[SOLVED] Why does my Integrated Grapics provide better performance than dedicated???

[Ageforce]

I have a NVIDIA Geforce MX450 graphics card. My integrated graphics is Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics.


For some reason when I run games with my integrated graphics I get substantially better performance than when I use my dedicated graphics.

Minecraft with integrated graphics card:
50-100 FPS.

Minecraft with dedicated graphics card:
5-20 FPS.

These tests was taken at the same condition and time on my lenovo laptop computer.

I already tried the following:

• Downloading the newest graphics drivers for my graphics card.
• Downloading a new firmware update for my computer through windows update
• Adjusting settings in the NVIDIA control panel

I find it hard to believe that my integrated graphics are better than my dedicated. I don't know what to do at this point, so any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[rgd1101]

running both on directx12?
check gpu temp?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Perhaps this will give you some insight:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Iris-Xe-G7-96EUs-vs-GeForce-MX450_10364_10349.247598.0.html

Just because it's a discrete card doesn't necessarily make it better than the integrated in all cases.

 

[Ageforce]

running both on directx12?
check gpu temp?

Yes i am running on directx12.
GPU Temp is at a stable level.

 

[Ageforce]

Perhaps this will give you some insight:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Iris-Xe-G7-96EUs-vs-GeForce-MX450_10364_10349.247598.0.html

Just because it's a discrete card doesn't necessarily make it better than the integrated in all cases.

The MX450 has better stats than the Intel Iris, even if they were to be close, it wouldn't make sense that the MX450 performs substantially worse.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

It's an entry level laptop GPU. Don't be expecting 3080 desktop level performance.

 

[Ageforce]

It's an entry level laptop GPU. Don't be expecting 3080 desktop level performance.

I'm not expecting it to perform at the highest level, it does not make sense that a dedicated GPU, actually performs way worse than an integrated GPU with inferior stats. Even though it's entry level.

I don't know if any software/driver changes are required to be made in order to improve the GPU's performance, or if it really is worse...

Are you stating that it's worse?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

You saw (if you actually followed my link) that the two are virtually identical in overall performance. Yes, there are one or two areas where the MX is better by quite a bit. However, it remains that the MX is NOT substantially better than the Iris.

 

[Ageforce]

You saw (if you actually followed my link) that the two are virtually identical in overall performance. Yes, there are one or two areas where the MX is better by quite a bit. However, it remains that the MX is NOT substantially better than the Iris.

So i'm guessing that the reason for MX450's way worse performance is that dedicated NVIDIA graphic cards just doesn't work well on laptops? I'm asking this since you said that they are nearly identical.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Dedicated NVidia GPU's perform very well in laptops. However, in this case the integrated GPU just happens to be a close match to the (I'll state it again) entry level NVidia GPU. Nothing short of replacing that low level GPU is going to change things here.

 

[Ageforce]

I'm also wondering why Lenovo would even consider putting a dedicated graphic card in their laptop computer when the integrated is actually pretty close in performance.

 

[Ageforce]

Dedicated NVidia GPU's perform very well in laptops. However, in this case the integrated GPU just happens to be a close match to the (I'll state it again) entry level NVidia GPU. Nothing short of replacing that low level GPU is going to change things here.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JPImvsrRHg


I recommend you to check out this video, it compares the Iris integrated graphics with the MX450. As i said, i find it very odd that it performs worse.

 

[TerryLaze]

Dedicated NVidia GPU's perform very well in laptops. However, in this case the integrated GPU just happens to be a close match to the (I'll state it again) entry level NVidia GPU. Nothing short of replacing that low level GPU is going to change things here.

Yeah but then you would expect it to also perform closely to the iGPU and not at 10% of what the iGPU does. 5 instead of 50FPS, that's 10% of the performance of the iGPU that's not close at all.

Any laptop has a very tight TDP and if the CPU is running at full speed there is not much left for the GPU and the other way around, the iGPU might just be getting more power because the CPU is always aware of it being there.
Maybe your laptop even has TDP settings in its bios where you can choose how to split the TDP between the CPU and the GPU.
Maybe putting the power settings in windows to power saver will be enough to give the GPU more power.

 

[Karadjgne]

Most laptops run igpu constantly. For low load projects, the igpu is default, only when hitting a higher load does the dgpu kick on, and they usually only when plugged into mains, or the battery doesn't last long.

With dgpu active, the igpu takes a secondary role, supporting the dgpu by doing extra stuff like physX calculations, background tasking etc. The load is somewhat split between the 2 with the dgpu doing the lions share of any 3d rendering. Disabling the igpu can have a negative impact as that then forces the dgpu to do all the work, and if not plugged in, will be further handicapped by power limits.

 

[Ageforce]

Is there something i can do to resolve my issue?

 

[rgd1101]

exact model of this laptop?
running plug in or battery during the game?
as far as I know Minecraft is not that high graphic. did you have rx on?

 

[Ageforce]

exact model of this laptop?
running plug in or battery during the game?
as far as I know Minecraft is not that high graphic. did you have rx on?

Thinkpad T15 Gen 2

As i mentioned in my post, both of the tests ran in the same condition. My laptop was plugged in.

