W500 Graphics Card issues

[qrxtyz]

**TL;DR: When forcing discrete instead of swichable graphics, horrible screen artifacts, even in boot and BIOS menus.**

Hi all,

I've owned an unmodified W500 for about a month, and was a bit disappointed by the graphics performance; I don't do any gaming,
but just the general desktop experience (X11 with no compositors, dwm as the wm) was a bit lacking. I then learned that the
W500 had a "switchable graphics system", and that linux is not able to utilize this and just uses the integrated graphics by
default (or if it can, it was an ordeal to set up). I poked around in the BIOS menu, and found the option to force discrete
graphics with 'Config > Display > Graphics Device' set to 'Discrete' and 'Config > Display > OS Detection for Switchable
Graphics' set to 'Disabled'.

However, when I saved and exited, I immediately noticed screen artifacts on the boot screen, and they persisted until I undid
the changes. While using the discrete graphics (enduring the artifacts), I was able to (through keyboard shortcuts) launch the
'glxgears' program, from which I was just able to discern an FPS of 81, while previously it was limited to 60. I don't know
what this counts for, but it was the only measure of performance I was able to make out.

I fear that it might be a hardware issue, because it appears on the boot screen. Has anyone experienced this? Is there a way to
fix the issue without going back to the slow-butt integrated graphics?

Thanks in advance.

[TPFanatic]

In my opinion, artifacts with the dedicated graphics sadly indicates a graphics failure.

In which case having the ability to switch to the integrated graphics is a lifeline.

GMA 4500 is a competent graphics fully capable of running Windows Aero. If something as simple as the desktop is over burdening the graphics, I'd blame the desktop.

[qrxtyz]

Thank you for your swift reply!

Is it possible to replace the faulty card? lspci says its a 'Mobility Radeon HD 3650'; I don't know if it is welded in, or if
one is able to obtain a replacement at all. Is it worth a try?

[TPFanatic]

The GPU is BGA soldered on, so generally you'd be looking at an entire motherboard replacement. If it's inexpensive enough, it may be worth it. Be advised there are 3 different graphics versions of the motherboard:

- W500 motherboard, has FireGL V5700 512mb
- T500 motherboard, has Radeon 3650 256mb
- T500 motherboard, Intel GMA only

Any of the above will be marketed as "compatible" with W500. The Intel GMA only version actually would require a little modification to the W500 heatsink to fit. But you don't want that version anyway.

From the short time that I had both T500 and W500 operating in the same household, I did not see a difference in gaming performance between Radeon 3650 256mb and FireGL V5700 512mb. Maybe for OpenCL CAD (eg. Blender), the extra VRAM will help. But both VRAM amounts are awfully low by today's standards.

[qrxtyz]

Thank you so much!

I'll be on the lookout for a replacement motherboard. I'm not doing anything too intensive (CAD or the like), just web browsing
and text editing, but I'm hoping the extra power will just make things just a bit smoother, as well as (if I understand
correctly) freeing up some memory for the cpu.

Thanks again for all the help.