I am not a rich man, but I love Thinkpads for laptops so I shop for 5-year old models like the W500. It was around that time that Lenovo introduced graphics switching to save power, where you could in software manually switch the discrete graphics card to onboard or now IGP graphics to save power. This isn't supported in Windows XP, but it is in Vista and up.
I would like the same option on my desktop and wonder if it is possible.
I have an i3 clarkdale and honestly, the IGP looks nice and is fast for all things 2D and even some old 3D things. But I also have a GTX 260 that when I plug in, runs Starcraft 2 beautifully. My current solution is to open the case and unplug the video card when I am not using it. I save 10-15 bucks a month on my electric bill when I am not using the GTX 260, so this isn't peanuts I am talking here.
It would be nice to switch off the video card in software, resulting in no power draw. I am picturing a monitor with say a DVI input and an HDMI input, and I run the DVI from the card, and the HDMI from the on board IGP, and then just switch between them.
Can it be done?
I would like the same option on my desktop and wonder if it is possible.
I have an i3 clarkdale and honestly, the IGP looks nice and is fast for all things 2D and even some old 3D things. But I also have a GTX 260 that when I plug in, runs Starcraft 2 beautifully. My current solution is to open the case and unplug the video card when I am not using it. I save 10-15 bucks a month on my electric bill when I am not using the GTX 260, so this isn't peanuts I am talking here.
It would be nice to switch off the video card in software, resulting in no power draw. I am picturing a monitor with say a DVI input and an HDMI input, and I run the DVI from the card, and the HDMI from the on board IGP, and then just switch between them.
Can it be done?