Gamers get Nvidia GeForce GPUs working with ARM CPUs on Windows
Has ARM’s gaming era started? Nvidia GPUs are now working with Windows on ARM with RTX Spark drivers
Following the release of Nvidia’s RTX Spark GPU driver for Windows 11 on ARM, developers (via Windows Latest) have discovered that this driver allows Nvidia’s desktop GPUs to be installed on ARM-based Windows PCs.
Below, we can see that a developer has installed an Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics card with a Huawei Kunpeng 920 processor. This Huawei CPU is an ARM-based server CPU. With this CPU, Nvidia’s RTX 4060 reportedly functions normally, but without a video output signal. The test system also had 32GB of DDR4-2933 memory.
The GPU was also reportedly able to play some games, though x86-to-ARM translation reportedly took up a lot of CPU time. Some games did not work at all, while others ran but performed badly due to CPU performance limitations. Note that this test was done using a Huawei CPU, not an Nvidia CPU. Performance and compatibility issues may be due to this mismatch. Furthermore, Windows 11 on ARM does not officially support Huawei CPUs.
(Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU with an ARM-based Huawei CPU on Windows 11 – Image from Windows Latest)
Terrible gaming performance, though that’s to be expected
At 1080p, Genshin Impact reportedly ran at about 20 FPS, as did the Black Myth: Wukong benchmark. Performance appears to be limited by the Huawei CPU used and Windows’ x86-to-ARM translation. Add on potential compatibility issues, and it’s easy to see why performance is poor.
If these benchmarks are any indication, Nvidia has a lot of work to do. That said, it remains unknown if Nvidia plans to support its discrete GeForce GPUs on ARM outside of its RTX Spark hardware. Furthermore, it is unclear if Nvidia’s CPUs will have any secret sauce that will make x86-to-ARM translation easier/faster. Regardless, broader ARM CPU support appears to be a possibility for Nvidia. If ARM hardware becomes more popular on Windows, broader ARM support is certainly an option for Nvidia.
You can join the discussion on Nvidia’s RTX GPUs being usable with ARM64 CPUs on Windows 11 on the OC3D Forums.
