤔
@@JarrodsTech how bout a April fools video
One thing to note is that with the reboot method, you effectively disable the igpu meaning it wont "steal" a single bit of the CPU power budget. Basically the CPU will have higher headroom to boost and such. I've seen that with the 5800H for example, it's pretty easy to hit the CPU EDC (current) wall with the igpu enabled.
Therefore advanced optimus has the benefit of allowing you to still use the iGPU which in the end is nice, if you want to assign it to background tasks and reduce the load on the nvidia gpu. For example you can have the iGPU running wallpaper engine on your 2 monitor setup while you're gaming with the nvidia one.
I am thinking , it makes sense, sinds igpu is on cpu, disabling it will make the cpu less hot as wel which won't throttle back and u can use turbo most times
Got a Dell G15 last week thanks to your videos, really appreciate the work!
Cool hope it's going well!
@@JarrodsTech Does this feature is going to be available in the G15?
Does Advanced Optimus allow you to use the GPU for the USB-C port?
The thing that u Said at the beginning of the video proves your honesty and hardwrk. Grt work jarrod
I completely agree with you Jarrod, I also leave Optimus activated, I leave the PC to decide which activity to perform based on the game I am playing, if the integrated card, or the dedicated one, does not cause me any annoyance, also because, 'as you mentioned, it is not convenient to tinker every time, to get a few more frames of quality.
Advanced optimus is worth using. Regular optimus is not just lile jarrod says
finally, I have waited a long time to see Advanced Optimus
Nvidia has been using the same control panel interface for 20 years.
Actually tested this out and hybrid mode in vantage. With hybrid mode on and advanced optimus, the integrated GPU is still powered on but is 0% utilized. With Optimus it will use both integrated/discreet as you know. Disabling Hybrid mode and restarting, the integrated GPU is not detected and I get 10 more watts of power limit.
So:
Advanced Optimus = 80 watts
Hybrid mode off = 90 watts
10 extra watts resulted in a 15 FPS increase in Diablo 2 Resurrected.
Saw all this with MSI overlay and having both GPU information visible.
If you turn off Hybrid Mode, how do u activate only iGPU to save battery while not gaming?
finally a video that actually tested advance optimus... last year i seen alot of techtubers talking about it but never testing it .... i wonder if you can compare Mux vs Advance optimus
Should be implemented at hardware or driver level, away from OS specifics.
Agreed but itll never happen unless its only on specific laptops like razers or asus. Other than that I dont see it happening
Thanks for this! I had selected Optimus on my x17 3070 and didn’t realise it was hammering performance as thought that was the correct way to use advanced Optimus. Will swap it over asap and look forward to frame rate increases!
But isnt that the only way to ensure no tearing via adaptiv sync? I thought u had to use advanced optimus to get adaptive sync?
Maybe it's best to disable igpu in bios, since it's bound to cpu , it will have less heat and will allow cpu to use it's max potential during turbo and won't throttle back
I need to ask is advanced Optimus a feature that is only included with specific new laptops? Or can we update the Nvidia drivers on our older 3060 laptops to get advanced Optimus?
only included in specific laptops, no updates can bring that
Advanced Optimus is just a marketing term. It's one of many names for a hardware component referred to as a MUX Switch.
@@noway9880 Advanced optimus is technology, not a MUX switch...
What if the laptop itself already has a MUX switch like the lenovo legion series or the eluctronics laptops that jarrod has shown in the past.
@@noway9880 it does need a multiplexer to handle video sources
Me pre-video: “I don’t know what a MUX switch is but Jared says I need one”
Me post video: Aha!
heh
Wonderfully explained. Your video's have such a nice flow. Keeps you watching.
Cheers!
Hey,
Just got my X17R2 but I didn't know what was Advanced Optimus all about.
In fact, before everything, I watched your X17R2 review and this video even though I'm a tech nerd, it's a must in order to know your machine better!
