Is it possible to set up switching between video cards on a stationary computer?

Question

Iron

Good day!
I have 2 graphics cards, one gtx1060 with 2 fans and another gtx710 with passive cooling. I asked myself this question, is it possible to make the gtx710 work at low loads, since it has low power consumption and does not make noise, and when there is a heavy load on the video, would the gtx1060 turn on?
If this is really done, then tell me how or where can I read about it?

Answer 1

Well, laptop switchable graphics are hardware/software complex, not just software. PDF on the structure of N-vidia Optimus. In short, a whole controller is used that pulls information on the load and manages both the display process and the power scheme, not forgetting to communicate with the driver in the OS so as not to beat the processes already running on the card being turned off .. And here the dog is buried , because if, according to the old scheme (manual switching, sometimes even with a reboot), there have been patches for a long time that allow you to switch drivers, then one driver for the video adapter is not enough - you need feedback with power, which by default in desktop cards you can’t get enough of - it they are simply not needed there (the additional power supply does not have any signal wires: GND and 12V only), i.e. You have to cross both bridges. There are no problems on the laptop - there the video path is soldered on the board, and the second half of it is generally part of the CPU - everything is nearby, everything is at the same time, which cannot be said about the desktop, whose video path is on PCI. I've never seen the ability to control individual power branches out of the box, but I've seen guys do it through an additional controller (Arduino again ..).
Therefore .. even if, by some almost magical coincidence, you have a motherboard that supports programmatic power management, then you have to write your own driver for the desktop version of video adapters. =)
Proceeding from this decision, I propose purely collective farm ones:
1. Brazenly plug the 1060th speed controller into the cooler's power circuit (150 r ready or 30 rubles for a variable resistor). If desired, you can tie it to a temperature sensor.
2. The same, but programmatically. I am sure that for the 1060th there is a speed control, incl. some pop Afterburner, which can be taught to increase the speed according to the conditions.
3. Script to cut and cut off the equipment in the device manager. There are obviously two scripts - for both OSes. We turned on the MAC - set the start of a forced shutdown in autorun, switched to Win - the same thing. But this is ideologically, specifically, it is necessary to dig very deep into the OS and automation options. Under Win there is AutoIt, and Powershell should cope. But this is a tough option, of course, because there are no fuses from the output to the monitor. You will cut off the video path quite harshly and turn on another one. Given that video card manufacturers generally do not recommend pulling the outputs to the monitor "hot", everything is at your own peril and risk.

Answer 2

Only manually. In the device manager: turn on another video card, plug the cable there, turn off the old one. The only way. A reboot may be required.
And in general, all this is a whim. 1060 and any other modern video card in desktop or idle mode consumes little power. If you are not sure about this, then it is easier to modify the BIOS and turn on the minimum voltage and frequency in 2d mode.