Nvidia releases 364.16 Vulkan driver, improved Optimus support, improved multi-threaded scaling

Fast response from Nvidia, 1.0.8 was just released a week ago!

Nvidia++;

This is fast as hell. I can only dream AMD supporting like this on Linux.

In the graphics-drivers PPA I'm seeing that the version is 364.15, updated 3 hours ago (at the time of writing this comment), not 364.16. Can I expect it to be the same driver anyway?

In the graphics-drivers PPA I'm seeing that the version is 364.15, updated 3 hours ago (at the time of writing this comment), not 364.16. Can I expect it to be the same driver anyway?

I doubt it. The graphics-drivers PPA is usually a day or two behind, it will probably be up on Monday. 346.16 is so new it's not even listed on Nvidia's own downloads page yet, 346.15 is still the most current on that page.

I'm getting the general impression that Vulkan must genuinely be fairly clean and simple, thus easy to make the drivers, since overall it seems like development of this stuff is happening faster than I was really expecting.

How is the performance on Shadow of Mordor? the last driver I tried gave me floating heads.

Hello, what are the difference between the drivers from the web page you linked us and this one :

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en

Hello, what are the difference between the drivers from the web page you linked us and this one :

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en

That is the stable driver, this is more bleeding edge.

works like a charm ^^. I cant tell if Im just "getting better" or if there drivers are less buggy.
But I'v always installed nvidia drivers via ppa. I find it less buggy and its simpler that way.
But I wanted to try it with a run file, in tty, by myself this time. And it works :O.


Last edited by Zelox on 9 April 2016 at 6:21 pm UTC

works like a charm ^^. I cant tell if Im just "getting better" or if there drivers are less buggy.
But I'v always installed nvidia drivers via ppa. I find it less buggy and its simpler that way.
But I wanted to try it with a run file, in tty, by myself this time. And it works :O.

Do you still have to stop X before installing and run the whole thing from the command line?

Meanwhile, Windows users have an auto-updater, and don't have to log out and back in or reboot to switch drivers. I hope Wayland will provide that feature.


P.S. Don't get me wrong, NVIDIA's auto-updater is pretty horrible, but still it'd be nice to have that option to get new drivers faster, and to have an easy GUI installer.

Nop, I didnt even have to stop the x server. Everything went super smooth :O.
Ye windows is still waaay ahead when it come to supp from nvidia.
And if you compair windows with linux, I prefer linux ppa over geforce experience.

And I dont mind going in to tty or using apt-get like I do now. I just dont like the fact that nvidia used to break the x server or make the desktop crash whenever you installed it.
If the stuff works Im happy. So Im happy now ^^.

And judging from past experience, I could see a gui being really handy for new users.
Cause I hade some frustrating moments in the past with nvidia, and when that ppa came, it was like a blessing from above :P.

Does Shadow of Mordor have Vulkan support? that would be awesome if it did!

Does Shadow of Mordor have Vulkan support? that would be awesome if it did!

The game was released for Windows in 2014, more than a year before Vulkan, and there's no way WB would fund the development of an entirely new graphics backend for the engine at this point. And I doubt Feral would do the work either for a port they released something like nine months ago. Would be awesome of course, but hardly worth the effort for them.

I'd think the latest Arkham would be a more worthwhile Vulkan/DX12 candidate for WB, seeing as it performs like crap on Windows and the Linux port was canceled. But I don't see this happening either.

Does Shadow of Mordor have Vulkan support? that would be awesome if it did!

Highly unlikely that ever happens. It's pretty miraculous that The Talos Principle is in the process of getting a Vulkan backend, it's probably only because Croteam are going to be using the same engine for Serious Sam 4, so modifying the engine is something that will benefit future games too. From a purely financial perspective, it doesn't make sense to port older games to Vulkan. It basically costs you time and money in exchange for zero sales. The only scenarios it makes sense in are:

a) The same engine will be used in a future game and this serves as a testing ground to learn and tweak (see: The Talos Principle)
b) It's a game that's continually updated and evolving and likely will be for many years to come (see: DotA 2)
c) It's a game from a company heavily invested in Vulkan and they're using it as a tech demo. For example, I wouldn't be shocked if Epic did this, given how involved they are with Vulkan, though they're just as likely to create a new small tech demo than port a Vulkan backend into an existing game)

Basically, I only expect Vulkan backends for games that are not out yet, and more specifically, games that have yet to start development or are fairly early in development. Games deep into development, like Homefront: Revolution, are an iffy case on whether putting in the work to make a Vulkan backend is worth it at that point (and it's also more up to Crytek to get Vulkan support into CryEngine), though I hold on to some irrational hope that Homefront: Revolution does indeed come to Linux with a Vulkan backend.

That's nice that you didn't have to stop X like the old NVIDIA installers used to require. Still you need to restart X or reboot anyway in order to use the newly installed driver of course, but still, that's waaaaaaaaaaay easier for Linux noobs than being forced to change ttys and forced to learn how to use the command line. A big step for Linux user friendliness, there!

I think a restart is needed in windows aswell. If u want the new drivers to work.
Otherwise I think you are still using the old driver.

But I dont mind a restart, like I said. If it works Im happy ^^

I think a restart is needed in windows aswell. If u want the new drivers to work.
Otherwise I think you are still using the old driver.

But I dont mind a restart, like I said. If it works Im happy ^^

The Windows driver model at least since W7 has allowed "hot swapping" of graphics drivers. I don't know if all the installers make use of this. But if I'm using the computer for something so important that restarting is out of the question, upgrading my graphics driver can surely wait until it's done.

What's the state of Optimus anyway? I thought it wasn't supported by the proprietary driver. Has that changed lately?

Optimus is officially supported in a way - You can use nvidia prime which allows you to switch between Intel and Nvidia, but it's pretty rubbish since you have to restart X/reboot to use the tool. So bumblebee is still king here.

That said, there are patches in places in the kernel, Xorg and nvidia drivers by the nvidia team that will massively improve optimus soon, because screen tearing is shockingly bad. I've tried both prime and bumbleebee, the new patches allow the entire system to talk to itself to actually use vsync via a screen sink (so nvidia outputing stuff on the intel).

Can't wait. I've been unable to play some games because the tearing is just so bloody bad. Alien Isolation? not even once :(.

Do you still have to stop X before installing and run the whole thing from the command line?

I tryed to install the new drivers on my main gaming rig, and over here it seems I do have to turn of the xserver and turn of nouveau kernel. I didnt have to do this with my laptop, and I do think it is because I have intel and nvidia on it.
So intel was render the image or what u call it. There for mesa was in use I think, and after I installed nvidia 364 nvidia was now rendering the image on my desktop.

For my main gaming rig on the other hand I only use nvidia for displaying my desktop. And I have to turn of the xserver.
And I think I will go for the ppa on this one, I dont want to break anything xD.