Thank you a lot!
tysm for this explanation. Ive had my laptop for a few months now and did the research before buying it and everything using ur videos but since getting it ive forgotten 🤣 this video wasnt too long, cleared up everything i questioned and was very helpful so thanksss ♥
same here , buy and forget everything
Personally I always disable Optimus. My laptop is always plugged in, don't see a point of running a gaming laptop on battery frankly!
Hey there. I've got a question. When I deactivated Optimus, during gameplay,the screen varies between high and low brightness depending on surrounding. Why does this happen. I deactivated auto brightness as well.
Same thing I leave my laptop on charge but I still don’t know how to turn off Optimus
Thank u for the explanation. NOW I NEED THE LAPTOP !!
Hey Jarrod! Can we get more benchmarks for gaming laptops on unity or unreal applications? I can prepare test scenes if needed. Would be better for game Devs who need a new laptop
I always play plugged in, and I don't particularly trust Advanced Optimus to reliably switch. I just went into BIOS and set it to dGPU only, and never have to think about it.
Yeah, thats what i woukd do too.
But then what about screen tear? Dont u need ao enabled to have adaptive sync?
@@indo3052 As long as your frames aren't going above your screens refresh rate you shouldn't have any problems with screen tearing, so you won't need v-sync. And AO has nothing to do with that anyway. All AO does is dynamically switch between integrated and dedicated graphics for gaming. If you turn off AO you can go into graphics settings and choose the dGPU for gaming.
@@ThunderTaco206 so if i buy the ge67hx oled 240hz, i dont need gsync?
@@indo3052 As long as your framerate stays below your refresh rate, you'll be fine. Some games are optimized incredibly wel, like Fortnite. But the games themselves typically have a v-sync option in the graphics settings. G-sync isn't necessary.
From this point onwards, I will watch your vid skeptically.
You do you mate (though I'd argue you watch anyone's videos using your brain), Advanced Optimus is legitimately a great feature and you're only going to see it being more common going forward.
Just joking, mate. I started watching your videos back then, when you compared 6th gen i7 vs 7th gen.watched over 90% of your content.some videos more than twice.But I hate companies sponsoring channels that reviews their products. It may unknowingly affect the review.
Is this a feature that can be enabled via an update, i.e., will advanced optimus be available to optimus laptops? Or is it only for newer laptops?
I have the same query.... Exactly
It needs a MUX switch and a Nvidia RTX GPU at the minimum; you can’t just add it via a software update.
@@cameronbosch1213 yea, but i mean for last year's 3070 laptops for instance
@@cameronbosch1213 and I have the legion 5 Pro which has both
@@AvirajSinghRawat so how much battery life you get while watching youtube Optimus on Vs off
On 60hz vs 165hz ?
I couldn't have ever known that advanced Optimus is Optimus but more advanced
Hi Jarrod! Great video, I was actually looking for some more in depth info about the advanced optimus. My laptop (gigabyte g5 kd) doesn't have it and I was wondering if you can not only review this (imho) really good laptop but also test it with an external laptop to see how much more frames you can get in different games. Also, i noticed that when you are testing fortnite you are not showing the results in performance mode. Since a lot of people play this game in a competitive way, they all use this graphical setting which boosts your fps by a lot :)
Great video. Thanks😊
Hey Jarrod! I want to let you know I LOVE your tech reviews and they’ve been helping me make smart decisions when buying tech. Keep up the good work mate 👏
Thanks for this. I am just getting confused with the conflict between software Mux Switch control and Nvidia control panel, not to even mention the hybrid modes offered in some laptops such as Vantage in Legion.
For example if you tick "hybrid mode" in the software but in the Nvidia control panel tick "Nvidia GPU only" which one will have priority? What happens after reboot?
Secondly there are some conflicting experiences/understanding with hybrid modes whereby some users report issues with performance. Some also say you should only activate hybrid mode when gaming on battery while others say hybrid mode allow the laptop to switch to dedicated GPU automatically when gaming so no need to game on battery. It is also unclear if a reboot is needed as the laptop doesn't require it when switching on and off.
