From 1a1bec030092bb5d85f9f5e93a7b5ab2139e2b78 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Thomas Zimmerman Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2026 14:24:43 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Add section about COSMIC desktop and switchable graphics. --- content/graphics-switch-pop.md | 8 ++++++-- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/graphics-switch-pop.md b/content/graphics-switch-pop.md index a235d99b08..b5632fa85e 100644 --- a/content/graphics-switch-pop.md +++ b/content/graphics-switch-pop.md @@ -30,9 +30,13 @@ The following System76 laptops have these switchable graphics capabilities: - Gazelle (gaze14 and newer) - Kudu (kudu6) - Oryx Pro (oryp4 and newer) -- Serval WS (serw13) +- Serval WS (serw13 and newer) -Pop!\_OS includes utilities for switching between these modes, which you can learn more about below. +Pop!\_OS includes utilities (`system76-power`) for switching between these modes, which you can learn more about below. + +## COSMIC Desktop + +The COSMIC desktop is designed to run in hybrid graphics mode if available on your hardware and does not have a graphical way to change modes. Many applications that benefit from a dedicated GPU will launch with the environmental hints already set. To launch an application on the dGPU, right-click the icon in the application library and choose the GPU you want to use. Additionally, the NVIDIA driver suggests that switchable graphics systems run in hybrid mode to allow more performance for targeted applications. The battery applet will also show applications that are using the dGPU if you swap to battery and want to shut them down to save power while away from the main power. ## Graphics modes From 6c2560d9a76b870a955f2ce590288e027b94045f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emma Truong Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2026 13:37:38 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Apply suggestion from @jacobgkau I like this wording. It's clear and concise. This section is a good add. Co-authored-by: Jacob Kauffmann --- content/graphics-switch-pop.md | 4 +++- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/content/graphics-switch-pop.md b/content/graphics-switch-pop.md index b5632fa85e..f545c2a18e 100644 --- a/content/graphics-switch-pop.md +++ b/content/graphics-switch-pop.md @@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ Pop!\_OS includes utilities (`system76-power`) for switching between these modes ## COSMIC Desktop -The COSMIC desktop is designed to run in hybrid graphics mode if available on your hardware and does not have a graphical way to change modes. Many applications that benefit from a dedicated GPU will launch with the environmental hints already set. To launch an application on the dGPU, right-click the icon in the application library and choose the GPU you want to use. Additionally, the NVIDIA driver suggests that switchable graphics systems run in hybrid mode to allow more performance for targeted applications. The battery applet will also show applications that are using the dGPU if you swap to battery and want to shut them down to save power while away from the main power. +The COSMIC desktop is designed to run in hybrid graphics mode and does not have a graphical way to change modes. This is NVIDIA's recommended approach to maximize GPU performance for the applications that need it, while saving power when no applications are running on the dedicated GPU. + +Many applications that benefit from a dedicated GPU will launch on the dGPU automatically (as defined in their launcher files). To do so manually, right-click the icon in the application library or the dock and choose the GPU you want to use. You can check what processes are running on the dGPU using the battery applet or the `nvidia-smi` command. ## Graphics modes