NVIDIA Extends Game Ready Driver Support for Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta GPUs Until October 2025; Windows 10 Support for All GeForce RTX GPUs Extended to October 2026

NVIDIA has officially announced that support for its GeForce Game Ready Drivers (GRD) for Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta GPUs will continue until October 2025. Furthermore, all RTX GPUs will receive GRD support on Windows 10 until October 2026, making this a significant update for users.

NVIDIA’s GPU Support Lifecycles: Key Dates and Details

In the competitive landscape of GPU manufacturing, NVIDIA stands out by offering one of the most comprehensive support systems for its consumer graphics cards. Currently, support extends from the GTX 700 series up to the latest RTX 50 series, encompassing six generations and numerous GPU families. This robust support framework is being refined with an updated timeline set to roll out in the third quarter of this year.

The details are as follows:

NVIDIA will provide Game Ready Driver support for Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta architectures until October 2025.
Security updates for these GPU architectures will be available until October 2028.
All RTX GPUs will enjoy GRD support on Windows 10 through October 2026.

The final GRD release for Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta architectures is scheduled for October 2025. Post this date, while no new game support for these GPUs will be issued, NVIDIA will continue to roll out quarterly security patches, ensuring these products remain secure and functional through to their end-of-life in October 2028.

“Following a final Game Ready Driver release in October 2025, GeForce GPUs based on Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta architectures will transition to receiving quarterly security updates for the next three years (through October 2028).Our support lifetime for these GPUs reaches up to 11 years, well beyond industry norms. Also, we’re extending Windows 10 Game Ready Driver support for all GeForce RTX GPUs to October 2026, a year beyond the operating system’s end-of-life, to ensure users continue to receive the latest day 0 optimizations for new games and apps.”

— via NVIDIA

A Brief Historical Overview of NVIDIA’s Graphics Architectures

The Maxwell architecture made its debut with the GeForce 700 series, featuring entry-level models like the GeForce GTX 750 Ti and GTX 750. This marked the beginning of NVIDIA’s push toward enhanced efficiency and performance. Following that, the GeForce 900 series served as the full-scale introduction of Maxwell, showcasing a comprehensive lineup that set the stage for future developments.

The introduction of the Pascal architecture with the GeForce 10 series brought forward the highly esteemed “GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, ”while the Volta architecture, despite not having a consumer-grade product, was represented by the Titan V aimed at professionals and enthusiasts.

Many users—including PC builders and gamers alike—have fond memories of these GPUs, whether they were first-time purchases or upgrades from older models.

Support for Windows 10 Users with RTX GPUs

NVIDIA’s extension of GeForce Game Ready Driver support for all RTX GPUs on Windows 10 until October 2026 brings positive news for users of the older operating system. With Windows 11 gradually increasing its market presence, a significant number of users still rely on Windows 10. This extended support will ensure that systems equipped with GeForce RTX GPUs (such as the RTX 20, RTX 30, RTX 40, and RTX 50 series) continue to receive crucial Day 0 optimizations for new games and applications.

Overall, this initiative underlines NVIDIA’s commitment to actively support a broad range of GPUs over an extended lifespan, thus ensuring gamers and professionals can maximize their investment in NVIDIA technology.

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