I find these videos extremely helpful and I think would be great to do a proper review comparison of Optimus, Advanced Optimus, Mux Switch, Hybrid Mode, Reboot/Not reboot and how some big laptop brands differ regarding this. I am still more or less confused about what is the best, how to conciliate Mux switch software with Nvidia control panel and how reboots affects this.
Thank you.
I have a review coming up on Friday for the Legion 5i Pro that explains how it all works between Vantage and NVIDIA.
I hope that we can use the integrated graphics power as a support for the dedicated graphics to get more 5-10 fps.
That would be very nice.
I have a "dumb" question but need to ask it. So the difference between Optimus and advanced optimus is the reboot thingy, but both use the same hardware feature which is the MUX switch ?
In short you need a mux switch to use Advanced optimus as well ?
Optimus still passes frames through the igpu, however, advanced optimus is effectively an automatic, instant mux switch. I don't know about hardware requirements but i think it would be reasonable to assume that laptops with advanced optimus will have similar hardware to a mux switch.
ofcourse you do
yes. my understanding is that a mux switch is required for Advanced Optimus to work.
Thanks so much Jarrod for the informative video.
I will definitely use NVIDIA’s Advanced Optimus ( better than restarting the laptop)
I don't have any of these laptops you showcase since realistically I can't buy them all, but I like watching your videos it's really kinda entertaining and well made on my part so good job as always.
Hi @JarrodsTech :) I believe you forgot to say that an EXTERNAL monitor is always connected DIRECTLY to the dGPU, resulting in best graphic performance regardless of the selected mode. So an average user could select Optimus / Hybrid / whatever mode to get best battery life on the road (who would like to do heavy gaming on the road anyway?), and plug an external monitor at home and still get the best graphic performance without switching modes. Thanks!
Thats not true. It depends on the laptop.
I watched your video on the zephyrus g15 rtx3080 and bought it last week
I was really thinking that it's battery would die in 1h like the one on my work laptop but it turns of the gpu when running on battery and that surprised the hell out of me
The new laptops are really something else
I've had my 5800H/3060 Legion 7 Slim for a few days now and this video just surprised me that it has Advanced Optimus. I've been turning off Hybrid mode this whole time in Vantage. Also Jarrod, this beastly Legion 7 Slim is my favorite out of everything I've seen so far, I'm hoping you get the upcoming 2022 model to make a video with. Just seems best in class for form factor, power, and aesthetics. I prefer this in many ways over my 16'' M1 Max MBP.
Not intending to troll. I'm a PC gamer myself. Advanced Optimus sounds very close to what Mac laptops have had ever since Apple developed models with an IGP and a performance GPU. The Mac OS just switches automatically based on graphics load so this kicks in whenever more graphics power is needed, with no manual settings even offered. My 2015 MacBook Pro does this and this approach was around even earlier. I'm not suggesting the Mac is better - for gaming it's definitely not - just expressing surprise that the PC world doesn't, or at least didn't have an equivalent until now.
super video as always
It's like Optimus, with extra steps
Advanced Optimus Prime! Graphics cards! Let's roll out!
Too bad it wasn’t more prime, Optimus Prime 🤖
For those who don't get it, Advanced Optimus is like having an automatic MUX switch. Let me explain:
- If you have built desktops before, *plugging your monitor to the motherboard* will let the iGPU (e.g. Intel HD graphics) drives the display, and whatever the dGPU (e.g. RTX 3080) renders will have to pass back to the iGPU to go on the display. This is essentially Optimus on most gaming laptops.
- However on desktops we usually *plug the monitor directly to the dGPU* , therefore let it drives the display for maximum performance. This is similar to using the MUX switch and reboot on gaming laptops (the display disconnects from the iGPU and connects to the dGPU).
