Using NVIDIA's Power-Saving GPU Technology

NVIDIA® power-saving GPU technology (NVIDIA® Optimus™ technology for notebooks) automatically turns the high-performance NVIDIA GPU on to accelerate programs or displays. The technology optimizes the balance between power savings and performance, and is available only with Windows 7 and later.

When you click the NVIDIA GPU Activity icon in the notification area of the Windows taskbar, the window shows which programs and displays are using the NVIDIA GPU. If there are no programs or displays using the NVIDIA GPU, then the window indicates that your PC is in power saving mode.

Note: Your PC manufacturer may provide a custom Windows power plan that prevents programs from using the high-performance NVIDIA processor.

How do I specify which graphics processor my program uses?

When you run a program, the NVIDIA driver automatically selects the appropriate graphics processor to use for the best performance - either the integrated graphics processor or the high-performance NVIDIA GPU.

When programs are run on displays connected to the integrated graphics, you can customize this selection in two ways:

Notes:

Programs and videos that launch on external displays that are driven by the NVIDIA GPU will always use the NVIDIA GPU rather than the integrated graphics processor, regardless of the "preferred graphics processor" selection.
Your selection may cause some programs to not run correctly or may result in shorter battery life. If you experience this, select "Auto-select" or the default selection.
When you modify the "Preferred Graphics Processor" setting, programs that are already running will continue to use the same graphics processor uninterrupted. To allow the "Preferred Graphics Processor" settings to take effect, you must restart the program.
The driver may override your selection if the program requires a specific graphics processor.
For example, some programs require the high-performance NVIDIA GPU for CUDA processing or advanced DirectX support not available with the integrated graphics. Other programs may need to run on a specific graphics processor if the program has compatibility issues with the other processor.
On some notebooks or PCs, the NVIDIA Control Panel offers additional display configuration options not available through the standard Windows control panel. See the Display Page Help Optimus Note for further information.

How do I know which programs, displays, and videos are using the NVIDIA high-performance GPU?

Click the NVIDIA GPU Activity icon in the Windows notification area. The window indicates:

Which displays and video are accelerated using the NVIDIA high-performance GPU.
Which display connections are driven by the NVIDIA high-performance GPU.

If there is no GPU Activity icon, click Desktop from the NVIDIA Control Panel menu bar and select Display GPU Activity Icon in Notification Area. (See Using the Desktop Menu)