Reports have emerged regarding the end of mainstream driver support for Fermi graphics cards and 32-bit operating systems. It’s said that Nvidia will no longer provide any Game Ready Driver updates for Fermi-based graphic cards and 32-bit operating systems in the future.
Despite this, Nvidia will still be issuing security updates for GeForce GTX 400 and GTX 500 series graphics cards up to January 2019. For those who are not aware, Nvidia Fermi graphics cards were first launched in April 2010. There are, in total, 10 different GPUs that are based on Fermi. These are the GF100, GF104, GF106, GF108, GF110, GF114, GF116, GF118, GF119, and GF117 GPUs.
Another interesting fact about Fermi GPUs are the fact that they’re the oldest GPU architecture from Nvidia that supports DirectX 12. The GPU microarchitecture was named after the well-known Italian physicist, Enrico Fermi; he is known for creating the world’s first nuclear reactor. Fermi GPUs has since been succeeded Kepler, Maxwell, and now, Pascal.
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Probably the most well-known Fermi-based graphics card is the Nvidia GTX 480. At the time, it was released as the world’s most powerful single-GPU graphics card. Whilst the graphics card successfully did become this, it came with one major flaw: its operating temperatures were abnormally high and it consumed a lot of power.
Aside from ending support for Fermi-based graphics cards, Nvidia will be ending Game Ready Driver support for 32-bit operating systems as well. The GeForce Experience software will also no longer receive updates on 32-bit operating systems. Knowing this, folks with older PCs that’s running a 32-bit operating system and/or a Fermi GPU may want to consider upgrading.
(Source: Nvidia)