- Imagine we can automatically connect the display to either the iGPU or the dGPU, without having to reboot. Boom, now you have ADVANCED OPTIMUS!
Believe it or not, Apple Macbooks actually have this "advanced optimus" feature for years. I have a MBP 2015 with AMD r9 m370x and whenever the r9 is used, it'll show up under About this Mac --> Displays.
Thanks a lot bro, I was getting hella confused reading posts everywhere that u do need a mux switch even with advanced optimus to get mux performance
Thank you! Video is greatly helpful bro.
great explaination Jarrod, thanks for the video
What about GTX10 and RTX20 series MaxQ based laptops ? Will they be supported as well ?
jarrod ,i have seen you wondering about why people are so overly concerned about thermals and temperatures, they want there loving system to last long , can you also focus on how long will a system would last without showing age instead of mostly concentrating on performance ,i think your change of view of reviewing laptops on components life basis will definitely change the perspective of industry more towards that,
this is what people want , please do consider on how to test the expected life of components and also add a slot for that in your reviewing videos
thank you,(please show some reaction to this comment ,so that i know , it is really effective way to communicate with you )
This is all great - as was finding hard to get the difference between the Optimus setting and the Automatic select setting. However... when connecting the blade to an external screen (via USB-C to Display Port - 120hz 4K cable), what happens then? It seems that it then has to go through iGPU because the Automatic select and DGPU options are greyed out and you can only select the Optimus setting. But can you preselect DGPU only before you connect the laptop - or do you have to then set to DGPU only in the bios then? I have the 11th gen 3080 15" model and when I have benchmarked on Timespy the scores seem to suggest that the external mointor is a direct connection to the DGPU as I see no difference in performance when DGPU only option is selected when playing on the laptop screen (c. 10500 score each time) vs when Optimus is selected when playing on an external monitor.... it's so confusing!
HDMI/Display-ports are attached to the dGPU only in recent Optimus enabled laptops, so yeah no options for switching there. It will automatically run on the dGPU only using Optimus. Using external monitors with Optimus laptops is such a hassle though, because as soon as you disconnect the screen, the dGPU will stay active meaning you have to reboot /sign out and in again or it will be a huge battery drain. If you are on Windows 10, there is even annoying stuttering in second screen only mode that is fixed by restarting / sign out and in.
I have a Blade with Advanced Optimus. With the laptop screen running and AO on automatic, the external outputs are routed through the iGPU. If you turn the laptop display off and only run on external, it shifts to running directly off the dGPU. I hesitate to call this a limitation but I wouldn’t call this behavior necessarily ideal.
@@dampflokfreund Thanks! I didn't know that - so the direct link to the DGPU is dependent on whether using the laptop screen only, laptop screen and external monitor, or shutting the lid so only the external monitor is used... I think the confusion is from not having anything to tell you if the DGPU is directly connected to the screen or via IGPU depending on those different scenarios... hope someone at NVIDIA reads this and takes note...
@@saturnotaku Yes definitely not ideal, I can't understand why the options to select what you want get taken away when you connect to an external monitor...
Hey Jarrod, looking for recommendations on a new laptop this year. Upgrading my Dell with GTX 1060 that's 6 years old. Looking at XMG/Eluktronics, razer, zephyrus g14, and Lenovo legion 5/i5? Do you have any ideas. Fairly decent budget. Let me know what you think
Can you let Nvidia know that when the display switches back to the integrated gpu, the dedicated nvidia GPU doesn't actually turn off, but apps keep using it in an idle state causing a power draw of ~10w extra for no reason. I am not the only one that is experiencing this...
me too
OMG! This happens to me too you have to go in the device manager to disable and enable the GPU to finally get it to turn off!! Every single time you're done playing a game!!
.
Yes, yes, yes. That's a huge issue with my Lenovo Y540 too and it's so annoying. I don't get why nobody talks about this.
lenovo vantage got some opzions to run on integrated only so it could solve that easier than thru device manager but u goota have lenovo
So G-Sync turns on when you're in Automatic Select mode when you open a game? Or is it available only in "Discreet GPU only" mode? Also, I'm glad that the display doesn't turn off for a second during the mode switches.
