How do I switch to dedicated graphics? how do I know if I am runing on my gpu?

System:
  Kernel: 6.0.9-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
    root=UUID=7d549f10-2128-425f-a729-a334f876d69d rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
    loglevel=3
  Desktop: i3 v: 4.21.1 info: i3bar vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: N/A v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Gigabyte model: H110M-DS2-CF v: x.x serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: F2 date: 10/30/2015
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-6500 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Skylake-S
    gen: core 6 level: v3 note: check built: 2015 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x5E (94) stepping: 3 microcode: 0xF0
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 256 KiB
    desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 6 MiB
    desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3404 high: 3425 min/max: 800/3600 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: performance cores: 1: 3395 2: 3425 3: 3400
    4: 3396 bogomips: 25599
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT
    disabled
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
  Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling,
    PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: TSX disabled
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Lexa PRO [Radeon 540/540X/550/550X / RX 540X/550/550X]
    vendor: Sapphire driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: GCN-4 code: Arctic Islands
    process: GF 14nm built: 2016-20 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 1
    link-max: lanes: 8 ports: active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,DVI-D-1
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:699f class-ID: 0300 temp: 46.0 C
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.4 compositor: Picom v: git-98a5c
    driver: X: loaded: modesetting dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22")
    s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 model: Samsung S24F350 serial: <filter>
    built: 2017 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 94 gamma: 1.2
    size: 521x293mm (20.51x11.54") diag: 598mm (23.5") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.2.3 renderer: AMD Radeon RX 550 / 550 Series
    (polaris12 LLVM 14.0.6 DRM 3.48 6.0.9-zen1-1-zen) direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte
    driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 1-4:4 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 1e7d:3a3b class-ID: 0300 chip-ID: 8086:a170 serial: <filter>
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Baffin HDMI/DP Audio [Radeon RX 550 640SP / 560/560X]
    vendor: Sapphire driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s
    lanes: 1 link-max: lanes: 8 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:aae0
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: ROCCAT SYN Pro Air type: USB
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
  Sound API: ALSA v: k6.0.9-zen1-1-zen running: yes
  Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
  Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.60 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.38 TiB used: 56.51 GiB (4.0%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 500GB
    size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 model: PS3109S9 size: 20 MiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: N/A serial: N/A
    rev: OOT2
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 QVO 1TB
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q
  ID-4: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Cruzer Blade
    size: 14.32 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A
    serial: <filter> rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 465.46 GiB size: 465.46 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 56.51 GiB (12.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 608 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 465.46 GiB size: 465.46 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 56.51 GiB (12.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 465.46 GiB size: 465.46 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 56.51 GiB (12.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 465.46 GiB size: 465.46 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 56.51 GiB (12.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 15.58 GiB used: 3.8 MiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 64.0 C pch: 39.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu
    temp: 46.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 1030
Info:
  Processes: 242 Uptime: 22m wakeups: 0 Memory: 15.58 GiB
  used: 2.86 GiB (18.3%) Init: systemd v: 252 default: graphical
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1446
  libs: 456 tools: pamac,paru Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: xfce4-terminal
  inxi: 3.3.23
Garuda (2.6.9-1):
  System install date:     2022-11-25
  Last full system update: 2022-11-26
  Is partially upgraded:   No
  Relevant software:       NetworkManager
  Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
  Snapshots:               Snapper
  Failed units:            

so funny thing... I don't know if I'm running of iGPU or my actual dedicated graphics card.

when I do

glxgears -info
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
GL_RENDERER   = AMD Radeon RX 550 / 550 Series (polaris12, LLVM 14.0.6, DRM 3.48, 6.0.9-zen1-1-zen)
GL_VERSION    = 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 22.2.3
GL_VENDOR     = AMD

is shows as if I am runing from the AMD drivers... which is great!

but when I check with optimus...

optimus-manager --print-mode
Current GPU mode : integrated

I am suspecting optimus doens't know how to read AMD?

the thing is, I am trying to play starsector a pretty lightweight game (2d graphics...) but there is this particular effect that is causing trouble.

I asked in the forums but all rivers lead to the same problem... either drivers or hardware. but someone pointed out that even on integrated the game can run fine... and the effect might only be too intense if I dont use the dedicated.

help

edit: I found a solution to my problem, the problem was that the drivers ware open source and the game I am runing doesn't play well with them with that particular effect.

I follow the archwiki to install the proprietery drivers (There is a PKG for building a fixed version of the drivers to bypass the careless release of AMD that is broken, because of libc6 mismatch of versions or something)

while the pro drivers are dogshit(sorry...) they are enough to run the game optimally (60+ fps), it is a SUPER lightweight game tho.

The graphics section of your inxi shows only the AMD GPU and this is confirmed by the glxgears.
I think optimus-manager is not reliable and not even usable here, since it is:

a solution for GPU switching on Optimus laptops (i.e laptops with a dual Nvidia/Intel or Nvidia/AMD configuration).

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You are running off discrete AMD GPU. Intel integrated doesn't even appear, it is most likely disabled in firmware. You have a desktop so Optimus is not relevant for you at all. You can create another topic for game problems.

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