GPU mode switch #88

Also I'd like to add, is there a way to add this feature without a need to do the reboot the computer? for example in similar app G-helper for asus, you can switch between gpu's without restarting.

@migecko Good question - the short answer is "not today", and the honest long answer also explains the reboot part of @eaglent1's comment.

What that switch is. Discrete / Hybrid on MSI machines is a hardware MUX: a multiplexer that physically routes the laptop panel either to the integrated GPU (hybrid) or straight to the discrete one. MSI documents it as a reboot-to-apply setting (FAQ, MUX explainer). The reboot is not the app being lazy: which GPU owns the panel is negotiated between the firmware and the graphics drivers during platform init, so re-routing the panel needs one - on every brand's manual MUX.

About the G-Helper comparison - that instant switch is a different mechanism, not a faster MUX. G-Helper's no-reboot Eco/Standard toggle powers the discrete GPU off and on while STAYING in hybrid routing, so no display re-routing happens. Its "Ultimate" mode - the actual ASUS MUX - requires a reboot exactly like MSI's (G-Helper docs; the Linux asus-wmi patch notes the same). The only true no-reboot display switching is NVIDIA Advanced Optimus, which is a driver-plus-panel feature on specifically wired laptops, not something a third-party app can trigger.

Could GhostDeck do it? The toggle is not in any community-documented EC register map (msi-ec and MControlCenter carry nothing for it), so MSI Center flips a BIOS/ACPI-level setting through its own service and then asks for the reboot - and this project only writes what is documented and verified, which is why the answer has always been "out of scope". One thing is worth saying today, though: reverse-engineering work on exactly this mechanism has been underway here for some time. Too early for details or promises - watch this space. The reboot itself would stay regardless: that part is physics, not software.

This explanation (with the sources) now also lives in the FAQ.