Unfortunately, nouveau makes laptops with a Pascal dGPU (GeForce 10xx series) really unstable.
For example my Dell XPS 9560 with a GTX 1050 won't boot without "nouveau.runpm=0". With "nouveau.runpm=0", boot will be slow, and multiple freezes with a recovery a few seconds later will occur after graphical login. The system remains sluggish even as the iGPU is used. See: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=100228 (there might be other bugs affecting general stability with Pascal dGPUs) If I blacklist nouveau completely (both as a kernel boot option and in /etc/modprobe.d/), the system will function normally, but the dGPU will stay on. Forcing the use of nouveau on these recent laptops, especially for a LTS, really is a step backwards compared to what we had in 17.10. ** Bug watch added: freedesktop.org Bugzilla #100228 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=100228 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to nvidia-prime in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1765363 Title: prime-select intel is not powering off the nvidia card Status in nvidia-prime package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Right now, it seems that prime-select intel makes sure the nvidia driver is not loaded, as nvidia-settings reports. But my power consumption is > 20W. cat /proc/acpi/bbswitch reports the card is still on. If bbswitch and powertop are reliable, then the nvidia card is still powered. This is a thinkpad w520 in Optimus mode. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04 Package: nvidia-prime 0.8.7 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-15.16-generic 4.15.15 Uname: Linux 4.15.0-15-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu5 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME Date: Thu Apr 19 19:56:21 2018 Dependencies: EcryptfsInUse: Yes InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-12-14 (125 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Release amd64 (20171018) PackageArchitecture: all SourcePackage: nvidia-prime UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-03-09 (41 days ago) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-prime/+bug/1765363/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
