I recently switched from Windows to Linux Mint to escape the privacy invasions of Microsoft. I'm loving my new setup for tasks like media consumption, reading PDFs, and browsing the internet. However, my old gaming laptop has an Nvidia dGPU, and Linux Mint keeps suggesting that I install drivers for it, offering both open-source and proprietary options. I've read that the performance of the open-source drivers isn't great, but that info is a bit outdated. Is that still the case? Also, since Nvidia's drivers are closed-source, is there any info on how much data they might collect? How invasive are they regarding privacy concerns?
4 Answers
Performance-wise, the proprietary drivers are still superior, especially for gaming. The open-source alternatives aren't quite up to the same level yet. If you're heavily into privacy, just understand that typical performance telemetry shouldn't be a concern with the drivers themselves, although they won't deliver the same performance as proprietary ones.
Correct, the open-source drivers like Nouveau aren't suitable for gaming, as they lack the necessary performance. Nvidia does provide open drivers that are surprisingly decent for newer GPUs, so you might want to check those out for a more balanced option between performance and openness.
As for privacy, drivers typically don't collect data. If you use settings adjustment programs, those might, but the drivers themselves mostly just manage hardware communication. There are no major privacy concerns tied directly to the Nvidia drivers on Linux, as they primarily communicate how to utilize the hardware without any added data capture.
It's a valid point, but technically a driver could access hardware-level data. That said, translating that into usable data for transmission is pretty complex.
Generally, there's no indication that Nvidia's drivers collect user data, and they aren't in the advertisement business. However, since they are proprietary, we can't know for sure. It's worth noting that the Windows version reportedly has some telemetry, but the Linux drivers likely don’t replicate those concerns.
Yeah, I've heard that the GeForce app on Windows is worse in terms of telemetry. It's good to be cautious, though.
Good point! Nvidia's open drivers for Turing GPUs and newer are getting better, but the traditional open-source options are really lacking.