Nvidia GTX 1660 - which driver do I have to install [duplicate]

I have just ordered a GTX 1660 OC edition 6GB GDDR5 and I have Ubuntu 18.04 x64 with Cinnamon UI.

I would like to know which driver do you advise to install for that GPU?

E.g. do you think I should use mesa (e.g. this guide)? I heard a lot of improvements was made for GTX 1660 from mesa 19.3.

I would like to avoid any tearing/lagging issue I have read online about NVIDIA + Ubuntu + Cinnamon.

Thanks

2 Answers

I have GTX1650 which is not the same but close enough, it has to be the same family. And I'd say it depends on the version of Kernel you use, with the default 4.15 nvidia proprietary driver 430 worked fine for me with one bug - there was a glitch when I maximized and then minimized videos in Firefox. You can have another version of Kernel in 18.04 if you use Hardware Enablement Stack (you can read more on the official wiki) - ) I tried to update to 19.10 having the newer versions of kernel and it didn't work fine with any of the available drivers - 430, 435, 440 and nouveau, it gave me glitches on login, sound from hdmi stopped working etc, so I wouldn't recommend that.

However migrating to 20.04 with kernel 5.40 and nvidia driver 440 it works better than ever, even small glitch in Firefox has disappeared. If you can consider upgrading to 20.04 I'd probably recommend that, but backup all your data in case if you find any issues to be able to revert back. You can create some USB with the default version of your system if you have Ubuntu preinstalled or simply make a Snapshot with Timeshift to re-install and return to the previous state, just back your personal data up somewhere else (Dejadup) because it's not a good idea to include home folders to a snapshot.

As for mesa drivers, the article you shared is pretty obsolete. most of the good nvidia drivers are available via the system itself and starting from 19.10 are included to the ISO to do not download them separately. Not all the version have the newest ones however, I believe 18.04 has only 435 as the hugest version but starting from 19.10 you have 440.

you can check what is available for you and also the recommended ones with:

ubuntu-drivers devices

to check if you have the propietary ones installed:

nvidia-smi

or dkms status to see the modules loaded in kernel (it will show the driver version normally).

You can search drivers to install via:

apt search nvidia-driver

or apt-cache search nvidia-driver and install via sudo apt install nvidia-driver-xxx replace xxx with version, of course If you agree with the recommendation provided by ubuntu-drivers devices command you can use sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall, it will install recommended ones (all not only vga if you have any other difference) If you already have any drivers installed you need to delete them first before to install the newer version, better if you have any cpu build-in graphic.

All the installation can be done via GUI as well using more drivers menu in software updater, but in my experience it doesn't always work well and shell is much more effective way to manage it.

The lagging/tearing issues would be from installing the wrong drivers or not installing them right (my assumption). As for which drivers to use, input your info and see what they recommend.