Thursday, August 13th 2020
Microsoft's New Windows Update Allows GPU Selection According to Workload
Microsoft's future update to Windows 10 will add a GPU-aware selector that allows both the OS and the user to adaptively select the best GPU for each usage scenario. The preview release of Windows 10 build 20190 features this in two ways. First is an OS-level layer that automagically selects the best GPU for the task at hand between installed options (let's assume, an Intel iGPU and your discrete GPU). For web browsing or productivity it's expected the OS will switch to the less power-hungry option, whilst for gaming and its all-cylinders philosophy, it would launch the discrete option.
However, if you're not much into ceding that kind of control to the OS itself, you can override which specific GPU is activated for a specific application. This change is made via the Settings panel with a drop down menu in Graphics Settings. This feature should be a particular boon for laptops that don't feature a power-saving technology that enables this kind of behavior, but there are some other usages for power users that might come in handy with this OS-level integration.
Source:
Microsoft
However, if you're not much into ceding that kind of control to the OS itself, you can override which specific GPU is activated for a specific application. This change is made via the Settings panel with a drop down menu in Graphics Settings. This feature should be a particular boon for laptops that don't feature a power-saving technology that enables this kind of behavior, but there are some other usages for power users that might come in handy with this OS-level integration.
27 Comments on Microsoft's New Windows Update Allows GPU Selection According to Workload
Most know commands trickery, this is sending sleep commands at GPU cores, but what if you have just one ? :)
Seems like something you wouldn't use too often with a bit of thought.
This implementation allows you to choose which GPU you want to run which software.
My curious question about this is how would it work if I run something on my RX 5700 XT screen, but the software's fullscreen/window view is on my 2080 Super. If I do that as it is right now, the drivers will attempt to pass on the software from one GPU to another. This works fine with 2D and lightweight 3D software as I can see the load "transferring" over using GPU-Z with the software flickering a bit. Software that places a huge GPU load however will either freeze up or crash, like I tried with Doom Eternal.
Graphics switching based on usage has been around a while.
I also thought this has been around for a while, unless its changed somehow
Also, if your laptop has dedicated video card, it probably could do that already.
ATI - AMD, this was using power saving by detecting 2D mode and GPU&Mem clocks those it is automatically lowered.
Maybe later
It is an option in Radeon Settings.
Also since when Radeon Settings can allow you to switch between loading dedicated video card or IGP, especially non-AMD ones? :O
www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/dh-017