Nvidia gives its Fermi GPUs "legacy status" as it ends mainstream 32-bit driver support

Nvidia ends mainstream support for the GTX480 as it focuses support on Kepler, Maxwell, Pascal and Volta architectures

Graphics chip maker Nvidia has confirmed that it is to stop mainstream graphics 32-bit driver support for its range of Fermi GPU GeForce products.

Over the weekend, the company revealed that the decision will go ahead immediately, meaning the GeForce GPUs are now officially classed as legacy devices.

Nvidia explained that it will drop driver support for the GPUs in April. However, it will continue to release "critical security updates" until the start of next year.

Announced in April 2010, the Fermi GPU-based GeForce graphics card - called the GTX480 - has been around for eight years.

But the company feels that it has become too outdated and has finally handed it legacy status.

In a statement, the company announced that it will no longer be releasing Game Ready Driver upgrades, bug fixes or new features for the GPUs.

As of this month, these updates will only be released to GPUs running on the Kepler, Maxwell, Pascal and Volta architectures.

That said, users of the GeForce 400 and 500 series of GPUs will still be able to download critical security updates, although these will cease on January 2019.

Nvidia explained that it is giving users a year to upgrade to newer devices, or they risk being exposed to potential security threats by relying on outdated hardware.

"Effective April 2018, Game Ready Driver upgrades, including performance enhancements, new features, and bug fixes, will be available only on Kepler, Maxwell, and Pascal series GPUs," said the firm.

"Critical security updates will be available on Fermi series GPUs through January 2019."

Rolled out last month, the 391.35 Game Ready Driver will be the last major update for the GeForce GPUs.

At the time, Nvidia wrote: "Game Ready Drivers provide the best possible gaming experience for all major new releases, including Virtual Reality games.

"Prior to a new title launching, our driver team is working up until the last minute to ensure every performance tweak and bug fix is included for the best gameplay on day one."

Similarly, AMD stopped issuing software updates for the HD 5000 and HD 6000 series cards (which use similar architecture) in 2015.