NVIDIA GeForce FX / 6 / 7 Series GPUs Get Notable Open-Source Driver Improvement In 2022

[phoronix]

Phoronix: NVIDIA GeForce FX / 6 / 7 Series GPUs Get Notable Open-Source Driver Improvement In 2022

The NVIDIA GeForce FX "NV30" graphics cards are nearly two decades old while via the open-source, community-driven Nouveau project even these old GPUs still see occasional Linux graphics driver improvements. Hitting Mesa 22.1-devel today is the most notable driver work we've seen in years for the open-source NV30 and NV40 (GeForce 6 / 7 series) graphics cards...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Nouveau-NV30-NV40-NIR

[cheese]

I know that the gpu shortage is hitting people hard, but this is getting a bit out of hand.

[tildearrow]

I know that the gpu shortage is hitting people hard, but this is getting a bit out of hand.

I still have one of these integrated GeForce 6 chips, and yep, still running it on the server.
And yeah, it's practically only useful as a framebuffer chip...

[edwaleni]

Gamers Nexus just revealed that some cheapo PC assemblers (in this case iBuyPower) are installing Fermi era (GF108) GPU's from 2010 into new builds.

That is how desperate it has gotten, as this GPU was used in the GT430, GT530 and GT630. They just update the GDDR used.

[CochainComplex]

Gamers Nexus just revealed that some cheapo PC assemblers (in this case iBuyPower) are installing Fermi era (GF108) GPU's from 2010 into new builds.

That is how desperate it has gotten, as this GPU was used in the GT430, GT530 and GT630. They just update the GDDR used.

I never thought that gfx card sector could be pushed forward technology wise by igpus. But this era of old Fermi GPUs is already overtaken by any modern iGPU, or isn't it?

[Slartifartblast]

Gamers Nexus just revealed that some cheapo PC assemblers (in this case iBuyPower) are installing Fermi era (GF108) GPU's from 2010 into new builds.

That is how desperate it has gotten, as this GPU was used in the GT430, GT530 and GT630. They just update the GDDR used.

There's a lot of fakery and reprogrammed BIOS's going on to palm these off as newer cards leaving lots of Little Johnnys crying about losing their Christmas money after buying them from dodgy websites at unbelievably low to be true prices, caveat emptor.

This is the original video that the OP was talking about for those too lazy to Google it for themselves....

Linus covering out and out fakery for those that haven't heard of it....

[antonyshen]

How about the re-clock issue, does Nouveau handle it on NV30 now?

[JustRob]

One benchmark isn't the deciding vote but if you compare the old GPUs to some iGPUs they are not so bad.

3DMark

If you have the card and it works it's great to have new driver support, but you wouldn't necessarily buy these particular cards (used) to simply have a low capability graphics card as there's newer ones in the same price range that are much faster.

It's more a case of keeping the old junker running, than that of having a computer that can provide suitable performance on software several years old; unless it's for the most basic tasks.

[Vlad42]

I never thought that gfx card sector could be pushed forward technology wise by igpus. But this era of old Fermi GPUs is already overtaken by any modern iGPU, or isn't it?

Not necessarily. The Fermi GPUs have an advantage due to having vastly more memory bandwidth. For example, my laptop's 3700U's iGPU can outperform a GeForce 460m at 1024x768. However, it starts loosing at 1366x768 and it gets worse as the resolution increases.

[Quackdoc]

Im going to guess this is a lot less about any gpu shortage, and more about cleaning house. The end goal is probably to be able to drop majority of TGSI pipeline, and leave it strictly NIR->TGSI

EDIT: for anyone curios, this is the PR I am referencing https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/..._requests/8044