14 DAY TRIAL // Among the many products and technologies on display at this year's CeBIT expo in Hanover, Germany, is a new feature that NVIDIA invented for notebooks, netbooks and other devices with both integrated and discrete graphics. Known as the Optimus, the technology was developed by the GPU maker mainly in order to allow mobile PCs to automatically switch between using the integrated graphics and the laptop's discrete GPU.
However, until recently, it was still not completely clear whether the card was totally off or just in a very low-power idle mode. To clear this up, NVIDIA published a rather interesting video in which, instead of using voltage measurements to prove the “off” status of the graphics, the demonstrators resorted to a more straightforward method.
The more straightforward method is the procedure by which the discrete GPU is simply pulled out of the assembly while the computer itself is running. The video shows an experimental configuration in which the GPU, along with its fan, is completely inactive unless a graphically intensive task is commenced. To prove this, the people in the video simply took hold of it and yanked it out. Strangely enough, the operating system didn't seem to mind. After that, the GPU was plugged back inside and was immediately activated when a 3D application was initiated.
This goes to show that the NVIDIA Optimus technology seamlessly powers off the discrete graphics while the system is running basic tasks like web browsing or document editing. This approach is far more power efficient than the one that has the card running in idle mode because, in such cases, the device still draws power.
The Optimus has already started being implemented in mobile PCs, such as the laptops from the ASUS Bamboo series. Of course, the technology is not limited to such products only, with other devices that will implement the technology in the future being NVIDIA ION-based nettops, netbooks and all-in-one PCs.