Nvidia drops Maxwell and Pascal support with new Linux 590 branch drivers

Nvidia seems to have quietly begun retiring its older Maxwell and Pascal architectures, a move signalled by the release of its latest Linux driver. The new 590 driver branch, currently available in beta as version 590.44.01, appears to have dropped support for the GeForce GTX 900 and GTX 10 series GPUs, confirming earlier reports that these cards are now entering legacy status.

Spotted by VideoCardz, the official release notes state that the 580.xx driver series is the final branch to offer full “Game Ready” support for Maxwell and Pascal. So, if you have such a graphics card running on a Linux-based system, there's a chance you may face issues with future game releases.

This transition places the GTX 900, GTX 10, and the few consumer discrete Volta cards into maintenance mode. Owners of these GPUs will no longer receive day-zero game optimisations or performance enhancements. Instead, support will be limited to quarterly security patches to address critical vulnerabilities. For gamers still holding onto these graphics cards, this effectively signals the end of the road for new driver features.

KitGuru says: Do you own an Nvidia GTX 900 or 10 series graphics card? Are you planning to upgrade now that driver support is coming to an end?

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