USB C display port with dual gpus

Question

Hi, I hope everyone is fine, I have a G7 15 7588 laptop with dual gpus, one is the nVidia 1060 maxq, and the other is Intel 620, my question is that I want to know if it is possible to make the USB C port (Thunderbolt) connect to the nVidia one instead of the Intel's.

And one more thing, in BIOS, I found in the configuration of the Thunderbolt adapter configuration that I can make it Display Port and USB only, can that fix the situation...

Many thanks in advance...

jphughan · Accepted Answer

@Hashem Alaya  One quick note I forgot to add to my earlier reply.  Ironically, the fact that the Quest doesn't rely on a GPU output is a good thing for you, because if it did, then you wouldn't be able to use it at all if your USB-C port was wired to the Intel GPU.  NVIDIA GPUs cannot pass VR through Intel GPUs.  In order to use VR headsets that rely on a native video signal, you need the output to be directly controlled by the NVIDIA GPU.  So if you had a Rift S, which requires a DisplayPort signal coming directly from an NVIDIA GPU, you wouldn't be able to use it at all with your system.  The fact that the Quest uses a solution that involves sending video as regular USB data makes it possible to use the Quest on that system even if 'regular' VR headsets would not work.

jphughan · Accepted Answer

@Hashem Alaya  I have an Oculus Quest myself.  Last time I checked though, the Oculus Quest doesn't rely on a native GPU output from a PC at all.  The Oculus Quest relies on Oculus Link, which is a software solution that allows video to be carried as regular USB data.  So even if you connected it to a USB-C port that supported video output, it wouldn't actually rely on the video output there.  It would just rely on the USB data path available on that port, but that wouldn't be any different from any other USB port unless maybe both your USB-C port and the Quest supported USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), but I don't think the Quest does.  In any case, the Quest is not like the Rift and all other VR headsets that rely on an actual native DisplayPort or HDMI video signal from the PC.  Or at least that was the case last time I checked.

jphughan · Answer

@Hashem Alaya The only Dell systems I know of that support changing which GPU controls the video outputs are the Precision 7000 Series systems and the XPS 17 9700 when ordered with an NVIDIA RTX GPU. And I seem to remember some Alienware system offered this capability. But I have never seen it offered on an Inspiron system, not even the G Series systems. However, there are relatively few cases where you actually need the video output to be directly controlled by the NVIDIA GPU. Even when the Intel GPU controls the output, the NVIDIA GPU's performance can still be used in games. The laptop's built-in display is probably controlled by the Intel GPU, for example. Direct control by the NVIDIA GPU is necessary for things like VR, G-Sync, stereoscopic 3D, and maybe a few other cases, but that's about it.

Anyway, if you don't see a BIOS option specifically related to changing the GPU control, then your system doesn't support it. The "DisplayPort and USB" option you found in your Thunderbolt settings would simply disable Thunderbolt's ability to use PCI Express. That's a security-related setting. It won't change which GPU provides the DisplayPort video signal.

Hashem Alaya · Answer

Many thanks for the great information, you did me a big favor... Have a good day...

Hashem Alaya · Answer

MANY THANKS FOR THE KIND AND FAST REPLY.
Actually, I want it to connect to my Oculus Quest, which is now working fine through the Thunderbolt, but I want to improve the quality of the graphics, which is not good enough.
I can use a USB type A to connect the quest to my laptop, can that make it work directly with the nVidia gpu.

Inspiron

USB C display port with dual gpus

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