GPU drivers in Fedore 34 understanding the status of the drivers

Ask Fedora
1

I have just started to use GNU/Linux in my computer. I am currently using Fedore 34 and here are my specs.

7.5 GiB
Intel® Core™ i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz x 4
NVIDIA Corporation GM108M [GeForce 940MX] / Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)

When I first started to using Fedora I was using
Nouveau drivers. However, I guess later on I have enabled the Nvidia drivers. The reason why I am not sure as follows.

  1. At the booting time there was an error saying
    Nvidia kernel module missing, falling back to nouveau.
    Now this error is gone.
  2. I can open the Nvidia Server Settings
  3. When I type lsmod | grep nvidia I am getting.
nvidia_drm             69632  2
nvidia_modeset       1200128  2 nvidia_drm
nvidia              35332096  72 nvidia_modeset
drm_kms_helper        303104  2 nvidia_drm,i915
drm                   630784  12 drm_kms_helper,nvi

However, In my terminal page (via screenfetch) it says.
enter image description here

I did not understand why it shows Intel instead of Nvidia.

I have 2 questions.

  1. Is this a bug caused by the screenfetch ?
  2. If I am still running Intel is it worth to switch Nvidia Drivers ? (I am not gaming in Linux)

Currently I am around 60 FPS

301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.999 FPS
301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.011 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.999 FPS
301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.007 FPS
2

Try to get better info using inxi. (you may need to install inxi.)
inxi -Fxx would tell you exactly what is contained in your machine.

The output of lsmod says the nvidia drivers are installed and active. Those drivers would not even load (nor would the nouveau driver) if the GPU were not nvidia

I suspect (though you do not say) that you are using a laptop with a dual GPU setup which has an intel IGP and an nvidia discrete GPU. The inxi output will tell us for sure.

3

Thanks for the reply. Here are my results

System:
  Kernel: 5.14.14-200.fc34.x86_64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: GNOME 40.5 
  Distro: Fedora release 34 (Thirty Four) 
CPU:
  Info: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-7200U bits: 64 type
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 driver: i915 v: kernel 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM108M [GeForce 940MX] driver: nvidia v: 470.74 
  Device-3: Chicony EasyCamera type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: modesetting,nvidia 
  unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.1.8
4

My laptop has an Intel integrated GPU and a discrete AMD GPU. I’m using the default open source amdgpu driver.

I can make screenfetch report my AMD discrete GPU by invoking screenfetch like this DRI_PRIME=1 screenfetch. That is, by setting the DRI_PRIME environment variable.

This reddit discussion suggests doing something similar would work to use the proprietary nvidea driver:

__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia screenfetch

For GUI apps in Gnome, I right-click on the launcher and select “Launch using Discrete Graphics Card”, when I want to utilize my laptop’s AMD GPU.

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5

That inxi output shows that you do indeed have intel IGP and nvidia GPU.

The system by default uses the IGP unless it is needed or explicitly requested to use the discrete GPU, and that is what was shown by screenfetch on your earlier post. Selecting to use the discrete GPU for an app in gnome is as simple as right click on the app icon and select “Launch using Discrete Graphics Card”

You can continue to use the default config which will mostly use the intel IGP, or if you choose you can select to use the nvidia GPU, including selecting it for full time use on all video output if you wish.

There is a file, /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/nvidia.conf, that can be copied into /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/nvidia.conf and it will make the nvidia GPU capable of handling both the built-in screen output and the HDMI output at the same time. Without the config in that file I don’t think the nvidia GPU handles the built-in screen when both are in use.

Also, if you wish to make the nvidia GPU your primary GPU so it handles all video output all the time you can add this to both stanzas in that file and nvidia will become the primary GPU.

	Option "Primary" "yes"
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6

Thanks for the answers. Just one last question. Is it worth changing Intel to Nvidia in terms of performance-wise or maybe in general? I am not a computer geek, so I don’t want to mess with the GPU much unless it will worth it.

As you have pointed out, I launched the terminal via a discrete graphics card, and the GPU has changed.

c126ce34116fa071b9f8945de9158a49fc10b094.png

7

That is entirely up to you.
The nvidia GPU usually give better overall graphics at a slight cost in power usage and battery life.

If the default is good enough then you choose.

8

Okay thanks