XPS17 (9710) Graphics Card Confusion

[waronthemoon1]

Hello I recently purchased an XPS 17 9710 From Dell. The preset has an i7 and RTX3060 configuration.

 

Before anything: I tried live chat with Nvidia, and did reach a representative. All they asked me was "what my gpu load was" and then just said "oh ok" and hasnt responded for a while. I am desperate for answers so I'll leave a post here hoping someone sees it.

 

I've tried to see if others have this issue, and the closest topics i could find was a setting called intel optimums in BIOS.

 

I am not really looking for MORE FPS, as I do care about battery life (its already p bad to begin with, but its sufficient for my usecase). I am just making sure my laptop is running correctly upon arrival.

 

Here's the Problem/Situation:

 

When under cpu intensive games like valorant, I reach around 200FPS using low settings and seemingly under intel graphics. GPU 0 (Intel UHD) seemed to be under heavy load while the Nvidia 3060 is under a 3% load.

 

However under a what I would think is a more gpu intensive task like "Fall Guys", both GPU's in task manager at a glance are under full load. Upon further inspection, I see two graphs on each GPU (GPU 0 = Intel UHD, GPU 1 = Rtx 3060). There is a "3D" Graph and a "Copy" Graph.

GPU 0 shows full load on the 3d graph and little to no load on the copy graph.

Meanwhile, the GPU 1 shows the opposite. No load on the 3d graph, and full load on the copy graph.

 

I want to know if it is normal to utilize both gpus when I'm running a gpu intensive game, and if it is normal behavior. I am concerned that I may have an issue with the GPU. 

 

In windows 11, it lets me select which gpu in "Apps and Features", or it autoselects. It's worth noting fall guys and valorant both auto selected Nvidia GPU.

 

However, \I'd imagine both 3d and Copy graphs to be used on only the Nvidia GPU when it is selected, not delegating "3D to intel UHD". It definitely is concerning.

 

Sorry this post is a mess, I am not the best at describing the problem.

[waronthemoon1]

Correction: The menu in windows 11 that allowed me to select a graphics card was (WINDOWS > Display > Graphics). Not Programs and Features.

[The_Hackintosh]

As far as i know that is not normal, a Windows 10/11 menu should let you pick as you said, if its a premium laptop is should let you disable the iGPU in the BIOS.

[Dreckssackblase]

Are you playing on the in built screen or do you have an external display connected. What you are descibing seems very odd behaviour to me if you are only using a single display.

[waronthemoon1]

44 minutes ago, The_Hackintosh said:

As far as i know that is not normal, a Windows 10/11 menu should let you pick as you said, if its a premium laptop is should let you disable the iGPU in the BIOS.

There is a single setting called "direct graphics controller direct output mode" in the XPS Dell BIOS. Upon enabling, I noticed intel graphics is used less, but still used. The fans are on much louder (I'd assume for the GPU). When playing Rocket League with the mode on, I reached about 360 FPS on Rocket League. I noticed the NVIDIA GPU Peaking 100% In 3D graph, and near idle in Copy Graph. Intel 3D Graph hit aorund 20% while also near idle in Copy Graph.

 

To Summarize: Both GPU's went under load in 3d (intel =20%, Nvidia = 100%), and both idle in copy engine graph.

 

When this setting is off (default): I achieve the same 360 fps in the same mode (training same map), but my fans seem smarter and only run louder under load after a few minutes. The copy and 3d graph also look the same here.

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16 minutes ago, Dreckssackblase said:

Are you playing on the in built screen or do you have an external display connected. What you are descibing seems very odd behaviour to me if you are only using a single display.

I am on the xps display, no external displays. all i got hooked up is the power, the given hub (to connect usb-A mouse), and a usbC-Ethernet adapter for Gigabit. Although this may be unnecessary information.

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Seeing as that the mode on and off stated in this message above is the same, I get the feeling I made a mistake and that Fall guys is a cpu intensive game, not gpu. Rocket league showed the same FPS in both modes of "direct graphics controller direct output mode" in bios(NVIDIA selected in windows).

 

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Strange trend however, I can achieve around 200-220FPS on valorant low settings when the mode is off, but obtain 300 fps when the mode is on. Which is very strange to me as well.

 

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Sorry this is a long info dump, I am trying to simulate both modes right now doing the same tasks to see if there is any sort of benefit. Seems to only benefit cpu games which is very strange to me as  I wouldnt expect enabling the GPU output mode to only benefit cpu games.

[emosun]

are you running the games in full screen or some version of windowed/windowed borderless , because you aren't going to be able to mix the gpu's together in a single screen in the windowed configs

[waronthemoon1]

On 7/29/2022 at 5:12 AM, emosun said:

are you running the games in full screen or some version of windowed/windowed borderless , because you aren't going to be able to mix the gpu's together in a single screen in the windowed configs

Hello, I was running everything full screened all the time. However, I did sometimes lower the resolution to 1920x1440 or 1920x1080 to see if that would make a difference (my xps config has a 4k touch panel)