legion 5, 5800h+3060: is it possible to disable the 3060 and using the graphics of the 5800h to save power?

[glsn]

the 5800h has an integrated graphics
it should also be more efficient, so I can save battery powered

also is it possible to power only the pc, without charging the battery when plugging it to the socket?

 

[Ferd]

You can disable the gpu in device manager,
I don’t think it’s possible to disable battery charging when it’s connected it will automatically charge and sometimes provide additional juice for the laptop , what is the end goal of disabled battery ?

 

[kayjay010101]

If optimus is enabled then the dGPU (3060) should be idle unless you're in a game or other GPU workload. Optimus means all video (on the monitor's screen at least, often HDMI ports and such run off the dGPU no matter what) is routed from the dGPU to the iGPU and then to the screen. The dGPU is disabled in light workloads to save power, letting the iGPU take over.
Check whether it's enabled in the BIOS/Lenovo Vantage. If it is, that's the best battery lifetime you're gonna get. Keep in mind Optimus is a tradeoff, disabling it actually results in better framerates when gaming because the dGPU doesn't have to go through the iGPU first. But of course with Optimus disabled you get horrendous battery life.
You can check if the dGPU is being used by using some setting in NVIDIA control panel, I can't recall what it's called off the top of my head but it adds a toolbar widget that lists what programs are using the GPU, which you can then in turn kill in task manager.

And no, there is no additional circuitry to bypass the battery so the battery will always be charged no matter what. The only way around it would be to disconnect the battery

You can disable the gpu in device manager,
I don’t think it’s possible to disable battery charging when it’s connected it will automatically charge and sometimes provide additional juice for the laptop , what is the end goal of disabled battery ?

Usually not a good idea on laptops since disabling it in device manager usually just prevents the dGPU from going into idle and thus uses a lot more power

 

[Ferd]

Can also uninstall the drivers ? , honestly it’s a strange thing to do , usually dedicated gpu won’t consume any significant amount of power unless you run demanding apps , in win 10 you can choose which gpu to use I think “high performance “ is for dgpu and that should solve it ....unless we know his goal from this , there are many ways to stop a dgpu from working but does it make any difference? Probably nothing significant.

 

[kayjay010101]

Can also uninstall the drivers ? , honestly it’s a strange thing to do , usually dedicated gpu won’t consume any significant amount of power unless you run demanding apps , in win 10 you can choose which gpu to use I think “high performance “ is for dgpu and that should solve it ....unless we know his goal from this , there are many ways to stop a dgpu from working but does it make any difference? Probably nothing significant.

Again Optimus is what achieves this
If Optimus is disabled, everything will run off the dGPU (regardless of what Windows is set to use, mind you) which in this case is a constant 40-115W (if my Google-fu has served me right) load. Enabling Optimus will let the dGPU go into idle, consuming only a few watts at most. It's a massive gain for battery power by enabling Optimus, it usually extends the battery lifetime 2x.

 

[Ferd]

Again Optimus is what achieves this
If Optimus is disabled, everything will run off the dGPU (regardless of what Windows is set to use, mind you) which in this case is a constant 40-115W (if my Google-fu has served me right) load. Enabling Optimus will let the dGPU go into idle, consuming only a few watts at most. It's a massive gain for battery power by enabling Optimus, it usually extends the battery lifetime 2x.

I see , that’s interesting...well let’s say you just installed windows fresh , you installed everything except dgpu drivers , how would optimus make any difference in this situation and where are the battery gains coming from ?

 

[kayjay010101]

I see , that’s interesting...well let’s say you just installed windows fresh , you installed everything except dgpu drivers , how would optimus make any difference in this situation and where are the battery gains coming from ?

