Mobile GPU Faceoff: AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics vs. NVIDIA Optimus Technology
by Jarred Walton on September 20, 2011 6:40 AM ESTVideo Demonstrations
With all of the discussion of problems and UI issues, I felt the inclusion of some videos showing exactly what I experienced were in order. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an 11 minute video ought to speak volumes, right? I’ve already covered most of the material, but I put together two videos, one showing various games and UI interactions on the Sony VAIO C and the second demonstrating similar use of the Acer TimelineX 3830TG. The first and likely more interesting video shows the gaming experience on the Sony laptop.
[Note: I’m still working on the Acer video; it should go up some time today, but there’s not a lot to see—the games I tested all run as expected.]
Again, without a different laptop, we can’t say how many of our complaints are specific to the Sony VAIO C and how many apply to AMD’s Dynamic Switchable Graphics in general. There haven’t been any major UI changes to AMD’s Catalyst Control Center lately, but there are almost certainly some performance, compatibility, and stability changes. Take the above video as a demonstration of what the Sony VAIO C delivers, and hopefully we’ll be able to test a more recent AMD driver in the near future.
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powchie - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - link
No battery life comparison?DanNeely - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - link
This is just a GPU switching comparison, not a pair of full laptop reviews.khimera2000 - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - link
Its an Intel GPU switching comparison. They didnt compare AMD switching with AMD CPU. I think thats an important detail.This articles scope is alot more narrow then the title implies.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - link
This article is over 8000 words and I thought that was long enough. Battery life numbers are posted above if you're interested. Really, the battery life comparison is more of a look at how well Acer and Sony are optimizing their BIOS and drivers for mobile use, and both do quite well (though Sony leads in terms of efficiency, even with a larger LCD).Stuka87 - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - link
I have not yet used AMD's switchable setup. Being that its so new, I am not surprised that it is not yet perfect. nVidia took a while to work out their kinks as well.Although with that said, I still have an issue with my Precision (Optimus with i7-2620M and Quadro 1000). I use a Matrox Triple Head to go to drive three displays with a Dell Docking Station. This being when I am undocked running off battery, it runs on the Intel graphics. When I dock, I tries to switch to the Quadro. However, I end up with a black screen because its trying to use the resolution of the built in screen that Intel was driving before docking. The work around is to always hibernate before docking, this makes it re-initialize the hardware when it comes out of hibernation.
But typically, the switch works fine. And I get amazing battery life out of this machine.
medi01 - Sunday, September 25, 2011 - link
"I have not yet used AMD's switchable setup. Being that its so new, I am not surprised that it is not yet perfect"Especially on nVidia supplied notebook. ;)
JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
Which you can buy from Sony. It was unopened, with absolutely no tampering by anyone other than myself -- and the same goes for the Acer. If anyone can point me to a better AMD + Intel laptop with dynamic switchable graphics (Vostro 3450 with HD 6470M? I don't think so...), let me know. I've also talked several times with AMD and asked them to provide me with new drivers and/or a different laptop. We'll see if they can do so, because honestly I'd love for AMD to have a more compelling offering in this area.mercblue281 - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - link
Can you guys please have someone proofread before posting?"...and they haven’t been able to get use one yet..."
In the FIRST paragraph? Really?
Come on! I know the internet has dumbed down the general population's grammar and spelling but you guys are better than this.
jeremyshaw - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - link
on the first page, you mention "HD6700m line is rebadged HD5600m part"which isn't true, since the HD6700m line has 480 shaders, and GDDR5, both of which are lacking from the HD5600m.
overseer - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - link
"If an OEM were willing to commit the resources necessary to at least do bi-monthly driver updates for switchable graphics, that would also be sufficient, but they’d need a proven track record of doing so—something no laptop manufacturer has ever achieved."Can't say I agree with you here.
I have an Acer Aspire 4745G (i3 330M + HD5650M, manually switchable) that I bought in Apr. 2010. Over a year and half Acer has been offering the GPU driver updates for it (once in a quarter or 2 months AFAICR).
Check the 4745G downloads on Acer's support page and you'll find the latest AMD VGA driver update which came out on 2011/09/07.
http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers