Nvidia releases Linux driver with overclocking capabilities

Nvidia has released a driver with Linux driver version 337.12 that makes it possible to overclock GPUs from the Fermi series. This allows GeForce graphics cards from the 400 series to run faster in a Linux environment.

While the Nvidia drivers of GeForce video cards for Windows have long supported overclocking options, until now this has not been possible with the official drivers under Linux. Beta version 337.12 that Nvidia has released should change that. GeForce cards from the 400, 500, 600 and 700 series, and therefore Fermi and above, can now be overclocked from Linux.

To access the overclocking options, the option “coolbits” “1” setting must be added to the xorg.conf configuration file. The clock speeds of the gpu and video memory can then be accelerated via the Nvidia settings tool. However, an ‘auto detect’ button to automatically find a stable setting is still missing. Furthermore, the driver contains some minor improvements, such as support for some new EGL extensions and other optimizations.