With Nvidia cards specifically, without Optimus/NVIDIA drivers the dGPU has no idea what state it's supposed to be in and just runs 2d clocks non-idle which consumes usually 40W, tanking battery life. Windows isn't able to assign the dGPU heavier tasks either as it's not recognized (on account of lacking drivers), so your performance is out the window too. Loss-loss, bad idea. Install drivers. Optimus is a driver feature so it wouldn't make a difference without the driver as you can't enable it.

Optimus is a must if you've got a gaming laptop and want a semblance of battery life. Disabling it when plugged in is a good idea though for max performance, again it's a tradeoff (Optimus on = more battery life, 80-85% max performance when needed, 0% performance [iGPU takes over] when not needed. Optimus off = less battery life, 100% performance when needed, 40-50% performance [iGPU never used, so at idle the wattage used is about 2x what it would be with Optimus on] when not needed)

 

[Ferd]

With Nvidia cards specifically, without Optimus/NVIDIA drivers the dGPU has no idea what state it's supposed to be in and just runs 2d clocks non-idle which consumes usually 40W, tanking battery life. Windows isn't able to assign the dGPU heavier tasks either as it's not recognized (on account of lacking drivers), so your performance is out the window too. Loss-loss, bad idea. Install drivers. Optimus is a driver feature so it wouldn't make a difference without the driver as you can't enable it.

Optimus is a must if you've got a gaming laptop and want a semblance of battery life. Disabling it when plugged in is a good idea though for max performance, again it's a tradeoff (Optimus on = more battery life, 80-85% max performance when needed, 0% performance [iGPU takes over] when not needed. Optimus off = less battery life, 100% performance when needed, 40-50% performance [iGPU never used, so at idle the wattage used is about 2x what it would be with Optimus on] when not needed)

Good information, I had no idea a gpu can consume that much when no drivers are installed, thanks for sharing the knowledge

 

[Zareek]

Lenovo used to have a battery utility that would allow you to set the levels on a battery for when to charge and when to not charge. For example: When below 50% charge to 80% and things like that.

I don't currently own or work with newer Lenovo laptops, so I'm not sure if it still exists. Also, that was on a ThinkPad, business class machines might be offered different utilities.

 

[glsn]

If optimus is enabled then the dGPU (3060) should be idle unless you're in a game or other GPU workload. Optimus means all video (on the monitor's screen at least, often HDMI ports and such run off the dGPU no matter what) is routed from the dGPU to the iGPU and then to the screen. The dGPU is disabled in light workloads to save power, letting the iGPU take over.
Check whether it's enabled in the BIOS/Lenovo Vantage. If it is, that's the best battery lifetime you're gonna get. Keep in mind Optimus is a tradeoff, disabling it actually results in better framerates when gaming because the dGPU doesn't have to go through the iGPU first. But of course with Optimus disabled you get horrendous battery life.
You can check if the dGPU is being used by using some setting in NVIDIA control panel, I can't recall what it's called off the top of my head but it adds a toolbar widget that lists what programs are using the GPU, which you can then in turn kill in task manager.

And no, there is no additional circuitry to bypass the battery so the battery will always be charged no matter what. The only way around it would be to disconnect the battery

Usually not a good idea on laptops since disabling it in device manager usually just prevents the dGPU from going into idle and thus uses a lot more power

meanwhile there is no way to use both at the same time?

I mean I'm rendering with the 3060, meanwhile I'm browsing with firefox, if I do that I do see that the rendering is being slower down, so I suppose that other tasks do also use the 3060

is there any way to keep locked the 3060 to do only that specific task (rendering), while forcing the igpu of the 5800h to do the rest?

 

[kayjay010101]

meanwhile there is no way to use both at the same time?

I mean I'm rendering with the 3060, meanwhile I'm browsing with firefox, if I do that I do see that the rendering is being slower down, so I suppose that other tasks do also use the 3060

is there any way to keep locked the 3060 to do only that specific task (rendering), while forcing the igpu of the 5800h to do the rest?

That's what the toggle in Windows is for, you should be able to set certain .exe's to use either iGPU or dGPU