Valve, the company behind the popular Steam digital store and the SteamOS operating system, is broadening its hardware compatibility by adding support for NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs). Previously, SteamOS was largely associated with AMD GPUs, but with recent additions like Intel support and now NVIDIA, the operating system is becoming more universally compatible across different hardware platforms. Valve has confirmed that supporting NVIDIA GPUs is a top priority, and the necessary graphics driver is now integrated into the main development branch of SteamOS. Some older and newer NVIDIA GPU models can already be initialized and used with the system, though performance on SteamOS is not yet on par with what users experience on Windows. Pierre-Loup Griffais, a software engineer at Valve, emphasized that the team is working diligently to improve compatibility with NVIDIA hardware, placing it at the top of their development priorities. However, the graphics driver is still behind in terms of performance. There is currently a noticeable gap between the current capabilities of the driver and the performance Valve aims to achieve. While the situation is improving regularly, the most challenging aspects of optimization are still ahead. SteamOS is built on a complex layer of software that allows it to run games originally designed for Windows. This includes the Linux kernel, graphics drivers, Proton (a compatibility tool), and various other components that help bridge the gap between Windows and Linux-based systems. Each enhancement to hardware support requires integrating this complex software stack, making the process both intricate and time-consuming. Valve is not focusing solely on NVIDIA support, as it has previously added Intel support and plans to include Qualcomm chips in the future, further expanding the range of compatible hardware. The latest preview version of SteamOS, 3.9.1, highlights Valve’s ongoing efforts to expand the system’s hardware compatibility. This includes improvements for dedicated GPUs and enhancements to how SteamOS functions in virtualized environments, which allow users to run the operating system within another operating system. These updates reflect Valve’s commitment to making SteamOS a more versatile and widely supported platform for gaming and beyond.