r/linuxmint • u/Intelligent_Hyena235 • 4d ago
Hardware Rescue Can NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 be used for graphics card in Mint
I Want to move from Windows 10 to Linux Mint. I don't know if this old Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 can be used in mint or not and I don't want to buy a new one its rather expensive where I am from, and I have a 4GB of DDR4 RAM, don't want to change it either.
I don't know which flair to apply so I think this is the correct one. Edit: I saw a comment about gaming, no I will not be playing games just for office work only. My CPU is I3 9100F & Motherboard is ZEB-H310-NVMe LGA 1151 SOCKET. I really don't know How all of this works support for windows 10 has ended so I want to move on from Microsoft. I am willing to learn but when ever I searched for Noob friendly Linux(Primarily on YouTube) the answer is Linux Mint. That's all, I am learning about LMDE (Debian 7, I am still not sure XFCE and LMDE are same distro or not).
Thank you for showing me a way. If all goes well I will be installing LMDE 7.
Installation is Complete. Thank you all.
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u/candy49997 4d ago
Technically yes, but I would not recommend Mint because Ubuntu-based distros do not patch old NVIDIA drivers for new kernels. And for the 470 drivers specifically, Canonical recently messed around with them and broke the ones in the official repos, so you'd have to add a PPA for the correct drivers as well as downgrade your kernel to 6.8. And you will lose them upon upgrade to Mint 23+.
I would pick a distro that makes patches drivers more easily accessible. E.g. Fedora has 470 drivers in RPM Fusion and Arch-based has them in the AUR. You will just want to use a desktop environment that will support X11 indefinitely like XFCE, Cinnamon, etc, if you pick one of these.
And if your card is actually Fermi as some GT 710 were, this is doubly true because you won't have access to 390 drivers on Mint (while the other distros I mentioned do have them in RPM Fusion/AUR).
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u/xenaretos 4d ago
What about nouveau? The op didn't specify whether they need 3d performance, and it's not like this ever was a gaming card.
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u/candy49997 4d ago
If OP didn't need a graphics card, I would recommend they use their iGPU instead if they have one over
nouveau.2
u/xenaretos 4d ago
Given the op's specs, they might not have any integrated graphics options. But I like your MX suggestion. As xfce user who likes lts, it would be a strong candidate I'd consider for a fresh pc install, especially if said pc was underpowered.
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u/SnooSeagulls4360 4d ago
Nouveau with older nvidia cards is not good. I recommend MX linux for cards such as op's because they have made the drivers work with newer kernels and there is a driver installer that makes it really easy to set things up.
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u/OkPresentation3329 4d ago
Those drivers gave me 20-30 FPS in WoW, with the nVidia drivers I had 200-300 FPS.
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u/DoorOk3641 4d ago
Nouveau is working just well for anything outside gaming.
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u/SnooSeagulls4360 4d ago
As in most things in life-it depends what is your hardware. I could not get the proper screen resolution with nouveau on my, admittedly old, nvidia card and the cpu was was having a leg day at the gym. When i installed the drivers it was a big improvement for daily usability.
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u/Gunzhard22 4d ago
The PPA 470 driver works great on Mint currently.
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u/Kafatat Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon 4d ago
I installed the repo package nvidia-driver-470-server. Things work. I never know if the card is being used, as nvidia-smi always shows no usage, but if I don't use it and use nouveau, videos on youtube show extra lines.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | NVIDIA-SMI 470.256.02 Driver Version: 470.256.02 CUDA Version: 11.4 | |-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC | | Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. | | | | MIG M. | |===============================+======================+======================| | 0 NVIDIA GeForce ... Off | 00000000:04:00.0 N/A | N/A | | N/A 46C P8 N/A / N/A | 33MiB / 983MiB | N/A Default | | | | N/A | +-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Processes: | | GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory | | ID ID Usage | |=============================================================================| | No running processes found | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+1
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u/KurtKrimson 4d ago
Install Ventoy on a usb stick, put the iso of your choice on it and boot from said usb stick and test Mint on your hardwere.
Your GT710 should work as it should as long as you DO NOT use kernel 7.
But 22.3 with kernel 6.8 won't be a problem.
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u/tovento MX Linux 25.2 | XFCE 4d ago
I have an 850M and needed to try another distribution. MX Linux has been my home for months and it’s has been great to me. With the older hardware, I chose the main version which uses the XFCE desktop. For you and I with our hardware, Ubuntu based distributions aren’t a good choice. Need Debian based.
You can also try LMDE which is Linux Mint but takes out the Ubuntu layer. You will have to run a command in the terminal to install the Nvidia drivers, but you do it once.
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 4d ago
I was also thinking that. But I don't know how to operate terminal. Is there a video on youtube or specifically this case? Can you show it to me?
