Ubuntu – How to enable 3D acceleration with an Nvidia Geforce GT 540M

3dhardware acceleration

I have NVIDIA Geforce GT 540M. I have a problem with "3D acceleration".
Every game I install tells me "you don't have 3D acceleration". What can I do to enable 3D acceleration on my computer?

Best Answer

the GT 540M indicates that you have optimus technology. Optimus allows you to choose between the Intel GPU that is part of the Core i Series processors and the discrete chip (the Nvidia GT 540M).

There are two things I would do:

Check your bios settings and see if you can set the video card to use the discrete graphics only. This is not available on all bioses, but if it is there you will have the options of:

Optimus

Discrete

Integrated

Choose Discrete.

Then upon completing the boot ensure the Nvidia proprietary drivers are installed. There should be no need to use the PPA; simply use

System Settings > Additional Drivers

That should then give you options for your Nvidia card.

I hope that helps.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to enable 3D acceleration under VMware workstation 8

VMWare workstation 8 currently does not support 3D acceleration.

Ubuntu – How to test 3d acceleration

The command below could provide at least a partial answer to your question.

/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p

The command tests whether your video adapter will support Unity 3D. While it does not test 3D acceleration per se, it will at least test for the 3D features which Unity 3D requires.

And, what the heck, it comes with Ubuntu so all you have to do is open a terminal window and run it. ;-)

Here is an example of the output.

irrational@VBx64:~$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
OpenGL vendor string:   Humper
OpenGL renderer string: Chromium
OpenGL version string:  2.1 Chromium 1.9

Not software rendered:    yes
Not blacklisted:          yes
GLX fbconfig:             yes
GLX texture from pixmap:  yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program:        yes
GL fragment program:      yes
GL vertex buffer object:  yes
GL framebuffer object:    yes
GL version is 1.4+:       yes

Unity 3D supported:       yes

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to enable 3D acceleration under VMware workstation 8

Ubuntu – How to test 3d acceleration

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