0

I have a laptop with Nvidia Gt555m graphics card + optimus. I was wondering how I can make it so that I can play games on Ubuntu. I now have windows on my laptop and the only thing keeping me there are some games that I like to play, so if I could install drivers for Ubuntu I would gladly make the switch.

Improve this question
0

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

You can use bumblebee, but the graphics performance of the dedicated GT555M will not be very good, but it will be still much better than the integrated graphics. You can also just install nvidia-current or nvidia-experimental-310 (that one has much better performance) and remove Nouveau.

The problem is that you have to choose between battery life and graphics performance, because there is no way how to make Optimus technology fully working on Linux, because Nvidia won't make optimus drivers for linux.

And if you are asking about games compatibility, you can use Wine, or play games specially created (or ported) for linux (and list of these games is getting bigger, because of Steam for Linux)

Improve this answer
7
  • I don't mind using only the dedicated card but how can I do that? (not an option in the bios) Also what do you mean by removing Nouveau? (kinda new).
    – Μάριος Θεοφάνους
    Feb 9, 2013 at 23:39
  • Are you sure you want to use just nvidia card? it is awful battery eater and it causes great temperatures. the battery will last only a half or even less than with windows. If you are sure try these two commands: 'sudo apt-get autoremove xserver-xorg-video-nouveau' and 'sudo apt-get install nvidia-experimental-310' (it it says that this package does not exist try nvidia-experimental-304) and restart. But there is possibility of running into problems, I had some problems, but for me helped installing newest linux-headers-generic (with apt-get install) and 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm'.
    – jandurek
    Feb 10, 2013 at 16:13
  • Well it would be really great if there was a way to switch between them but I would prefer the intergrated if there is no choice (so that I can play games). Thanks for the info!!!
    – Μάριος Θεοφάνους
    Feb 10, 2013 at 19:24
  • There is the way to switch them - Bumblebee, but the performance will not be as goog as with nvidia proprietary drivers, but it is still better than just integrated one (Intel HD Graphics I guess) You can try Bumblebee and if the performance of Nvidia card will be too bad you can switch to nvidia proprietary drivers. Look here at installation instructions: bumblebee-project.org/install.html
    – jandurek
    Feb 10, 2013 at 21:31
  • 1
    I tried using only the dedicated card but to no avail. I finally resorted to bumblebee with primus which makes things better than standard bumblebee. Here are the link in case anyone needs help later: steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/6/846939854395110175 wiki.ubuntu.com/Bumblebee webupd8.org/2012/11/primus-better-performance-and-less.html ivegotavirus.com/how-to-fix-bumblebee-on-ubuntu-12-10
    – Μάριος Θεοφάνους
    Feb 28, 2013 at 4:38

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .