Can laptops utilize dedicated graphics to drive multiple monitors with Thunderbolt-3?

[gkuegs]

My big Question: Is there a better way to utilize the full power of my existing dedicated graphics card to drive multiple monitors through thunderbolt 3 (and ideally a thunderbolt compatible docking station), or are the only real performance gains with an eGPU an eGPU?

 

I have a dell precision 5510 laptop with an integrated Quadro M100M, and I'm currently using a dell D3100 to run 2 displays. My Quadro utilization seems to be parked at 0% in task manager even when trying to use 3D programs like Revit or AutoCAD. Without the dock connected (just using the laptop screen) I see my GPU becomes active and the CPU graphics load decreases. I've seen through forum posts that the display link technology isn't able to be driven by a dedicated graphics card. I'm currently under the impression that even if it was video information would get copied from the Quadro to the integrated GPU, then compressed via display link, sent out over usb 3.0, then decompressed at the dock and sent to each monitor. This seems not ideal. I love the convenience of a dock, but I can't seem to find solid information explaining graphics utilization when it comes to thunderbolt to dual HDMI dongles or other video port peripherals. I've seen Linus talk about eGPU's, which seems pretty powerful. I'd love to try and get the most out of my existing hardware first.

 

Thanks guys,

George

 

[Mira Yurizaki]

Whether or not the Thunderbolt ports on your laptop use the dedicated GPU for display output depends on whether or not the outputs of the GPU were routed to it. Usually in a hybrid graphics system, all of the display outputs come from the iGPU.