NVIDIA has released 615.78.08, the second build in its R615 New Feature Branch for Linux x64. The headline addition is revision 3 of the VK_NV_low_latency2 extension, which cuts latency and stutter when running Direct3D 12 games through VKD3D-Proton, especially with Frame Generation. It also fixes blocky corruption in The Last of Us Part II, improves VRAM preservation during system suspend, resolves Wayland HDR crashes, and repairs large GPU page-table allocation failures. Aimed at enthusiasts running the latest builds, the release coexists with NVIDIA's more conservative Long-lived Branch for those who prioritize stability.

NVIDIA's newest Linux driver leans hard into making Linux a real gaming platform

NVIDIA's 615.78.08 build targets VKD3D-Proton latency, Wayland HDR crashes, and system suspend fixes.

NVIDIA dropped 615.78.08 today, a new build in its R615 New Feature Branch of Linux graphics drivers, and the whole thing is pointed squarely at gamers running Windows titles on Linux. It's available now as of October 7, 2026.

The headline change isn't flashy. You get revision 3 of the VK_NV_low_latency2 Vulkan extension, which NVIDIA says "improves latency and reduces stuttering with VKD3D-Proton, especially when Frame Generation is enabled." Frame Generation is NVIDIA's AI-based frame interpolation, part of the DLSS family, so making it smoother under Proton is a meaningful quality-of-life win. Keep in mind that it keeps the gap between Windows and Linux gaming a little smaller for titles that lean on it.

Keep in mind that this is a New Feature Branch release, not a Game Ready Driver. That means you're trading some of that rock-solid conservative stability for the latest fixes the moment they're ready. If you'd rather run a build NVIDIA commits to for years without surprises, the Long-lived Branch still exists.

What actually changed

The low-latency bump lands through VKD3D-Proton, the open-source layer that translates Windows Direct3D calls into Vulkan so those games run at all on Linux via Steam Play. It's most useful when Frame Generation is turned on, which is how most modern AAA titles handle it today.

There's also a practical fix for The Last of Us Part II. Blocky graphical corruption that showed up during play is gone. Small thing, sure. But it's another concrete victory for Windows-game compatibility on Linux, which is rarely celebrated enough.

On the kernel side, nvidia.ko gets a change to dodge an interaction with certain SELinux configurations when systemd suspends your machine and NVreg_UseKernelSuspendNotifiers is enabled. The upshot: NVreg_UseKernelSuspendNotifiers=1 is now on by default, letting the Linux kernel preserve VRAM during sleep and hibernation. Better resume reliability if you happen to run that SELinux plus systemd combo.

Two more to file away. There's a fix for a failure when allocating GPU page tables larger than 2 GiB, which matters if you're packing a GPU with a huge frame buffer and pushing heavy memory workloads. Wayland users get a crash fix too: unvalidated VkHdrMetadataEXT values could hit the color-management-v1 protocol and take the whole render down while playing Vulkan HDR content. NVIDIA now validates those values, closing the crash path.

This is only the second R615 New Feature Branch build out the door. Its predecessor, 615.71.09 back on September 9, laid down much of the direction: out-of-the-box Proton support for NVIDIA Reflex, the VK_EXT_cluster_acceleration_structure extension, fixes for startup and alt-tab hangs with NVIDIA Smooth Motion, and a cgroups-based memory partitioning feature.

It's a reminder of how fast this stack is moving. At XDC 2026 in Toronto, NVIDIA was already presenting scientific tests comparing X.Org versus Wayland latency and pushing a new "Display Config Server" project for display walls. The community isn't idle either, wiring up DLSS 5 for native Linux games through something called DLSS5VKLayer. It's not all NVIDIA doing the heavy lifting.

Who this is for

Call it a maintenance release with a gaming bent. There's no single marquee feature here, just a cluster of targeted fixes aimed at people who actually run bleeding-edge Linux builds instead of waiting. The Wayland HDR crash repair and the large page-table allocation fix address real failure modes, and the SELinux suspend tweak helps a genuine if somewhat niche failure.

Enthusiasts probably get more out of this than everyone else does. If you're on a production workstation that values stability over the newest tricks, you might skip straight to the Long-lived Branch. If you're the type who runs the latest build and plays Windows-only AAA titles through Proton, this one's worth the install.

The driver is available now for 64-bit Linux (x64 / AMD64 / EM64T). Install it either through your distro's package manager or NVIDIA's standalone .run installer, then reload the nvidia.ko kernel module. Head here to the official driver details page for the download and full release notes.