General non-functionality on Laptop

[Steve Clarkson]

Hi Again All,

I'm trying to work on an ASUS laptop with an i7-7700HQ CPU and a GTX 1050 GPU (which should be decent to my knowledge).  I've disabled my anti-virus to reduce interferance, Startup hangs for approx 5 min at Loading Workspace, and then takes over 1 minute to recognize each individual mouse click.

Does anyone have any advice?

Cheers!

[PVA - Admin]

A 1050 should do alright, reply back with the following from that machine please:
 

 

[Steve Clarkson]

Forgot to mention I'm on Windows 10...

(I'm double checking to make sure that Windows is using the 1050 for Vectorworks by default.)

DxDiag.txt

[Steve Clarkson]

Default for Vectorworks wasn't set to the 1050, it is now, and am restarting, so far it's the same behaviour with Loading Spotlight Workspace.

[PVA - Admin]

Could you send me another Dxdiag now that thats set please? It'll give me different info based on which one is active at the time of the report.

[Steve Clarkson]

I just took a look at my GPU monitor and it looks like the app is still using the Intel one.  The setting I changed was for the app to select the GPU, now I'll try setting system default to the 1050, and have the app use System Default.

 

But here's the latest dxdiag before I do that, with VW open.

DxDiag2.txt

[PVA - Admin]

Are you using an external monitor or is the 4K display the laptops integrated one? Did you change the default GPU by using these steps, or via a different settings pane like System or Geforce Experience?
 

 

[Steve Clarkson]

Internal Monitor

Yes, I've changed via the NVIDIA control panel.

I'm still observing in the resource manager that only the Intel GPU is being used for everything.

[Steve Clarkson]

BIOS next? 

[PVA - Admin]

Most likely, there may be a way to disable it there, also it may sound odd, but check the laptops documentation and make sure there isnt a hardware toggle for it, i've seen some come with physical switches or fn key combos that can change that setting as well.

Dont try to disable the integrated GPU in Windows device manager though, that causes a bunch of other problems (I know from experience)

[Steve Clarkson]

lol, ya I tried that (device manager) already, got things back to staus quo though.

[PVA - Admin]

You may want to look for any Asus-specific app power control settings, and see if theres a Performance mode or something like that. I'm fairly certain windows can just be set to High Performance in the regular power management settings as far as that option goes to help make sure the right GPU is used.

[Steve Clarkson]

Thanks for the assist again, I'll keep searching.

Cheers.

 

 

EDIT:  Though I found this interesting.... Look at the Ambient Occlusion setting.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Steve Clarkson

[PVA - Admin]

I asked about that once and I believe the answer was that we locked it off in that menu so that you always controlled it under Lighting Options in Vectorworks instead.

[Steve Clarkson]

Ah, sounds good!

So would this GPU issue explain all the hanging I'm experiencing? Even just clicking a dropdown menu?

Edited April 4, 2019 by Steve Clarkson

[PVA - Admin]

Not JUST the GPU on it's own most likely. If its actively trying to switch between them however, which Vectorworks is supposed to to in the background if the other stuff is configured as we talked about above, that could make it behave like that. Its worth doing a full reset however to see if it changes behavior:
 

 

[Steve Clarkson]

Ok, thanks!

[Art V]

Just a question... did you also set the Global settings in the nVidia control panel to use the dedicated graphics card, i.e. not just through Windows settings? Depending on laptop configuration it may cause  random fallbacks to the on-CPU graphics if the Global settings are set to automatic as I had that happen with a laptop in the past. Only when both Global settings and Program settings in the nVidia control panel were set to use the nVidia graphics the random switching to the on-CPU graphics stopped.

[Steve Clarkson]

Thanks Art V I'll check that.

 

Yes, In the NVIDIA Control panel I have both the global and application preferences set to the High Performance (NVIDIA) GPU.  And I am getting very good usability now with navigation in 3D WIreframe and OpenGL, but VW itself, menus, copying/pasting objects, selecting etc is painfully slow.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Steve Clarkson

[Art V]

It could be VW itself, as I have noticed overall slower operation speed since VW2016 due to the new VGM, especially with selecting and moving objects, though things are improving with 2019's latest service packs but there is also hardware that plays a role.

[Steve Clarkson]

I've had good/decent usability on my office computer (spec's in signature) with 2018, but I'm now trying to use my laptop, the spec's of which shouldn't be that far off in performance.

[Art V]

Generally the laptop version of desktop graphics cards tend to be less powerful, i.e. a laptop GTX-1050 will be (a bit) slower than a desktop GTX-1050. Depending on the kind of drawing you may or may not notice much of this. The Quadro FX5800 should be a reasonably powerful graphics card so relatively speaking a laptop will feel slower anway with a GTX-1050 which is on the low end of the GTX-10xx series.

 

In my case I noticed a considerable difference on my desktop after a Windows 10 refresh (which I had to do anway after an update crashed W10) as that probably got rid of quite a bit of OS/Program junk items. VW2019 SP2 is still not as responsive as VW2016 but the worst lag has subsided for now so it is tolerable now, hopefully SP3 will solve the remainder of the lag issues. If you have update on update on the laptop then this might be an option to consider, but you will have to reinstall everything that is not part of the base Windows 10 install. But if it does solve your issue then it will be worth it.

[Steve Clarkson]

Thanks All for the help on this. 

I did learn that even when using the 1050 GPU, the Intel GPU is the connect between it and the rest of the computer.  The Intel decides what to pass off to the 1050.  Things are still workable for "in a pinch/snow day/work from home" tasks, but as a main machine, it's not very happening.

Cheers.

[Art V]

In theory if all settings are set to use the dedicated graphics card instead of the Intel GPU then it should normally work without issues. With most of my software I would definitely notice it if the Intel CPU would be running the graphics display instead of the dedicated GPU. What might be a possibility is that you have some (utility?) software running that switches the system back to the Intel GPU for some reason. I've had the (very) occasional fallback to the Intel GPU several years ago after a program would crash the system and require a restart of the laptop. If you don't have that (i.e. crashes) happening then there is definitely something not working properly on your laptop. (Or your files are really heavy).

 

I don't think power plan settings in the Power Options control panel contain a setting to use the Intel GPU instead of the dedicated GPU but it does control the performance of the Intel GPU, you may want to check if it is set to maximum performance in the active power plan to reduce potential lag issues just in case it is now set by default at a lower power setting.

[Steve Clarkson]

Yes, from what I've read about this model, the onboard Intel cannot ever be taken out of the equation, you can just tell it to the 1050 when necessary.  Data is sent to the 1050 to process and then renders go back to the Intel to pass on to the display.  This certainly isn't ideal. Probably cost cutting in some way as far as design.