Using nVidia Graphics card on Kubuntu 13.04

Question

I tried to install the nVidia graphics card using the answer in "You do not appear to be using the nvidia x server"(screenshot included) since I was having rendering issues and my laptop generates a lot of heat irrespective of graphics usage.

But now my screen resolution is reduced to 640x480, though the heating problem seems to be solved. When I open the nVidia settings using optirun nvidia-settings -c :8 it shows the "X Server display configuration"->"Virtual Size" as 640x480. Increasing this to 1280x720 and restarting has no effect. Even the setting goes back to 640x480.

I want to solve this problem. It will be best if I could use the switchable graphics feature. Otherwise, only using the inbuilt intel GPU or only using the nVidia graphics card with the nVidia driver so as to prevent this perpetual heating, will do as well.

Specs:

• Ubuntu version: 13.04
• KDE version: 4.10.5
• OS Version: Linux 3.8.0-27-generic
• Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce GT 630M
• Laptop: Asus K53-SM

Answer 1

First of all, I'm no pro at this so my answer is just based on a personnal experience.

I had a similar problem earlier this year. I tried to install the driver from the repository for a nvidia deforce GT635M card. When I restarted, my screen res was blocked to 640x480.

After playing around and searching, I ended up uninstalling the driver, installing optirun and deleting a conf file in /etc/x11 that had appeared with the driver installation and seemed to block the screen res to lowest even when the driver was uninstalled. (unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the file, but it had something to do with nvidia, obviously)

I'm no gamer so I seldom use the card, but when I do, I use optirun, which seems to work fine.

kde: 4.9.5 ubuntu: 12.10 linux: 3.5.0-37-generic graphics card: nvidia GEFORCE GT635M laptop: asus N56V