Does switching between iGPU & dGPU cost energy?

[Blackvibes]

Just like powering on the engine again, which costs fuel, does it cost any energy (above the default usage) to switch between the iGPU and dGPU?

I just installed gfxCardStatus which shows a notification when my MBP 15" '16 toggles between the Intel chip and the AMD chip. But this happens very often.

So I wonder whether the jump, even for half a second, costs any energy? Hereby I mean the energy consumption to activate the card. This excluded the default energy usage the chip consumes when active.

 

[Awjvail]

Download an app like CoconutBattery and see if the power use spikes when it switches.

 

[mikeo007]

No. An engine requires fuel to start because it needs to physically start moving from a stopped state. There's no physical parts in the GPU, the system just activates or wakes it when it's needed.

 

[runner77]

Just like powering on the engine again, which costs fuel, does it cost any energy (above the default usage) to switch between the iGPU and dGPU?

It doesn't cost energy for the switch itself. Of course the dGPU uses more energy, but that's about it. Basically the switch is doing nothing but routing the processing to a different chip.