A few basic display adapter questions


  1. Posts : 271
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #1

    A few basic display adapter questions


    New Lenovo P50 Win10 Nvidia Quadro M1000M (Driver 8/27/15, 10.18.13.5404).

    The Nvidia was part of the base package--didn't really need it.

    1. If I have this fancy adapter why then is the Intel HD Graphics 530 also running per device manager? Shouldn't one or the other be automatically disabled?

    It appears that the Nvidia is not the default operator of the two. I needed to load a graphics program by its .exe. I had right clicked for another reason and was given the option to (paraphrased) 'use high performance graphics' which to me indicates the Nvidia otherwise apparently would not have been used. This seems nuts. If there are two display adapters and one is clearly superior, it should always be used?

    2. If a second monitor is VGA, DVI can I attach it to the machine's HDMI port with an adapter (machine doesn't have a VGA port) or no? Btw, the machine also has a Thunderbolt™ 3 Port.

    Mark
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 4,453
    Win 11 Pro 22000.708
       #2

    1) Web search for NVidia's Optimus technology. (It uses the Intel graphics for low-performance purposes, and the nVidia GPU for high performance stuff. The point is power saving in a notebook.)

    2) Yes, there are adapters from HDMI to VGA and DVI. (I'm a little surprised about the VGA: it's analog, and I didn't think there were any analog video signals on an HDMI port. Judging from the price of an HDMI to VGA adapter, it must be passive.) There are also Thunderbolt adapters: Thunderbolt is a superset of DisplayPort.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 271
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    1) I use a laptop 98+% of the time on commercial power. I do not see any cons to disabling the Intel adapter. I see these benefits: A. giving any graphic CPU time back to non graphic use, B. Since the Nvidia has 2GB of RAM it likely wouldn't need to use the system's memory, C. If you have it (the better adapter) you may as well use it. I have no dog in this fight. If for any reason the aforementioned is illogical or would create some problem I'm unaware of let me know. Otherwise I guess I'd disable the Intel adapter not having the need for the technology that 'seamlessly switches between the two processors based upon demand/energy use'?

    2) Here's the reason for asking. Last evening the adapter arrived, I attached the Acer VGA to the HDMI port and the Acer seemed to work fine (except I couldn't get the monitors to switch in extended to the laptop being '1' whereas I had no problem with the old Win7 Lenovo T61). Until I got an error 'Display driver stopped working' and the Acer image was gone. I rebooted to no avail. Display/Detect found no second monitor. Same situation this a.m. That's why I was thinking the problem was the VGA/HDMI transition. Frankly, I don't know what else to try/look for (I've reattached the connector at the HDMI port and the VGA end has been screwed to the monitor). It could be the connector but I have no way of testing and I'm not sure that the driver failure would relate to the signal adapter. The connector was ~$8 and a VGA/Thunderbolt is ~$12-22. Both of which are a lot less than a new compliant monitor. Suggestions?

    (edit): The driver error didn't say which driver. Maybe I should try disabling each driver separately to see if the monitor problem is related to one or the other adapters????

    Mark
    Last edited by markg2; 07 May 2016 at 13:57. Reason: Thought of something
      My Computer


 

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