up vote 0 down vote favorite

My laptop has an onboard Intel HD 4000 graphics card and a Nvidia GeForce GT 650M card. When I first installed Ubuntu, it was using the Nouveau open-source drivers by default. Everything seemed to be working fine, but I went ahead and applied the Nvidia (proprietary, tested) driver via "Software & Updates > Additional Drivers". After doing so, I noticed that certain programs didn't window correctly when putting them in fullscreen, as well as the fans working harder and the laptop getting hotter than it used to.

Which driver should I use? Should I get the Nvidia driver directly from their website instead of the Ubuntu "Software & Updates" tool?

Also, does the system switch between using the Intel and Nvidia card depending on power settings?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm still new to Ubuntu/Linux but so far I've been enjoying it :)

Any help is appreciated!

share|improve this question
up vote 0 down vote

My (older) Dell Precision m4300 runs on the hot side. (windows 7 as well as Linux Mint 17.1...same as Ubuntu (14?) using nouveau driver. As soon as I installed nvidia driver as per driver management, in Linux ...lo and behold the temperature shown by the sensor applet now runs cooler! (by as much as 20 deg C!).staying now in the 40's and low 50's. Prior to installing nvidia driver I installed i8kutils hich improved things also, but not as much as installing the nvidia driver.

share|improve this answer
  • 3
    Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! I recommend editing this post to expand on what you mean by "installed nvidia driver as per driver management" with additional explanation as well as specific details about how to do that. – Eliah Kagan Apr 12 '15 at 6:02

Your Answer

 

By clicking "Post Your Answer", you acknowledge that you have read our updated terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy, and that your continued use of the website is subject to these policies.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.