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2.6 NVIDIA Settings

D3vil0p3r edited this page May 14, 2023 · 3 revisions

In general, the real GPU cannot be used on virtualization software that don't support the GPU Passthrough (i.e., Oracle VirtualBox or VMware Workstation). So, for users that install Athena OS in baremetal or on a virtualized environment by VMware vSphere, the correct setting of NVIDIA GPU has two scenarios:

  1. Client with Integrated GPU (i.e., Intel GPU) and dedicated GPU (i.e., ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060)
  2. Client without Integrated GPU but only a dedicated GPU (i.e., ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060)

Note that in Athena OS, the NVIDIA driver that is used is the DKMS. DKMS is used for custom kernels, and Linux Zen is considered a custom kernel.

Remember: some packages could disable NVIDIA modules (i.e., bumblebee). For checking if NVIDIA modules are disabled, give a look to the files in /etc/sysctl.d/ directory.

Integrated GPU and Dedicated GPU scenario

During the installation phase in Calamares, Athena will set the NVIDIA drivers automatically because it recognizes your hardware. After the installation, everything will be set automatically and the switch between Integrated and Dedicated GPU will be managed by NVIDIA Optimus.

Dedicated GPU only scenario

During the installation phase in Calamares, Athena will set the NVIDIA drivers automatically because it recognizes your hardware. After the installation, run sudo pacman -S nvidia-open-dkms and reboot. Now your system should use your dedicated GPU.