Editing GeForce (section)

=== <span class="anchor" id="PROPRIETARY"></span>Official proprietary ===
Nvidia develops and publishes GeForce drivers for [[Windows 10]] [[x86]]/[[x86-64]] and later, [[Linux]] x86/x86-64/[[ARMv7-A]], [[Mac OS X Leopard|OS X 10.5]] and later, [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] x86/x86-64 and [[FreeBSD]] x86/x86-64.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4373/~/os-support-for-geforce-gpus |title=OS Support for GeForce GPUs |publisher=[[Nvidia]] |access-date=August 25, 2017 |archive-date=June 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603012425/https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4373/~/os-support-for-geforce-gpus |url-status=live }}</ref> A current version can be downloaded from Nvidia and most Linux distributions contain it in their own repositories. Nvidia GeForce driver 340.24 from 8 July 2014 supports the [[EGL (API)|EGL]] interface enabling support for [[Wayland (display server protocol)|Wayland]] in conjunction with this driver.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/76884/en-us | title = Support for EGL | date = 2014-07-08 | access-date = 2014-07-08 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140711235236/http://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/76884/en-us | archive-date = July 11, 2014 | df = mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.archlinux.org/packages/multilib/x86_64/lib32-nvidia-utils/files/ | title = lib32-nvidia-utils 340.24-1 File List | date = 2014-07-15 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140716215458/https://www.archlinux.org/packages/multilib/x86_64/lib32-nvidia-utils/files/ | archive-date = July 16, 2014 | df = mdy-all }}</ref> This may be different for the [[Nvidia Quadro]] brand, which is based on identical hardware but features OpenGL-certified graphics device drivers. On the same day the [[Vulkan (API)|Vulkan]] graphics API was publicly released, Nvidia released drivers that fully supported it.<ref>{{cite web |date=2016-02-16 |title=Nvidia: Vulkan support in Windows driver version 356.39 and Linux driver version 355.00.26 |url=https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-driver |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408024142/https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-driver |archive-date=April 8, 2016 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Nvidia has released drivers with optimizations for specific video games concurrent with their release since 2014, having released 150 drivers supporting 400 games in April 2022.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mason |first1=Damien |title=Nvidia GPU drivers are better than AMD and Intel, says Nvidia |url=https://www.pcgamesn.com/nvidia/gpu-drivers-amd-intel |website=[[PCGamesN]] |date=27 April 2022 |access-date=October 26, 2022 |archive-date=October 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221026234804/https://www.pcgamesn.com/nvidia/gpu-drivers-amd-intel |url-status=live }}</ref>

Basic support for the [[Direct Rendering Manager#Kernel mode setting|DRM mode-setting interface]] in the form of a new kernel module named <code>nvidia-modeset.ko</code> has been available since version 358.09 beta.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/884727/linux-solaris-and-freebsd-driver-358-09-beta-/ | title = Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD driver 358.09 (beta) | date = 2015-12-10 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160625072211/https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/884727/linux-solaris-and-freebsd-driver-358-09-beta-/ | archive-date = June 25, 2016 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>
The support of Nvidia's [[display controller]] on the supported GPUs is centralized in <code>nvidia-modeset.ko</code>. Traditional display interactions (X11 modesets, OpenGL SwapBuffers, VDPAU presentation, SLI, stereo, framelock, [[Nvidia G-Sync|G-Sync]], etc.) initiate from the various user-mode driver components and flow to <code>nvidia-modeset.ko</code>.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/925605/linux/nvidia-364-12-release-vulkan-glvnd-drm-kms-and-eglstreams/ | title = NVIDIA 364.12 release: Vulkan, GLVND, DRM KMS, and EGLStreams | date = 2016-03-21 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160613223432/https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/925605/linux/nvidia-364-12-release-vulkan-glvnd-drm-kms-and-eglstreams/ | archive-date = June 13, 2016 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

In May 2022, Nvidia announced that it would release a partially open-source driver for the (GSP enabled) [[Turing (microarchitecture)|Turing]] architecture and newer, in order to enhance the ability for it to be packaged as part of Linux distributions. At launch Nvidia considered the driver to be alpha quality for consumer GPUs, and production ready for datacenter GPUs. Currently the userspace components of the driver (including OpenGL, Vulkan, and CUDA) remain proprietary. In addition, the open-source components of the driver are only a wrapper (CPU-RM{{efn|name=RM|"RM" stands for "Resource Manager".}}) for the GPU System Processor (GSP) firmware, a RISC-V [[binary blob]] that is now required for running the open-source driver.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cunningham |first=Andrew |date=2022-05-12 |title=Nvidia takes first step toward open-source Linux GPU drivers |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/05/nvidia-takes-first-step-toward-open-source-linux-gpu-drivers/ |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us |archive-date=May 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531155359/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/05/nvidia-takes-first-step-toward-open-source-linux-gpu-drivers/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Corrigan |first=Hope |date=2022-05-17 |title=Nvidia's moved most of the code to firmware before releasing Open-Source Linux drivers |language=en |work=PC Gamer |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/nvidias-moved-most-of-the-code-to-firmware-before-releasing-open-source-linux-drivers/ |access-date=2022-05-31 |archive-date=May 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531155359/https://www.pcgamer.com/nvidias-moved-most-of-the-code-to-firmware-before-releasing-open-source-linux-drivers/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The GPU System Processor is a [[RISC-V]] coprocessor codenamed "Falcon" that is used to offload GPU initialization and management tasks. The driver itself is still split for the host CPU portion (CPU-RM{{efn|name=RM}}) and the GSP portion (GSP-RM{{efn|name=RM}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git – Repository of firmware blobs for use with the Linux kernel |url=https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/commit/?id=f4a3c72e5c413a601d1e21f9606f1c94a610d05d |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=git.kernel.org}}</ref> Windows 11 and Linux proprietary drivers also support enabling GSP and make even gaming faster.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CSGO running smooth for a couple seconds, then HEAVILY dropping, then going back to normal, repeat · Issue #335 · NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules |url=https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules/issues/335 |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=GitHub |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author1=Aaron Klotz |date=2022-01-18 |title=Nvidia Driver Unlocks Performance Boosting GPU System Processor |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-gpu-system-processor-introduction |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Tom's Hardware |language=en}}</ref> [[CUDA]] supports GSP since version 11.6.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NVIDIA CUDA 11.6 Brings Convenient "-arch=native", Defaults To New "GSP" Driver Mode |url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/NVIDIA-CUDA-11.6 |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=www.phoronix.com |language=en}}</ref> Upcoming Linux kernel 6.7 will support GSP in [[Nouveau (software)|Nouveau]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=NVIDIA Pushes 62MB Of GSP Binary Firmware Blobs Into Linux-Firmware.Git |url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/NVIDIA-Big-GSP-Firmware-Dump |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=www.phoronix.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nouveau Linux DRM Driver Making Progress On NVIDIA GSP Support |url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/NVIDIA-GSP-Nouveau-Progress |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=www.phoronix.com |language=en}}</ref>