Nvidia 510.06 WSL graphics driver bids farewell to Kepler, features next gen compiler for Ada Lovelace RTX 4000 GPUs

The first Nvidia GPU driver to drop support for the Kepler is now available through the latest Windows 11 build available to Microsoft insiders, but Windows 10 users can also download it directly from the Nvidia site. This is not a WHQL driver, though, just a WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) release that is more like a preview. Nvidia is expected to release the first WHQL 500-series version with the official Windows 11 launch in early October.

Not all GTX 700 models were dropped, according to the INF files found in the 510.06 WSL release. Most GTX 700 SKUs are based on Kepler, but the GTX 750 Ti  / 750 / 745 ones are still supported since they are based on the newer Maxwell architecture that is prominently featured with the GTX 900 series. As noted by Stefan3D from LaptopVideo2Go, this version still contains GK100 functions and runtimes still expose Shader Model 3.x, so it may still support Kepler cards if installed through NVCleanstall.

There are no relevant changes made to the Control Panel, HDCP status page or the installer itself. However, the driver appears to integrate some references to future cards. Stefan3D discovered the nvcompilernext64.dll / nvcompilernext32.dll runtime compilers that may end up used by the upcoming Ada Lovelace RTX 4000 cards rumored to launch in the second half of 2022. Still no sign of CUDA 11.6 or Shader Model 9.x mentions that could tease Ada Lovelace.

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