Switchable Graphics with Dell D3000 Dock(DisplayLink) and external monitor.

[justinholland]

Hi Forum,

I have a Dell 7537 i7 with Win 10 Pro x64, the system has switchable graphics with Intel HD 4400 and Nvidia GeForce GT 750M. I have a Dell D3000 dock and external monitor.

When the system is not connected to the dock the Switchable Graphics works perfectly. I have the Nvidia program preferences set to launch Fusion 360 using the Nvidia graphics and it does as expected. However when docked Fusion 360 will not launch with the Nvidia graphics and defaults to Intel.

All other programs seem to launch correctly as set by the Nvidia preferences, wether docked or undocked, the problem seems specific to Fusion 360.

I have tested the Win 10 right click "Run with Graphics processor..." option, but this does not work either!

Has anyone a solution to this problem?

Regards,

Justin.

[James.Youmatz]

Hi @justinholland,

Welcome to the Fusion 360 Community!

Honestly, I'm not too sure why the dock might be causing this issue - hopefully someone else in the forum has experienced this issue - but I do know we have a troubleshooting article here related to switchable graphics. One quick thought I had was, can you force Fusion to use the NVidia card through the NVidia Control Panel by adding Fusion to the list of programs it automatically runs with? Also, can we do the inverse and open the Intel utility (I forget what it is called, but is installed on most laptops) and ensure that all the options selected will not force the Intel card to work. One option if you need to get Fusion working in the meantime and you do not want to undock would be to edit your BIOS settings to disable switchable graphics. I do understand however this is not always a preferred method of moving forward. Let me know if any of those strategies work!

Also, I did a quick google search of switchable graphics issues when docked on a Dell computer (in general - not specific to Fusion) - and it does seem like there might be a few known issues. I'll try to keep digging and see what I find. 

Thanks, 

[justinholland]

Hi James,

Thanks for your quick reply, it's greatly appreciated.

I don't want to waste your time as I'm just a tinkerer, but I'd be surprised if others are not experiencing this issue, perhaps they are but are not aware of it!

It is quite strange as it seems only Fusion 360 is behaving this way. I suspect it was probably working and stopped a couple of updates ago, but that is a bit subjective as I cannot be sure about that. It may well be that a Fusion360, DisplayLink or Nvidia update has gone through in recent weeks as well as any number of Win 10 Pro updates.

I've realise today something else has changed, Fusion 360 use to complain(Performance / Compatibility Warning) about running under the Intel Graphics, it no longer does that since one of the recent Fusion 360 updates.

FYI, I've been studying Architectural CAD as part of a MOOC so I also have TurboCAD Deluxe, TCAD 14 and Envisioneer Personal Architect installed. For work I have copies DesignSpark PCB and DesignSpark Mechanical(Spaceclaim free from RS Components) and DraftSight Professional, they all launch under Nvidia graphics as the preferred option. So it is not like the Switchable Graphics is failing across the board, they are all still working docked or undocked at the moment.

It looks like you uncovered most of the resources I had tried before posting. FYI, the Nvidia Graphics Utility automatically lists Fusion 360 as well as Fusion Launcher to run with Nvidia high performance graphics, I tried also setting the manual options but no luck.

As you suggest I had previously tried disabling any Intel features that might interfere like power saving, etc., etc.. When on power(Always on power when Docked) I pretty much have every parameter I can find set to high performance.

Please keep in mind Fusion and Switchable Graphics work perfectly when not docked which is the odd thing, could it be a Fusion 360 / DisplayLink compatibility issue?

I'll look at the BIOS option, the only thing is that is greatly degrades battery life so I'd have to keep toggling between the two options when away from my desk.

Fusion 360 and AutoCAD 360 are great products by the way, perfect for me to try and consolidate my study and tinkering on a single platform. I cannot wait to see what the new options will be when they become available.

Thanks for your interest in my problem.

Regards,

Justin.

[Anonymous]

Hi there, 

I know this is an old thread, but I am experiencing the same issue and was wondering if anyone had found a solution. 

I am running a Dell Precision 5510 and on this particular model turning of switchable graphics in the BIOS is not a option. If I start Fusion 360 undocked and afterwards dock my computer, Fusion remains on the dedicated graphic card (Nvidia M1000). I haven't experienced problems with any other programs. 

Best regards, 

Bjarne 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Sorry, no resolution that I know of.

Fusion support seemed to indicate they don't really need the dedicated graphics card so looking into this might not be a priority. I have no reason to question that as I have another laptop that works reliably even with older hardware and graphic cards, but it's Acer and does not use Display Link Drivers like the Dell. Also the way the older laptop manages power and graphics is a bit different, it's not as focussed on energy management as the newer laptop. Both run Win 10 Pro Creators Update, so it's probably not a Windows 10 issue.

So I suspect the variability is a result of issues between the Dell hardware, drivers and Display Link Drivers. I say this because I have a few other programs that seem to want to use the dedicated NVidia graphics and they are all Dell Utilities like Dell Detect, Dell Support Assist(pcdrcui.exe), etc..

Sorry I can't offer more advice, I just ignore it now and it seems to have little effect.

[Anonymous]

I had same issue. Solution in my case - change setting in shortcut for program to "Run this program in compatibility mode" to windows 7. And now I can run Fusion using NVIDEA GPU. Hope it would help.