Any info on this?
Could you do a video on battery heat effecting CPU/GPU temperatures? I’ve heard setting your battery to AC Desktop mode helps keep the CPU temperature down, as well as prolong battery life. I’ve also heard setting it to charge from 50% to 80% prolongs the lifespan. Another point you could add would be whether or not to use Rapid Charging, and how it effects heat and lifespan of the battery. Lots of forums online complaining that after a few months their CPU are overheating, and I’m speculating it’s due to battery degradation.
Some FACTS about Advanced Optimus and some of the 2021 Lenovo Legion 5 / 5 Pro / 7 with AMD 5000H CPU and nVidia 3000 GPU series :
1) It's not supported on most of the systems, even if they announced it as a main feature in the Lenovo Legion 2021 Event on March 5, 2021 - there is a video of it on TH-cam - the segment about Advanced Optimus starts at 1:29:42. The support can be easily checked in the System information tab in Help menu in the nVidia Control Panel. Only "Hybrid Mode" works with both dGPU + iGPU and you still need to reboot the system like a standart old school Optimus;
2) AO (Advanced Optimus) works on Intel Systems though;
3) Till today, there is no BIOS update that can enable Advanced Optimus in these AMD systems above, Lenovo Vantage "Hybrid mode" is the only option;
4) Specifically about Chaos VRay Benchmark v. 5.01 for the Rendering guys in the crowd:
After testing my AMD 5800H + RTX 3070 (130Watt) in Hybrid Mode turned ON (which connects the AMD Radeon iGPU directly to the monitor for basic Software tasks) both scores - from the CPU only test & from the RTX Nvidia Raytracing test are showing better performance than the Switched OFF Hybrid mode - I am not exatly sure why - but my guess is that having the descrete Nvidia GPU connected directly to the Display (with iGPU turned fully OFF) takes on average more resources like overall Power consumption & Memory Allocation for User Interface away from the CPU and away from the Nvidia Raytracing Compute units in rendering compute intensive tasks than using the much more efficient integrated Radeon Graphics in the Ryzen 5800H to run the Display in general - the difference is ~ +5% Compute Performance in favor of the Hybrid Mode (iGPU + dGPU) corresponding to the old school nVidia Optimus Feature).
5)Especially for Gaming - "Hybrid Mode" turned OFF brings the best of the nVidia dedicated GPU.... BUT, depending on the nVidia drivers, some Apps like Discord or Blizzard Launcher with "Hardware Acceleration" option turned ON, underperform or even crash. I recommend turning off automatic Windows Drivers update by changing the "Device Installation Settings" in Windows 10/11 from "YES" to "NO" and backup before testing every new nVidia and AMD graphics driver, which is not recommended in the Lenovo Supported Drivers list.
There is a whole thread of Comments in the Lenovo Forums by user called "N26" that you can check for more info -> "Lenovo Legion 5 PRO 16ACH6H - Advanced optimus support"
I have an IdeaPad gaming 3 2021 with the spec sheet saying it has advanced Optimus with the RTX 3060 model that I have and for some reason, I can't find anything about it in the Nvidia control panel or Lenovo vantage ........
SO is it just a mistake or there is something I am missing ????
There's no manage display mode on the Nvdia control panel.
Have you figured out this issue yet?
@@harson7908 sadly,nope
What's the best amd gaming laptop under $2500?
👍👁️👄👁️👍
Why spending that much on a laptop?
Lenovo legion 5 with high specs worth it and for the price is about 1650 - 1900 $
There is no best laptoo
Asus strix g15 advamtage edition
Hye jarrod, what’s the cheapest laptop to play flight simulator that delivered minimum of 60 fps on high setting?
Do GTX 16 series laptop gpus support or will support it? I got a gtx 1660Ti in a ASUS ROG laptop.
