Hey everyone! I'm not a total newbie to Linux, but I'm still learning the ropes. I'm planning to swap out my Nvidia 5070Ti for an AMD 9070XT, and I wanted to get some advice before I go for it. In Windows, I'd typically use DDU to remove any old drivers before installing new ones to avoid conflicts. Is there a similar process I should follow on Linux? I know I'll need the AMD drivers, but can I leave the Nvidia drivers installed, or will that cause issues? What steps should I take to make sure everything goes smoothly? Any tips will be appreciated! Thanks!
2 Answers
You don’t have to worry about Nvidia drivers as much on Linux since AMD’s drivers are open-source and integrated with the kernel. You can simply remove any Nvidia driver packages if they’re installed, typically using your package manager. If you’re on EndeavourOS, just a quick search for installed Nvidia packages and removing them should do the trick. Just make sure to install the AMD packages if they're not already set up!
You’re on the right track! When switching from Nvidia to AMD, you actually don’t need to stress too much. Just power down your PC, swap the cards, and boot back up. The AMD open-source drivers should generally be there already in most modern distros, so it’s often pretty seamless. Just make sure your Linux kernel is version 6.13 or higher for optimal support. As for the old Nvidia drivers, you can clean them up, but it’s not as urgent as in Windows. You can remove them through your package manager if needed.
Is it really that simple? Besides downloading the new drivers for AMD, I won’t need to manually remove the old Nvidia drivers?
Got it! I'm glad I don't have to manually hunt down everything. Is there a command or something to remove all Nvidia packages at once?