Open-Source Graphics Driver Achieves Vulkan 1.4 Conformance

This advancement delivers cutting-edge capabilities such as 8K rendering and enhanced data streaming performance while paving the way for future innovation.

Collabora announced that its open source NVK Vulkan graphics driver for NVIDIA hardware is officially compliant with the latest Vulkan 1.4 API. This marks the first open source Vulkan driver for NVIDIA hardware to earn the prestigious Khronos Conformance Badge for any Vulkan API version. Following Khronos’ release of the Vulkan 1.4 specs earlier this week, Collabora quickly provided zero-day consistency for NVK.

This achievement solidifies Mesa’s reputation as a leader in rapid adoption of the new Vulkan standard. Collabora engineer Faith Ekstrand highlighted Mesa’s history of providing multiple zero-day Vulkan implementations since the API was first launched in 2016. The specification also guarantees support for 8K rendering with up to eight independent render targets, merged maintenance extensions via VK_KHR_maintenance6, and explicit support for emerging high-performance applications.

The company confirmed that Vulkan 1.4 support has been integrated into NVK and will be available in Mesa 25.0, expected to be released in early 2025. OpenGL 4.6 compatibility supports D3D12 simulation via Zink and VKD3D-Proton.

Despite these advances, NVK drivers still require critical features such as ray tracing support and compatibility with the latest NVIDIA hardware and technologies. Collabora is committed to addressing these gaps by 2025 while working to improve overall performance for NVIDIA GPU users.

This driver advancement highlights the increasing capabilities of open source graphics solutions in the highly competitive GPU space. With the consistency and continued development of Vulkan 1.4, this driver represents an important step forward for the open source community and users of NVIDIA hardware looking for enhanced performance and functionality.