NVIDIA Prime Startup Script for Optimus Laptops

This is a startup script that uses bumblebee's bbswitch to completely shut off the GPU in prime-select intel mode. This results (for me) in about 7W usage on a Thinkpad X1 Extreme versus 12-14W with the GPU on. You must have proprietary nvidia drivers installed with nvidia-prime (ubuntu distributions only).

Installation

1. Install bbswitch: # apt install bbswitch-dkms
2. $ git clone https://github.com/hakasapl/prime-wrapper-bbswitch
3. Copy gpu-bbswitch to any folder.
4. Add crontab entry: sudo crontab -e and add the line @reboot sudo <SCRIPT_LOCATION>/gpu-bbswitch

Usage

Simply running prime-select <intel,nvidia> and rebooting will automaticall turn the gpu on/off.

Troubleshooting

No Display Output in nVidia Mode
If you are using GDM (Gnome Display Manager), you need to modify the file /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config. Add the following line to the end of the file.

needs_root_rights=yes