Graphics: a GPU preference API on GraphicsAdapter, and full screen on a hybrid laptop
Author: Nicogo1705Created Sep 13, 2026Updated Sep 13, 2026
Summary
Follow-up to #3388, from @xen2's review there. Stride has no way to choose which GPU a game runs on beyond GraphicsDeviceManager.RequiredAdapterUid. #3388 first proposed a GraphicsAdapterFactory.GpuPreference static (an enum plus Reset()), which was withdrawn from that PR: a mutable static that changes what GraphicsAdapterFactory.Adapters returns, and a Reset() that disposes adapters a live GraphicsDevice may still use, is not the right shape.
Proposed direction (xen2)
GraphicsAdapterFactory reports what the system has, untouched, with facts on each GraphicsAdapter:
public enum GraphicsAdapterType { Unknown, Integrated, Discrete, Virtual, Software }
public GraphicsAdapterType Type { get; } // set by each backend
public int AdapterOrder { get; } // system enumeration order; 0 is the system default
public bool IsDefaultAdapter => AdapterOrder == 0;
public int PerformanceRank { get; } // platform's fastest-first order; 0 is the fastest
public int PowerEfficiencyRank { get; } // platform's most-efficient-first order; 0 is the most efficient- Direct3D fills the ranks from DXGI
EnumAdapterByGpuPreference(HighPerformanceandMinimumPowerorders). - Vulkan fills them from
VkPhysicalDeviceType: Discrete > Integrated > Virtual > Cpu for performance, Integrated first for efficiency. - The preference itself lives with the other creation settings, in
GameGraphicsParametersthenGraphicsDeviceManager(e.g.PreferredGpu), andFindBestDevicessorts by the matching rank. Device creation stops depending on a mutable static.
Also to settle
- Full screen on a hybrid laptop: an adapter with no output produces no full-screen candidate in
FindBestDevices, so a game that starts full screen lands on the integrated GPU while the same game windowed lands on the discrete one. Exclusive full screen on an output-less adapter is not possible in DXGI, so the expected behaviour is probably borderless full screen on the chosen adapter rather than an output lookup.
Related
- #3388 keeps only the bug fix: the discrete GPU of a hybrid laptop is no longer skipped, and Vulkan enumerates the discrete GPU first as Direct3D already did.
Source: stride3d/stride