Nvidia will no longer make GPU drivers for 32-bit OSes and Fermi graphics cards

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Out with the old and in with the new.

It might finally be time to retire that GeForce GTX 590, and while you're at it, you should consider upgrading to a 64-bit operating system, if you haven't already. Otherwise, don't expect Nvidia to release any more GPU drivers for your platform.

The same applies to Nvidia's GeForce Experience software—it's dropping 32-bit support, though "existing features and services such as optimal game settings will continue to work on Windows 32-bit operating systems," the company noted.

This isn't much of a surprise, both because the majority of users have long since updated to a 64-bit version of Windows, and also Nvidia stated in December of last year that this was going to happen. There isn't much reason to roll with a 32-bit OS these days, save for older system with dated hardware or in rare cases where compatibility might be a concern. Most of those systems wouldn't make for very good gaming boxes anyway.

In related news, Nvidia is also discontinuing GPU driver support for its Fermi-era graphics cards. This also goes into effect this month, and just as with 32-bit OSes, the only GPU updates for Fermi will be critical security patches through January 2019.

The first Fermi GPUs arrived in April 2010. They're found in GeForce 400 and 500 series cards, such as the GeForce GTX 590 pictured at the top of this article. Fermi GPUs were built on a 40nm manufacturing process and have since been superseded by Kepler, Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta. Follow this link to see a full list of cards affected.

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Paul Lilly
Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).