Confused on Steam Play and Proton? Be sure to check out our guide.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

NVIDIA have a little present available for Linux fans today, with the release of the 435.17 beta driver now being available.

This is a beta driver and it includes quite the highlight with the addition of PRIME render offload support for Vulkan and OpenGL. This is where you might have your Intel GPU running most normal applications, with an NVIDIA chip then powering your games. It's usually found in Notebooks and it's been a source of annoyance for NVIDIA Notebook owners for a long time, so it's really pleasing to see proper progress like this.

It comes with some caveats though, as it needs a very up to date X.Org Server with git commits not available in a normal release yet. However, if you're on Ubuntu 19.04 or 18.04 NVIDIA have provided a PPA. There's a little additional work needed for now too, you can read more about the PRIME render offload support here.

For the rest of what's in this new driver, it has the usual assortment of bug fixes and "experimental support for runtime D3 (RTD3) power management on Turing notebook GPUs". The full changelog can be found here.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
24 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
32 comments
Page: 1/4»
  Go to:

dpanter Aug 13, 2019
Come on Ubuntu dudes, share your experiences with us. :)
Exidan Aug 13, 2019
what a timing... I just bought a new notebook, and it has nvidia. I was already studying every possible way to handle multiple GPUs.
But that means bumblebee will be able to handle vulkan now? or is bumblebee not even necessary now?
dpanter Aug 13, 2019
No more Bumblebee crap, you can use __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 and other things now, details in the links. :)
hagabaka Aug 13, 2019
Quoting: Exidanwhat a timing... I just bought a new notebook, and it has nvidia. I was already studying every possible way to handle multiple GPUs.
But that means bumblebee will be able to handle vulkan now? or is bumblebee not even necessary now?
I think if you take the PRIME render offload approach, you don't need bumblebee. However currently bumblebee can already handle vulkan with primus_vk.
Exidan Aug 13, 2019
Quoting: dpanterNo more Bumblebee crap, you can use __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 and other things now, details in the links. :)
NOICE
Quoting: hagabaka
Quoting: Exidanwhat a timing... I just bought a new notebook, and it has nvidia. I was already studying every possible way to handle multiple GPUs.
But that means bumblebee will be able to handle vulkan now? or is bumblebee not even necessary now?
I think if you take the PRIME render offload approach, you don't need bumblebee. However currently bumblebee can already handle vulkan with primus_vk.
I saw primus_vk, but people say its not a good solution right now (not stable).
Leopard Aug 13, 2019
Quoting: Exidanwhat a timing... I just bought a new notebook, and it has nvidia. I was already studying every possible way to handle multiple GPUs.
But that means bumblebee will be able to handle vulkan now? or is bumblebee not even necessary now?

Bumblebee is thrash and not necessary.

It has significant overhead. From now on , that solution should be used.

Without needing to logout to change active gpu ( Prime ) , Intel will be working on desktop but when you go gaming NV will kick in. Just like NV driver does on Windows for a very long time.
Dunc Aug 13, 2019
I wish there was an equivalent to PRIME render offloading on desktops. I have a GPU here on my motherboard that's literally never been used.

(And yes, I know it's an architectural limitation and there isn't really any way of using it and a PCIe card at the same time. But it's annoying all the same.)
Julius Aug 13, 2019
Ahh... took them only 10+ years :(

Still great news... I hope it comes to Solus soon.
Luke_Nukem Aug 13, 2019
Also worth reading this if you have a Turing powered laptop.

I'm not 100% sure the Nvidia chip is powered off for other older chips if it is unused after reading that. Sort of makes me think bbswitch might still be required for the older gen, though I'm not sure how that will interact (it usually requires the drivers to be unloaded?). Or maybe the older gen will go in to the lowest power state they can.
sigz Aug 13, 2019
Quoting: LeopardBumblebee is thrash and not necessary.

Don't say that... bumblebee helped a lot in the past when there was no other solutions..
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.