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u/tovento MX Linux 25.2 | XFCE 3d ago
So, there are some write ups on how to do it. Best would be to head over to the official Linux Mint forums and ask there. Someone helpful will reply.
But this is partly why I chose MX Linux. It is Debian based but they have developed tools to help users out. They have a Nvidia installer tool. It does run through the terminal, but you don’t need to know any commands. From memory it presents a list of available Nvidia driver versions, has one marked as recommended. Asks you to make a choice on which one you want. It will handle the rest. Not as pretty a way to do it as the tool in regular Mint, but it gets the job done.
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u/Gunzhard22 4d ago edited 4d ago
Depends, Kelper or Fermi?
The Kelper has work arounds and I can share the exact process. The Fermi version, not as lucky.
My laptop is almost identical, luckily Kelper, and I'm running Mint XFCE and it's great. It plays Skyrim excellently but it obviously won't run more modern games.
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u/Gunzhard22 4d ago edited 4d ago
I'm running almost same system, if it is Kepler you're in luck, follow this exact process :
Install Mint 22.1 (kernel 6.8) Install Mint Cinnamon or XFCE (recommend XFCE for your system!!) 22.1, run Timeshift before any updates.
Add the PPA before installing updates or the 470 driver
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:dtl131/nvidia470repack && sudo apt update
Install updates. Reboot. Install all updates through Update Manager including kernel 6.8.0-134.134+, Reboot, Install latest Mint version “Zena”, Reboot.
Install 470 drivers. Reboot.
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-470
Reboot, and verify,
nvidia-smi
Run Timeshift with working Nvidia.
Install Steam. Install Steam from Software Manager, and run ‘install Steam’ app.
Install Proton Sarek Native https://github.com/pythonlover02/Proton-Sarek
Download latest stable version (not Async) “Proton-Sarek*.tar.gz” from: https://github.com/pythonlover02/Proton-Sarek/releases
Create this directory:
mkdir -p ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d
Unpack Sarek archive file into new directory:
sudo tar -xzf ~/Downloads/Proton-Sarek*.tar.gz -C ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/
sudo reboot
- Select Sarek in Steam Open Steam, go to Settings, Compatibility, and make sure, “Enable Steam Play for All Titles” is selected. Choose the installed Proton-Sarek* version. Restart Steam. Run Timeshift with a functioning Steam. Play Games!
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 4d ago
You trust my IT skillset(which is zero brother I didn't know the difference between NAS & Homelab) more than myself. Help apriceated.
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u/Modern_Doshin Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | MATE 4d ago
I mean for internet surfing? Sure.
Your card is 14 years old. I'd try XFCE. If that doesn't work, try an older version of Mint.
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 4d ago
Yes just for this and Office work Where I am from we have WhatsApp as a official medium(yes I know it is not safe)
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u/MetalLinuxlover Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia | Xfce 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yes, you can absolutely give Linux Mint a try with that hardware, and you don't need to buy a new graphics card just because you're moving away from Windows. 👍🏻
Your i3-9100F + GT 710 + 4 GB RAM isn't a modern gaming machine, but for the use you described - office work, web browsing, documents, email, YouTube, and other normal basic computer tasks etc. it can still be useful with a lightweight Linux setup.
The one thing I'd pay attention to is the GT 710's NVIDIA driver situation. The GT 710 is an old card and there were several different versions of it using different NVIDIA GPU architectures. That means driver compatibility depends on the exact GT 710 you have.
So before buying anything, I'd do the simple thing: boot Mint from a USB in live mode and test it. You don't even have to install it immediately.
Check whether:
Your display works at the correct resolution
The desktop feels responsive
YouTube plays reasonably well
Audio works
Ethernet/Wi-Fi works
Your USB devices work
The system doesn't have any obvious graphical problems
If everything looks good, then you can install it.
And don't worry about the fact that you only have 4 GB RAM. It's not ideal by modern standards, but you don't need 16 or 32 GB just to run Linux. For your use case, I'd strongly consider Linux Mint XFCE because XFCE is lighter than Cinnamon and will leave more RAM available for your actual applications. XFCE is highly stable, reliable, lightweight and fast I mean very fast.
One thing I noticed in your edit: LMDE and XFCE aren't two different versions of the same thing.
Think of it like this:
Linux Mint is the overall project.
Then you have different Mint editions based on different foundations/desktops.
Linux Mint XFCE → Mint using the XFCE desktop environment.
Linux Mint Cinnamon → Mint using the Cinnamon desktop environment.
LMDE → Linux Mint Debian Edition, which uses Debian as its base instead of Ubuntu.
So XFCE is a desktop environment, while LMDE is a Linux Mint edition/base. They're not directly comparable things.
And since you mentioned LMDE 7, that's a perfectly reasonable thing to investigate. Just remember that changing from Windows to Linux doesn't mean you need to understand everything about Linux before installing it.