Advance Optimus is such a slept on feature. It's pretty much required to get the best battery life out of your machine without the inconvenience of switching to full dGPU in BIOS for max performance.
It's still early days with Advanced Optimus, I'm sure we'll see some great improvements in its functionality in 2023. I believe it will also be added to more models too.
It's like optimus, but it's more prime....
Optimus Prime
I think the Lenovo gaming laptops have the best implementation. Integrated Graphics on battery power and when plugged in it's the discrete gpu.
Useful, thanks!
Can you do a review about the ldeapad gaming 3 with rtx 3060 and Ryzen 5600h
The Gsync works better with Advance Optimus or dedicate Graphic?. I have the Alienware X17 R2 rtx 3080ti.
How about the rtx20 series?
Oh I see you already got the new razer blade. I’ll be waiting for the review
Working on it now 😎
Awesome explanation, thank you.
you are the man!
you are so good in explaining 👍
Thank you! 😃
Misleading title Jarod, neither you or us need that.
Hope you keep up the good work, cheers.
How? Advanced Optimus literally automatically boosts game FPS. Did you not watch the video or something?
@@JarrodsTech Thing is the way the video is presented it seems we can make a boost from 124-158FPS as a methaphoric example, but in reality we already do this ( most of us thks to you ofc ).
The only update is "Advanced Optimus is now automatic"
I know making new and interesting content at this point might be incredibly hard, but I'm just saying this ain't of use for the most of followers.
Hi Jarrod, what's your take on the new Mac mini pro's performance versus window PCs/laptop? what's the PC combination equivalent of it? I wanna stay with Windows and I'm due for an upgrade, but idk enough about AMD, Intel, and Nvidia to make a good purchase and PC build. Would love for some help on this, thanks!
This is so helpful! I'm looking at a G15 from Dell, and they were claiming that there is Advanced Optimus, but no MUX. I can't make sense of them :)
On some Dell models, the is no software mux. You can only change it in the bios, but they have advanced optimus.
@@JarrodsTech thank you! I'm trying to get a PC to work with my PSVR2 and I'm having a hell of a time finding a DP that will run with the GPU. It seems like the only ones with a software MUX will switch (I can't get into bios in-store. I almost bought a G15 today, but I could switch the USB-C to use the GPU :(
What laptops will have it?
2021 or new
Jarrod love your videos man. Instead of showing just bar graphs can you also show the actual gameplay?
I've written about why I don't show gameplay here: jarrods.tech/why-i-dont-show-game-play-for-benchmarks/
@@JarrodsTech Read it.
You can show benchmarks at start and then show some gameplay. That's just my suggestion.
Me: so what is a tensor?
Every physicist ever: something that transforms like a tensor.
Me: so helpful thanks.
Hei Jarod, when can we get a comparasion betwen rtx 3060 130w vs rtx 140w ?
Thanks :)
Instructions unclear, after turning it on, my pc transformed into a human size robot and now keeps saying "Calling all Autobots".
I really love how you spend your time clarifying things that most of budget laptops have been suffering, especially that "NVIDIA Optimus thingy" which seems to be have been preventing me from getting the full potential out of my 3 years old gaming laptop, I never thought its performance would increase until I had to use an external monitor. The performance then changed 180 degree. Shame on those companies for not revealing such crucial intel to their users.
when using advanced optimus my laptop show a new monitor was plugged in and if i go to display options i see 2 monitors but i’m only using the laptop one, is this normal?
Yes. That is how it is implemented.
which is better optimus or nvidia gpu only
My laptop has adv Optimus and I love it
i got the Scar 17 SE, really enjoyable!
Stopped watching at sponsored but will check out future reviews to see actual performance
Ok, but just know that it's based on all of his own experiences and hours testing with optimus/mux/advanced optimus, and he gets asked about the features all of the time in comments. Any results shown are his data and the same he'd show in any review (they weren't "supplied" results). This was an informative/explanation video he'd make anyway even if not sponsored.
