hyprland-wiki/pages/Nvidia/_index.md

---
weight: 8
title: NVidia
---

# Foreword

There is no _official_ Hyprland support for Nvidia hardware. However, you might
make it work properly following this page.

You can choose between the proprietary
[Nvidia drivers](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA) or the open source
[Nouveau driver](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Nouveau). Under the
proprietary Nvidia drivers category, there are 3 of them: the current driver
named 'nvidia' (or 'nvidia-dkms' to use with custom linux kernels) which is
under active development, the legacy drivers 'nvidia-3xxxx' for older cards
which Nvidia no longer actively supports, and the 'nvidia-open' driver which is
currently an alpha stage attempt to open source a part of their close source
driver for newer cards.

You may want to use the proprietary Nvidia drivers in some cases, for example:
if you have a new Nvidia GPU model, if you want more performance, if you want to
play video games, if you need a wider feature set (for example, better power
consumption on recent GPUs), etc. However, keep in mind that if the proprietary
Nvidia drivers do not work properly on your computer, the Nouveau driver might
work fine while not having as much features or performance. For
[older cards](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA#Unsupported_drivers), in
order to use Hyprland, you will probably need to use the Nouveau driver which
actively supports them.

Below are some tips to try to make the proprietary Nvidia driver work with
Hyprland properly:

## How to get Hyprland to possibly work on Nvidia

Install the `nvidia-dkms` driver and add it to your initramfs & kernel
parameters.\
For people using [systemd-boot](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/systemd-boot)
you can do this adding `nvidia_drm.modeset=1` to the end of
`/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf`. For people using
[grub](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB) you can do this by adding
`nvidia_drm.modeset=1` to the end of `GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=` in
`/etc/default/grub`, then run `# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg` For
others check out
[kernel parameters](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel_parameters) and how
to add `nvidia_drm.modeset=1` to your specific bootloader.

in `/etc/mkinitcpio.conf` add `nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm` to
your `MODULES`

run
`# mkinitcpio --config /etc/mkinitcpio.conf --generate /boot/initramfs-custom.img`
(make sure you have the `linux-headers` package installed first)

add a new line to `/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf` (make it if it does not exist)
and add the line `options nvidia-drm modeset=1`

More information is available here:
[https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA#DRM_kernel_mode_setting](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA#DRM_kernel_mode_setting)

{{< callout >}}

If your GPU is listed as supported by the `nvidia-open-dkms` driver, use that
one instead. Note that on a laptop, it could cause problems with the suspended
state when closing the lid, so you might be better off with `nvidia-dkms`.

{{< /callout >}}

{{< callout >}}

To get multi monitor to work properly on a hybrid graphics device (a laptop with
both an Intel and an Nvidia GPU), you will need to remove the `optimus-manager`
package if installed (disabling the service does not work). You also need to
change your BIOS settings from hybrid graphics to discrete graphics.

{{< /callout >}}

Export these variables in your hyprland config:

```sh
env = LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME,nvidia
env = XDG_SESSION_TYPE,wayland
env = GBM_BACKEND,nvidia-drm
env = __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME,nvidia
env = WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS,1
```

{{< callout >}}

If you encounter crashes in Firefox, remove the line
`env = GBM_BACKEND,nvidia-drm`.

{{< /callout >}}

{{< callout >}}

If you face problems with Discord windows not displaying or screen sharing not
working in Zoom, remove or comment the line
`env = __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME,nvidia`.

{{< /callout >}}

Install `qt5-wayland`, `qt5ct` and `libva`. Additionally
`libva-nvidia-driver-git` (AUR) to fix crashes in some Electron-based
applications, such as Unity Hub.

Reboot your computer

Launch Hyprland.

It _should_ work now.

## Fixing random flickering, (nuclear method)

Do note though that this forces performance mode to be active, resulting in
increased power-consumption (from 22W idle on a RTX 3070TI, to 74W).

This may not even be needed for some users, only apply these 'fixes' if you
in-fact do notice flickering artifacts from being idle for ~5 seconds.

Make a new file at `/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf` and paste this in:

```sh
options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwords="PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerLevel=0x3; PowerMizerDefault=0x3; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x3"
```

Reboot your computer and it should be working.

If it does not, try:

- lowering your monitors' refresh rate, as this can stop the flickering
  altogether
- installing the 535xx versions of the drivers, as later (545, 550) can cause
  flickering with XWayland
  - these are available for arch via
    [the AUR here](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages?O=0&K=535xx)
- using the [Nouveau driver](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Nouveau) as
  mentioned above

## Fixing suspend/wakeup issues

Enable the services `nvidia-suspend.service`, `nvidia-hibernate.service` and
`nvidia-resume.service`, they will be started by systemd when needed.

Add `nvidia.NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1` to your kernel parameters if
you don't have it already.

{{< callout >}}

Suspend functions are currently broken on `nvidia-open-dkms`
[due to a bug](https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules/issues/472), so
make sure you're on `nvidia-dkms`.

{{< /callout >}}

For Nix users, the equivalent of the above is

```nix
# configuration.nix

boot.kernelParams = [ "nvidia.NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1" ];

hardware.nvidia.powerManagement.enable = true

# Making sure to use the proprietary drivers until the issue above is fixed upstream
hardware.nvidia.open = false
```