Use dedicated gpu only on laptop running Ubuntu 20.04

Question

I'm working on an Acer Nitro 5 515-43 with a dedicated Nvidia gtx 1650 and an integrated AMD gpu. I want to use the dedicated gpu all the time. However the system uses the integrated one instead. What can i do to change this? Since the integrated gpu is and amd one, the optimus/prime solution shouldn't work.
Here is some additional information about the gpus:

lspci -nn | grep -E 'VGA|Display'

05:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Picasso [1002:15d8] (rev c2)

glxinfo -B

name of display: :1
display: :1 screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
Vendor: X.Org (0x1002)
Device: AMD RAVEN (DRM 3.35.0, 5.4.0-39-generic, LLVM 9.0.1) (0x15d8)
Version: 20.0.4
Accelerated: yes
Video memory: 2048MB
Unified memory: no
Preferred profile: core (0x1)
Max core profile version: 4.6
Max compat profile version: 4.6
Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.2
Memory info (GL_ATI_meminfo):
VBO free memory - total: 1756 MB, largest block: 1756 MB
VBO free aux. memory - total: 3016 MB, largest block: 3016 MB
Texture free memory - total: 1756 MB, largest block: 1756 MB
Texture free aux. memory - total: 3016 MB, largest block: 3016 MB
Renderbuffer free memory - total: 1756 MB, largest block: 1756 MB
Renderbuffer free aux. memory - total: 3016 MB, largest block: 3016 MB
Memory info (GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info):
Dedicated video memory: 2048 MB
Total available memory: 5120 MB
Currently available dedicated video memory: 1756 MB
OpenGL vendor string: X.Org
OpenGL renderer string: AMD RAVEN (DRM 3.35.0, 5.4.0-39-generic, LLVM 9.0.1)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 20.0.4
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 20.0.4
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 20.0.4
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20

lshw -short | grep -i  display

/0/100/1.1/0 display TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q]
/0/100/8.1/0 display Picasso
The driver of the nvidia gpu is:

nvidia-detector

nvidia-driver-440

The OS:

lsb_release -a

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal

The kernel:

uname -rm 

5.4.0-39-generic x86_64

When i run nvidia-xconfig with root privileges and reboot afterwards i cant get past the initial logo. Only rebooting in recovery mode and deleting /etc/X11/xorg.conf with a subsequent reboot allows to use the pc again.

Solution

After installing the graphics drivers from Nvidia, there will be an app installed called NVIDIA X server Settings. There is a section called as Prime-Profiles. Under that you can select performance mode (NVIDIA Graphics card only), On-Demand mode (like Windows, for basic task only integrated gpu, heavy task dedicated gpu), or powersaving mode(integrated gpu only).

Alternately you can run sudo prime-select nvidia which will select the dedicated NVIDIA card only.

Note: You will need a reboot to apply the changes.

Comments

[Kevin]

Thank you for your answer. However the Nvidia X server Settings app opens just as an empty window save for the two buttons labelled "Help" and "Quit" at the bottom. Running sudo prime-select nvidia and rebooting also doesn't seem to change anything. I meassure the activity of the gpu with nvidia-smi -l 1

[Abhay Patil]

@Kevin try reinstalling the drivers. First purge and autoremove the old drivers and then install again. Btw what is the output for nvidia-smi -l 1

[Kevin]

Sorry for the delay, i will try a complete reinstall of the drivers during the weekend.

[Kevin]

So what i did: sudo apt-get purge nvidia* sudo apt-get autoremove sudo apt-get install nvidia-drivers-440 reboot the graphicscard gets detected in the settings. But when i try to open the NVIDIA XServer setttings i still get a blank window.

[Abhay Patil]

@Kevin If you are using pop-shell on GNOME, then the xserver settings willl be blank. You will get an option to select the GPU in the top right setion of the screen, under power (maybe). Else try sudo apt autoremove --purge nvidia* and install the drivers from the nvidia website nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us. here select the linux 64 bit under the operating system.

[Kevin]

Even this fails. From /var/log/nvidia-installer.log i get this error:/tmp/selfgz3389/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-430.09/kernel/comm‌​on/inc/nv-linux.h:15‌​93:6: error: "NV_BUILD_MODULE_INSTANCES" is not defined, evaluates to 0 [-Werror=undef]