And the sponsorship goes back into purchasing laptops to review. 👍
Great news, i got the victus laptop wich has almost all good things except it lacks a MUX switch
I dont have this option on my laptop, how do i switch to my dedicated gpu withoout it?
It will depend on your laptop whether you can or not. I have a video explaining it here: th-cam.com/video/6mWies_4oDs/w-d-xo.html
@@JarrodsTech so is there any way at all I can disable it?
Using an external display gives the same performance boost as disabling Optimus, correct?
It can do, if the port connects directly to the discrete graphics.
WIth Advanced optimus and enabled only discrete graphics you can ran some older games better, like Diablo II, Command and Conquer Generals, etc... Some of these games didnt even run with integrated graphics, so you have to bypass them by run iGPU only :) And if they run, graphics didnt usually switch automatically to discrete graphics and playing is laggy...
acer nitro 5 doesnt have mux or advanced mux, im getting around 60 fps on all my games and it really sucks bcos i was not expecting less than 100 fps with an 105 watts tdp rtx3060 laptop gpu, I really recommend to go and choose the laptop option with advanced optimus or a mux, the performance with optimus is ridiculous in any laptop, you will have 100 fps less in any games! yes, i've been playing games at 20 fps bcos of igpu bottleneck
Connect an external monitor.
Greatly improves performance, when it works, which is like every 10th game or so :)
Weren't laptops doing this over 10 years ago with optimus technology. I remember an old Acer laptop I had that a low end nvidia dGPU and onboard intel. Could have sworn it was meant to auto switch when you rana game....
You're half right 🙂
Vanilla Optimus has always meant to switch between iGPU and dGPU for the *workload*.
However, the signal still needed to go through the iGPU and that causes a performance and latency hit.
A "manual" mux switch solves that, but you have to reboot.
What Advanced Optimus does is switch the workload AND automatically bypasses the iGPU (like manual mux)... BUT you don't have to reboot. It's the best way to not have to think about anything and just always have optimal performance. 👍
@@60DollarCodger thanks for clarifying!
@@cptwhite sure thing
Can you help me with choosing a laptop?
I have narrowed down to two options
1. MSI Delta 15
2. Lenovo Legion 5
What would be better?
Asus rog laps are way too expensive, so it has to be out of those two
I think in control panel you should have: auto, iGPU & dGPU.
I'm still angry that lenovo lied about advanced optimus support for amd versions of legion 5 pro and 7.
So weird to see your head faced away from cam when talking. Do you do that in person?
Great video ❤
Would you recommend advanced optimus, or dpgu only, and why?
is this compatible with 2021 notebooks?
Amazing explanation and helped me clear my mind a bit. However, really frustrated with my Legion 5i Pro Gen 7 as Advanced Optimus doesn't work at all when using external screens. Or at least mine as they're connected through a TB3 dock. It's locked on Optimus, so being crippled here.
TB3/4 routes the display data to the TB controller on the CPU which sends that data to the iGPU, which is why the laptop has to use Optimus when accessing the dGPU. If you want to use the dGPU with an external monitor, you'll have to connect that monitor to a dedicated HDMI/DP port on the laptop. Most dedicated HDMI and DP ports are connected directly to the dGPU.
@@afc8981 Yeah, I understood that, thanks. It's just a bit frustrating and a bit surprised TB as a technology is so limited in this regard. You a massive bandwidth connector perfect for multiple display outputs, but you will never be able to use them without your CPU crippling what your GPU would be capable of. It seems like a big design flaw.
dude, i watch this video because suddenly i get an armoury crate update, there is a option for nvdia advance optimus on gtx 1650, get it on old tuf fx505dt, and i have this weird icon on taskbar that's say "currently set to armoury crate audio mode" when i right click it, it show launch audio setting and disable effect, do you know something about this? because i try to search it but cant get anything
same i also wna know whats happening here mahn