NVIDIA to End Support for 32-bit Operating Systems Soon
NVIDIA is set to leave behind 32-bit operating systems, starting from their official support for the drivers of their graphics cards. Version 390 of their driver will be the last release to support 32-bit OSes, and after that, later versions will drop support for the older architecture.
All GPU architectures being supported by NVIDIA will no longer have 32-bit drivers after Release 390, including desktop and mobile cards, as the company explained on their updated support page.
"Later driver release versions will not operate, nor install, on 32-bit operating systems," the NVIDIA support team announced, adding that "Driver enhancements, driver optimizations, and operating system features in driver versions after Release 390 will not be incorporated back into Release 390 or earlier versions," as updated on Thursday, Dec. 21.
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Critical security updates for older drivers, however, will still be supported by NVIDIA until January 2019.
This announcement will affect PC users who are still running 32-bit operating systems, which may include variants of Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1, Windows 10, Linux and FreeBSD, according to PC Gamer.
Users who are sticking to 32-bit platforms as listed above will only get the occasional security update for their GPU drivers after Release 390, and they will only come out as needed. Even this minimal level of support is due to end after 2018, as well.
32-bit operating systems are getting fewer updates from software vendors, even as some users and organizations are still stuck using older systems, perhaps due to applications that will only work this way.
As a result, these systems are typically less secure, as Engadget points out. These older, un-updated systems are now being targeted by ransomware like WannaCry, a cyber attack that has attracted widespread media attention as it spread to more than 150 countries, locking up 200,000 systems in China, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Britain.
