can I specify which GPU to use for which apps?

[FlippedBit]

I've got a desktop with an AMD HD7950 and an integrated Intel HD530. Without splitting up my monitors across the two GPUs, is there a way to keep the monitors connected to the AMD card (the default GPU) and to selectively have some applications use the Intel GPU for OpenGL?

I couldn't find anything in the Radeon Crimson or Intel driver settings for specifying a GPU.

Host system is Win7 x64.

 

[Ferzerp]

The Lucid software might let you do this. I am not sure.

 

[Madpacket]

Lucid was the only software that allowed this AFAIK but it was a buggy mess that never really worked.

 

[FlippedBit]

Seems to be no shortage of buggy messes related to graphics.

I found some posts about the Lucid Virtu software but they were several years old and I couldn't find the actual software. It seemed like that was some kind of virtualization software, anyway.

I'm actually trying to work around another bug. VirtualBox has an issue with my AMD drivers, so 3D acceleration is not working. I was trying to coax VirtualBox into using the Intel GPU instead, but VBox doesn't actually have any direct GPU access. It just uses OpenGL (up to the host to dictate which GPU gets the calls).

I tried switching my second monitor to the Intel GPU just for giggles and running my VM on the second monitor. It didn't work. VirtualBox is still trying to load the broken AMD drivers, and when the graphical desktop in my VM tried to boot there was a memory access violation.

The other thing I would be willing to try is to use the Intel GPU as my main / default, and hook up both monitors there. Then, I could use my AMD GPU only for games and certain apps that I specify... but it's the same problem. I'm not sure if/how to achieve that.

There were some instructions for doing that on laptops with Optimus, but nothing pertaining to desktops.

 

[Jembo]

DisplayFusion has the ability to specify which apps open on which monitor. It's great software but it's not free.

 

[FlippedBit]

Thanks Jembo, but I'm actually trying to trick the app into using the other GPU as opposed to the other monitor. The only reason I mentioned the second monitor in my last post is because I had split my displays between the two GPUs, and so I thought that if I started VirtualBox on the second display then it would use that GPU. It would have probably worked for most apps but VirtualBox does some tricky things with drivers due to its security hardening. The app was still seeing my AMD graphics as the default/only GPU.

 

[v8envy]

Nvidia Optimus did exactly this -- for apps they knew would benefit from GPU the rendering calls would be done by the 'external' GPU. "Under MS-Windows the nVidia driver also provides the option to manually select the GPU in the right-click menu upon launching an executable."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus

Will you be able to roll a similar solution on your own? Maybe, check out how Bumblebee does things.

 

[TheELF]

The only reason I mentioned the second monitor in my last post is because I had split my displays between the two GPUs, and so I thought that if I started VirtualBox on the second display then it would use that GPU.

Get into windows display options and select your secondary display (intel HD) as your primary display, now anything you start will use the igpu.

 

[FlippedBit]

I didn't know about Bumblebee; that's one to keep an eye on.

Good point about making the display primary, TheELF. I'll give it a shot!

 

[tweakboy]

ATI = no go