I have no idea what RX is.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

Sorry about all the dumb comments from before. Of course the MX450 should perform better in games than IRIS XE. You should expect 30%-50% better framerate in games using the MX450 over the integrated graphics.

It is still pretty crazy that they shipped a laptop with a discrete GPU only 30-50% faster than the iGPU, but there you are. Minecraft should still be getting better FPS on the discrete GPU, not much worse like you are experiencing. Something is wrong.

Since you're running with the laptop plugged in, This can either be software or cooling related.

The fact you've updated drivers and are able to mess around in Nvidia Control panel suggests it's probably not software. But you never know with Laptops, it can be a little crazy all the crap they install from the factory these days. Lenovo are far from the worst for bloatware, but I must ask, did you reinstall Windows on this Laptop, or are you using the install that it came with?

Second of all, we're gonna need to see those temps. Install temperature monitoring software and post the temps before, during and after running Minecraft.

Third of all, is Minecraft the only game that is slow? Do other games run faster on the GPU, as they should do? Download something like 3DMark and run it on both iGPU and discrete GPU, what are the scores please?

 

[Joseph_138]

You saw (if you actually followed my link) that the two are virtually identical in overall performance. Yes, there are one or two areas where the MX is better by quite a bit. However, it remains that the MX is NOT substantially better than the Iris.

I wouldn't even consider that page to a valid indicator of performance, since it uses a lot of synthetic benchmarks, which can vary greatly from actual performance in games. Just because a GPU test well in benchmarks, doesn't mean it will perform just as well in actual games. Those benchmarks are just best guesses as to how games will be optimized to run in the future, and the guesses are sometimes far off from reality. Games that deviate from the benchmark testing procedures will run faster or slower than the benchmark scores would suggest.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

Just because a GPU test well in benchmarks, doesn't mean it will perform just as well in actual games.

I mean yes and no. Some benchmarks are more indicative of real-world performance than others, for sure, but when you compare the IRIS XE and MX450 on UserBenchmark, whose benchmarking is very indicative of real-world performance, the MX450 is faster in every resepect other than reflections, which Minecraft doesn't even have unless you install a Shader pack, so it makes no sense for Minecraft to be running slower on it than the iGPU:

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GeForce-MX450-vs-Intel-Iris-Xe/m1358368vsm1268515

Clearly there is some problem here. Minecraft comes in a few different versions, some perform better than others. I think if we knew if all games were slower on the GPU than on the iGPU, or if it was only Minecraft, we might be closer to knowing the cause.

As an aside, turning reflections and dynamic lighting off or at least down to Low in all games seems to be a good choice for the MX450.

 

[rgd1101]

https://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-MX450-N18S-G5-GPU-Benchmarks-and-Specs.461020.0.html
there are 4 variant, could be that the laptop have the lower end one

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

Yes the Thinkpad T15 Gen 2 does use the 12W chipset which is underclocked to 930Mhz. But even still this GPU should be at least 20% faster than iGPU.

 

[rgd1101]

Yes the Thinkpad T15 Gen 2 does use the 12W chipset which is underclocked to 930Mhz. But even still this GPU should be at least 20% faster than iGPU.

not really,
https://www.notebookcheck.net/GeForce-MX450-vs-Iris-Xe-G7-80EUs_10349_10395.247598.0.html
if you taking about half on the gaming benchmark

 

[froggx]

Benchmark more games. If they are also slower for the dGPU, then the problem is with the GPUs setup. If the dGPU performs better (as would be expected), the problem is something with Minecraft. If the problem is with Minecraft, ask yourself if you really need for it to run faster than 50-100fps. If you don't need triple digit refresh rates in Minecraft, then do you really need to solve this problem anymore?

 

[Ageforce]

Sorry about all the dumb comments from before. Of course the MX450 should perform better in games than IRIS XE. You should expect 30%-50% better framerate in games using the MX450 over the integrated graphics.

It is still pretty crazy that they shipped a laptop with a discrete GPU only 30-50% faster than the iGPU, but there you are. Minecraft should still be getting better FPS on the discrete GPU, not much worse like you are experiencing. Something is wrong.

Since you're running with the laptop plugged in, This can either be software or cooling related.

The fact you've updated drivers and are able to mess around in Nvidia Control panel suggests it's probably not software. But you never know with Laptops, it can be a little crazy all the crap they install from the factory these days. Lenovo are far from the worst for bloatware, but I must ask, did you reinstall Windows on this Laptop, or are you using the install that it came with?

Second of all, we're gonna need to see those temps. Install temperature monitoring software and post the temps before, during and after running Minecraft.

Third of all, is Minecraft the only game that is slow? Do other games run faster on the GPU, as they should do? Download something like 3DMark and run it on both iGPU and discrete GPU, what are the scores please?

Thank you for your informative reply.

I'm on phone right now, so I can only answer one of your questions. I will come back tomorrow with proper answers.

When I got the laptop I decided to download a fully clean installation of windows (Installation through USB, media creation tool from Microsoft) so not the version from Lenovo. I experienced problems with the windows installation though, I did not have any drivers installed and could not even get internet. So I download the version of windows that came with the computer on a USB key and went back to the factory state.


I might try to go with a clean installation of windows, just have to get a Network driver on there and I'll be good to go. You can never know what Lenovo is hiding in their factory version.