Nvidia has taken a critical step for older-generation graphics card users with the release of the 590 series driver for the Linux platform. This new update signals a strategic shift in support for the company’s long-popular Maxwell (GTX 900 series) and Pascal (GTX 10 series) architectures. This first driver, available specifically for Linux users, signals the end of performance-focused Game Ready updates for older GPU models.

GTX 10 and GTX 900 owners, beware: Game Ready support is ending

Initial reports from the community indicate that cards with a large number of users, such as the GTX 1050 Ti, are no longer recognized by the system with the new driver. While Nvidia’s release notes suggest continued support for older hardware, in practice, these cards are rendered useless with the new software. This demonstrates a striking discrepancy between official documentation and actual user experience, and demonstrates that these architectures are being sacrificed for performance updates.

This radical change, currently only seen on Linux, also creates significant uncertainty for Windows users. Nvidia hasn’t yet released the 590 version for Windows, but this move on Linux signals that a similar scenario will soon occur for Windows. As you may recall, version 581.80 was one of the last Windows drivers to support these cards at the end of November.

Nvidia stated that these older architectures, which have served users for over a decade, will not be abandoned entirely, but that the support structure will change. The company will continue to release security updates for older cards only quarterly. This will protect users from critical vulnerabilities, but these cards will no longer receive specific performance optimizations for newly released games. It has also been reported that support for the Volta architecture, which is less common in the consumer market, as well as the Maxwell and Pascal series, has been reduced.

This move clearly reinforces the tech giant’s strategy of focusing its resources and engineering efforts on current hardware and next-generation technologies. While owners of older-generation cards will continue to receive basic driver functionality and security patches, they may now have to consider hardware upgrades more seriously to achieve full performance in modern games and applications.

So, what are your thoughts on Nvidia’s decision to reduce support for older cards? Are you still using a GTX 900 or 10-series graphics card in your computer?