Talk:NVIDIA

nvidia-xconfig

Several of the commands which are suggested to be run with nvidia-xconfig (such as nvidia-xconfig --twinview) don't work with the current nvidia packages in the repository. I just went through setting mine up so I intend to clean up the ones that I can from my experience. Some don't seem to have a 1:1 replacement (there is a --dynamic-twinview argument now; is that the same as --twinview was?). Teh (talk) 13:10, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

While it shouldn't be necessary to use xconfig to get nvidia working on X, creating a 20-nvidia.conf file is an integral step to fix screen tearing for people that suffer from that issue. Perhaps this section should have this explained and include a link to the nvidia troubleshooting article which contains the section about fixing screen tearing? --TheChickenMan (talk) 21:54, 22 December 2016 (UTC)

Troubleshooting sections link to the main documentation, not vice versa. Otherwise there would be no point in having separate troubleshooting sections. -- Lahwaacz (talk) 22:03, 22 December 2016 (UTC)

Compositing

I think it could be helpful for anyone that's still using X server to be guided on setting up compositing.

One way to update the Xorg.conf file to enable composition is to use the nvidia command line tool:

   # nvidia-xconfig --composite

The other is to edit the file manually, as per the example below adding the Composite Option to the Extensions section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

   Section "Extensions"
       Option         "Composite" "Enable"
   EndSection

For those running KDE, to check if compositing is enabled they can run the following command, compositing information is at the end of the output:

   $ qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin supportInformation

Esdaniel (talk) 06:25, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

Driver manual links become outdated

There is a lot of valuable information in the official manual for Nvidia's proprietary graphics drivers, but any links to them have the driver version hardcoded, e.g. https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/510.47.03/README/. As such, over time these pages have accumulated a lot of different driver versions, generally without the intent of wanting to link to that particular version. In the short term, these should probably be manually updated, since some of them are way back in the 3xx drivers. In the longer term, though, it might be nice to setup a site that redirects to the latest driver manual. Nvidia provides https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/latest.txt which has the version, but it seems there is no URL that directly leads to the correct directory. Cheers, CodingKoopa (talk) 06:05, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

I agree that a static link would be good. But I guess Nvidia does not even have such a link themselves, as they always create new forum entries. So a local solution is probably "necessary".

As these discussion pages don't get answers by the Arch admins very often, I would suggest that you could try to reach them directly, whether such a technology is already available or if they would be interested implementing it.

Otherwise I think that Arch users should be able to identify their drivers version and look up the correct manual themselves.

G3ro (talk) 18:29, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

I've checked quickly: there are 7 places which use a versioned link.

The links in NVIDIA#Installation and NVIDIA#Manual configuration should indeed be updated at every new release if we want keep things coherent.

The three links to the legacy drivers in NVIDIA#Unsupported drivers can become outdated without the information becoming irrelevant, since it's only there for the list of supported hardware, which will not change with a point release of these branches.

Same for the one in NVIDIA#Enabling SLI, it's mainly used as a reference for the citation on what is a supported configuration for SLI.

The last one is on NVIDIA#TwinView and will probably be fine too, since this way of supporting multi-monitor is on it's way out.

If someone has the coding skills to auto-update this page when needed, I doubt objections will be raised. Looks like the source for wiki-scripts is open for anyone 😉. --Erus Iluvatar (talk) 19:42, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

I've updated NVIDIA#Installation and NVIDIA#Unsupported drivers to point to nouveau's wiki, so there are only the links in NVIDIA#Manual configuration, NVIDIA#Enabling SLI and NVIDIA#TwinView left on the list. --Erus Iluvatar (talk) 10:34, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

Force DPI on Xorg in monitor section

Since nvidia version 580.82.09-2, (might also be case on few version prior) I had to force DPI in

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Monitor"
    ...
    ...
    Option         "DPI" "96 x 96"
    Option         "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE

96 x 96 DPI being the default DPI, and EDID being Extended Display Identification Data, that should be able to read info from monitor.

Otherwise i3 would have Fonts and elements 3 times bigger. Pulec (talk) 02:23, 20 September 2025 (UTC)

Add tip on nvidia archwiki-page

Hi :)

I am new to the arch-wiki, so I thought I should post here first before trying to edit anything.

I followed the steps on this page to change from nouveau to the proprietary NVIDIA 580 driver, but I had to also set two options not mentioned here.

In /etc/environment, I had to set the following options:

GBM_BACKEND=nvidia_drm

__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia

Could this tip also be mentioned at the NVIDIA archwiki page? :) August99 (talk) 13:52, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

Why did you have to set these options and why doesn't anyone else have to do this? — andreymal (talk) 13:59, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

I assume it is related to Wayland#Requirements... if we get to know whatever compositor is used, maybe it could be hinted (and linked) there? Tigockel (talk) 16:20, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

Yup, it was moved from the NVIDIA to Wayland, see Special:Diff/710293. But I'd rather remove these options even from the Wayland page because they don't seem to be relevant in 2026 (unless someone proves otherwise) — andreymal (talk) 16:30, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME is relevant for PRIME and OpenGL, so maybe not directly for Wayland. — Lahwaacz (talk) 10:10, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

I am using wayland and the sway compositor! I use the NVIDIA 580 driver, with uname saying 6.12.77-1-MANJARO. I use the following nvidia software/drivers:

lib32-nvidia-580xx-utils 580.142-1

linux-firmware-nvidia 20260309-1

nvidia-580xx-dkms 580.142-1

nvidia-580xx-utils 580.142-1

nvidia-driver-assistant 0.23.48.01-6

and some older versions I dont think are in use.

These are the steps and settings I recall having changed when changing drivers in manjaro sway from open source to the proprietary 580 driver:

- Blacklisted nouveau just in case (blacklist nouveau, options nouveau modeset=0) even though I dont know if it was necessary.

- Installed nvidia-580xx-dkms, nvidia-580xx-utils and lib32-nvidia-580xx-utils

- Set nvidia-drm.modeset=1 to grub config and compiled. Also set it in modprobe

- Added nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm to MODULES in mkinitcpio for early loading, and compiled with mkinitcpio -P

- Last step I had to set then was GBM_BACKEND and __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME

I dont know if this clears anything up :) August99 (talk) 22:49, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

Manjaro is off-topic on this wiki, and Sway works well without these options. — andreymal (talk) 23:01, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

Yet sway does not officially support NVIDIA 😇 FWIW, I'm also using Sway on nvidia and have __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia in my configs, but not GBM_BACKEND. — Lahwaacz (talk) 08:54, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

You should check out https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Configure_Graphics_Cards or https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Manjaro_Settings_Manager#Hardware_Detection. At least it did clear up, that this is not an arch problem :P good luck and have fun with linux. Tigockel (talk) 23:15, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank you so much! :D And makes sense, not relevant for the arch wiki then! Great wiki though, with useful stuff for distros as well! August99 (talk) 20:55, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

• other distros August99 (talk) 20:55, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

RTD3 Power Management on Turing

According to this post, RTD3 Power Management on Turing is now supported. I need only one option to make it work: `options nvidia NVreg_DynamicPowerManagement=0x02` Markus00000 (talk) 10:15, 2 June 2026 (UTC)