How to disable GPU in Linux?

[TheGermanEngie]

Hi all

 

So I received a free laptop that has a pretty power hungry 3rd gen i7 and GT630m GPU. Battery life isn't too bad actually with Linux Mint, around 2 and a half hours doing basic tasks on an old battery. However I think I can squeeze a little more time out by somehow disabling the dedicated graphics card as integrated graphics are perfect for my tasks. I've also installed a well known Linux battery management tool (TLP) along with the normal saving tips, like turning off bluetooth, reducing brightness, etc. How can I disable the GPU to save more battery life?

[PlayStation 2]

Is it not using the iGPU by default?

[Electronics Wizardy]

You need to enable optimus. There are many guides depending on distro.

 

You don't want it disabled, you want optimus on.

[TheGermanEngie]

11 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You need to enable optimus. There are many guides depending on distro.

 

You don't want it disabled, you want optimus on.

I just installed the drivers and it gave me an option to use Intel integrated graphics instead of GeForce. Problem resolved!

[wasab]

21 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You need to enable . There are many guides depending on distro.

 

You don't want it disabled, you want optimus on.

There is no such thing as  optimus on Linux. What you have is bumblebeed which works somewhat like nvidia optimus

[toor]

Bit of an old thread but there IS optimus and primus.  Bumblebee can use either.  Difference is one uses direct while the other is indirect rendering (VirtualGL backend).  Fun fact you can use the same concept to remotely offload GPU rendering from a low end device too.