Valve puts NVIDIA at the top of its SteamOS list, but asks for patience

SteamOS has been the hot topic for months among PC gamers who dream of leaving Windows behind without giving up their library. But there is an elephant in the room that Valve has finally acknowledged out loud: the operating system still does not natively support NVIDIA graphics cards. As reported by Vandal, Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais explained in an interview with IGN that solving this is at the top of their priorities, though he also wanted to cool any expectations of a quick fix.

The figure that changes everything is simple: 72.88% of players use NVIDIA graphics cards. In other words, almost three out of every four machines that could install SteamOS today would hit a wall. For a system that aims to spread beyond Steam Deck and Steam Machine, that percentage is not an obstacle, it is the obstacle. And for those of us who compete and create content, where the graphics card is the centerpiece of the setup, this news matters more than any other feature Valve could announce.

What you need to know

• Valve confirms that NVIDIA support is one of its biggest priorities for SteamOS, according to statements by Pierre-Loup Griffais reported by Vandal.
• Griffais himself admits it is work that "takes years," so don't expect an immediate solution.
• Valve has already managed to enable the NVIDIA driver in the main SteamOS branch, allowing several generations of the brand's cards to run on the system.
• Performance with NVIDIA still lags behind what Windows offers, so running does not mean competing on equal footing.
• 72.88% of players use NVIDIA graphics cards, which explains why this point is decisive for the expansion of SteamOS.

Why NVIDIA is the SteamOS bottleneck

SteamOS was born and grew within the Steam Deck ecosystem, closed hardware with AMD graphics over which Valve has total control. That approach allowed it to polish the experience to a level that surprised many, but it also left an outstanding debt: anything that wasn't AMD took a back seat. With the arrival of Steam Machine and the possibility of installing the system on any machine, that debt has suddenly come to light.

What Griffais explains is interesting because he distinguishes two phases. The first, already achieved, is having the NVIDIA driver integrated into the main SteamOS branch so that several generations of cards can boot and run. The second, much longer, is closing the performance gap with Windows. Getting a graphics card to work is the first step; getting it to perform as well as or better than on Microsoft's system is what would truly convince a competitive player to switch.

Who it really affects

Everyone with a desktop or laptop PC with an NVIDIA graphics card who was considering SteamOS as a free, lightweight alternative to Windows. Today the honest answer is: you can try it, but don't expect the same performance. For Steam Deck and Steam Machine users, nothing changes, because their hardware is already covered. And content creators are affected twice over, because beyond the game itself they depend on capture and streaming tools that usually rely on the NVIDIA ecosystem.

Our take

We're glad Valve has stopped dodging the issue. Admitting that something is a priority while also saying it will take years is mature communication that we appreciate compared to the empty promises the industry has gotten us used to. But at Underworld Lordz we are not going to applaud in advance. The fact that almost three quarters of players cannot use SteamOS properly is a strategic design problem, not a technical detail, and it comes late for a system that is already being presented as a universal alternative.

For a competitive player, performance is non-negotiable. A few frames less or some extra latency can decide a round, and no serious competitor is going to install a system that performs worse than Windows with the same card. As long as that gap exists, SteamOS will remain a great toy for the couch and a secondary option for the desk. And for creators it is even clearer: if the capture and streaming workflow isn't up to par, there is no migration possible no matter how clean the system is.

That said, the direction is right and the potential is enormous. A SteamOS that works well with NVIDIA would open the door to a real alternative to Windows for millions of machines, and that would put pressure on Microsoft in a way that benefits us all. We only ask that Valve not sell the Steam Machine as the definitive solution while the underlying work remains half done.

What do you think?

The Underworld Lordz community is split between AMD and NVIDIA machines, and we know many of you have already tried SteamOS with mixed results. Would you make the jump to SteamOS with your NVIDIA card even if it performs worse than on Windows today, or would you wait for Valve to close the gap? Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord.