[SOLVED] Will the i5 11400H performance increase if I disable the iGPU and instead use the dedicated graphics card ?

[Ephraim007]

I recently bought an MSI laptop i5 11400H that has 4GB of dedicated graphics. The main reason for the purchase is the fact that the CPU has 6 cores, 12 threads which I can use for rendering but now the system only uses 4 cores for rendering and the other 2 for graphics. (dedicated GPU has 0% utilization).

If I disable the iGPU, forcing the laptop to use dGPU, will it cause the CPU to use all 6 cores for rendering or will it make no difference?

I am aware that the battery life will decrease since the dGPU is less efficient more power-hungry than the iGPU.
I am using the laptop for interior designing but the program doesn't support CUDA GPU rendering which is why I would like to know if I can somehow get the CPU to focus all its resources to help with the rendering process.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Do you have the option to disable the iGPU in BIOS? If so, just disabling the iGPU in Device Manager won't help. What I think you're undergoing is that the laptop is having a thermal throttling issue. Mind sharing the model of your MSI laptop? An SKU will help us two fold. As a side note, please use CPU-Z and HWMonitor to parse images of what you're seeing.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

the CPU has 6 cores, 12 threads which I can use for rendering but now the system only uses 4 cores for rendering and the other 2 for graphics.

You are mistaken here. The iGPU does not use any of the cores on the CPU (although it is built into the chip).

Disabling the iGPU in bios, and selecting the DGPU will give better performance for aythig that uses a GPU. As @Lutfij explained, it's possible you are experiencing thermal throttling, which happens in most gaming laptops. There are ways to negate this.

New thermal paste, undervolt, laptop cooling pad.

 

[boju]

Aren't laptop screens usually wired to igpu and dgpu routes through that? Meaning if igpu were to be disabled would mean no display at all?

 

[geofelt]

A laptop with both dgpu and igpu will default to dgpu when running plugged in.

When running on battery, igpu is used to conserve battery run time.
Other adjustments to display brightness and cpu power are also made.

For best performance, run plugged in.
You should also be able to select via nvidia control panel to use igpu.
Since you have the ability, try both. I doubt you would see a difference.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Aren't laptop screens usually wired to igpu and dgpu routes through that? Meaning if igpu were to be disabled would mean no display at all?

I'm not sure. My HP Omen laptop with Intel I7-9750h, has an iGPU, however, it's not recognised at all in anyway, and the system only recognizes the dGPU (GTX1660ti).

I know there is Nvidia Optimus, which allows both iGPU and discreet to work together (switching depending on the task).

But then this kinda suggests you are correct: What You Need to Know About NVIDIA Optimus (howtogeek.com)

edit: I guess it could be down to different manufacturers, bios set ups etc.

 

[Ephraim007]

Thank you all for the answers and for helping me understand how it actually works.

I noticed the laptop doesn't use the dgpu when on battery mode, as soon as it's plugged in, it only uses the dgpu.
There is almost no CPU performance increase, but GPU performance increases significantly.

Again, thank you for all the replies!