310m/Intel GPU Optimus

[plasticinedean]

Hey aquamac,

I'm having trouble with a NVIDIA 310m gpu, in 10.6.4. My laptop has NVIDIA optimus technology, which means that it likes to use the inbuilt intel GPU on the i5 processor. I can enable the NVIDIA card using efi strings, so that it displays the correct information, however all the display adapters seem to be connected to the intel GPU, not the NVIDIA. I can turn off the NVIDIA card in the BIOS, but not the intel. Any ideas on how to get around this?

[aquamac]

Hi, interesting article here:

www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/13/nvidia_says_new_macbook_pro_graphics_switching_isnt_optimus.html

Looks like apple are not using optimus! Do you get a good picture if you connect an external display? I don't think you can override the intel unfortunately.

[plasticinedean]

unfortunately the external VGA display appears to be running through the Intel card. There is also a HDMI port, but i have no method of testing it's output. Do you know of any way of getting OS X to ignore the existence of a piece of hardware?

[aquamac]

Not sure how to change that or if it is at all possible. You could try a HDMI to DVI adapter.

[plasticinedean]

Thanks aquamac, I just bought a HDMI to DVI adapter on ebay. Should arrive in a week or two. I also wrote to ASUS (my laptop manufacturer) to see if they can release a BIOS that allows the disabling of the Intel GPU. We'll see if they respond or not.

[plasticinedean]

The short answer of ASUS response was "can't be done". I read a bit further into the optimus setup, and quite frankly i don't think it's going to happen on OSX. Hopefully the guys over at tonmacx86 will be able to hack the intel HD GPU. www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2348.

My only other idea consisted of somehow connecting a software display to the NVIDIA card, but i haven't seen any real method of acheiving this.