Performance Base for battery life

[null4end]

I recently jumped from an SP4 to a Surface Book i7 16GB with the Performance Base. I mostly made the choice for the extra battery life. Has anyone done any testing/benchmarks comparing the battery life and performance using Auto Select vs Integrated Graphics in the Nvidia Control Panel?

If not, is there a way to tell which graphics processor is being used by specific apps in Auto Select mode?

I mostly use Office365 with some large files, PowerBI, Chrome, IE and Edge. I bought the Surface Book to get all day battery life when I'm working at clients.

 

[sharpuser]

I use my Surface Book 1TB Performance Base all day battery life (which indeed lasts all day) for number crunching and intense graphics geophysics work. I also have a 512GB Surface Book, which has about 2/3 the battery life of the Performance Base model.

In other words, with the same work habits, the Performance Base seems to give me half again (50% increase) in battery life.

Both models here: Performance Base can be used with any SB Clipboard (screen)

 

[null4end]

Thanks, it sounds like I shouldn't need to worry about the battery in either case. Just curious, have you changed any of the settings in the Nvidia Control Panel? Wondering if I should let the SB choose the graphics card or if I am better either defaulting to one or doing the app by app settings.

 

[null4end]

Answering my own question after some additional Googling... It appears you can tell if the Nvidia GPU is being used by checking the "Surface Detach" icon in the System Tray. If it has a circle with a lightning bolt through it and says "Action Required" in the hover tip, the Nvida GPU is being used.

 

[sharpuser]

Correct, @null4end .

Also, I have not made any settings changes.

 

[JaeMelo]

Curious to know why'd you'd think any of the programs you listed would need or even use the nvidia GPU?! The absence of the fan/s in the base spooling up should be more than enough evidence. If you really must know though then download GPU Z. Run it while doing what ever it is you do and choose your nVidia GPU and watch the telemetry data. If the data is blank/idle then the GPU isn't in use. Run a game or program that actually requires a decent GPU and watch how the temperature, voltage, clock rate ect all begin to climb/fluctuate and populate with real-time values.

 

[null4end]

That was actually my point... I don't think any of the applications I normally use would benefit from it. I was looking to verify that it was using the internal GPU since I would prefer to prioritize battery life over performance.

 

[jnjroach]

You can chose which GPU it uses by configuring the NVIDIA Control Panel, the default is Auto Select which means around 95% of the Applications use the Intel GMA.

 

[wynand32]

If you open the Nvidia Control Panel app, then go to the Desktop menu. you can enable the GPU Activity icon in the system tray. It will indicate whenever an app is using the Nvidia GPU, and which one(s).

 

[Orlbuckeye]

If you open the Nvidia Control Panel app, then go to the Desktop menu. you can enable the GPU Activity icon in the system tray. It will indicate whenever an app is using the Nvidia GPU, and which one(s).

It will also show which card is set as the default.