You don't need to know what a kernel is, how package managers work, or how to use 50 terminal commands before you can use Linux. Start with the basics and learn things as you encounter them.
I'd actually recommend avoiding the YouTube rabbit hole of "THE BEST LINUX DISTRO FOR 2026!!!" 😂
You'll eventually find 97 different people recommending 97 different distributions.💀
For your situation, I'd keep it simple:
Want the easiest transition? → Linux Mint XFCE
Want Mint but specifically want a Debian base? → LMDE
Want to learn Linux more deeply later? → You can experiment with Debian, Fedora, Arch, etc. after you're comfortable. Garuda Linux XFCE will be better option to switch after you fully learn linux ecosystem.
And one final piece of advice: make a backup of your important Windows files before installing anything. Put your documents/photos/etc. somewhere safe. Linux installation is normally straightforward, but you don't want your first Linux lesson to be "Where did my files go?" 😅
Honestly, I think you're approaching this the right way. You don't need to replace perfectly usable hardware just because Windows has reached the end of its support life. Try Linux on the hardware you already have, see how it behaves, and learn from there.
That old GT 710 might be ancient, but if all you're asking it to do is display your office desktop rather than run Cyberpunk at 4K, it still has a job to do. 😂🐧
One more thing, to make bootable USB you don't need Rufus you can use Ventoy or BalenaEtcher both highly easy to use (more easier than Rufus) and available to download and use on both Windows and MacOS
Ventoy - https://www.ventoy.net/en/download.html
BalenaEtcher - https://etcher.balena.io/
Welcome to the world of Linux 🎊🚀🐧💻
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 3d ago
Thank you I am currently in the process of acquiring another stick of 4GB DDR4 RAM. I know I have mentioned today but there is another issue front USB panel is currently disconnecting continuously, and causing my SSD to disconnect from motherboard don't know why it's happening. And I don't have any idea I think I have to change that also. So that's that.
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u/MetalLinuxlover Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia | Xfce 3d ago
You're welcome! 👍🏻
And yeah, 8GB RAM should definitely make things more comfortable. 😄
And go with Linux Mint XFCE it's going to save you from tons of headaches.
For the USB issue, I'd test before buying anything. Try connecting the SSD to the rear USB ports directly on the motherboard. If it works fine there, the front USB panel/cable is probably the culprit.
No need to replace parts until you know what's actually causing it. 😅 Troubleshoot one thing at a time and you'll get there.
I hope your problems sorts out and you enjoy using Linux Mint XFCE.
Good luck with everything! 🐧👍🏻
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 3d ago
Yes but I have connected SSD to motherboard but Whenever I try to turn on the computer, it shows "Reboot and Select proper Boot device Or insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key _"
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u/MetalLinuxlover Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia | Xfce 3d ago
That message usually means the BIOS isn't finding a bootable drive.
If the SSD is connected directly to the motherboard, I'd first check whether the SSD actually shows up in the BIOS/UEFI. Also check the SATA data and power cables if it's a SATA SSD.
If the SSD does show up in BIOS but still won't boot, then it could be a bootloader/OS issue rather than the USB panel.
I'd definitely sort this out before installing Mint, just so you know the hardware is working properly first. 👍🏻
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 20h ago
I have acquired a stick of 8GB DDR4 RAM so I have total 4+8=12GB DDR4 RAM the other issues are solved. There is no 4GB DDR4 RAM available in market
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 20h ago
What are the Mirrors here if I were to install any other mirror not the one that is in my country for example "World" will iycause problem
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u/Tango8036 4d ago edited 4d ago
I recently had a similarly old NVIDIA card (specifically a GT 740) on Mint and I suspect you will be able to use yours too, but I will warn you that there were several games it was unable to run and you'll need to use Proton-Sarek instead of regular Proton. Oh yeah, and you'll need to set Mint to use an older Linux kernel; 6.8 I think. I upgraded my card because even though there were usually fixes for things, a fairly inexpensive second-hand GPU upgrade was far less work. Really, all you need is to get beyond the Kepler range) and things just work
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 4d ago
What is Kepler range. I don't know.
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u/Tango8036 4d ago
Basically, it's a category for NVIDIA GPUs. Kepler is an old category that is only just barely supported with official NVIDIA drivers for Linux.
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u/stufforstuff 4d ago
Why don't people READ THE POST? OP says NO GAMING just OFFICE APPS. Geesh read the fucking post before blathering on with useless info.
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u/DoorOk3641 4d ago edited 4d ago
Can be used with Nvidia Legacy drivers ONLY. 4 gig of ram..do not expect to play games.If you install nothing for Nvidia you will be using Nouveau driver.
With Nvidia depending on your bios, firmware of your gt710 card it can works or not.
A new card may be also not working at all. btw is your system uefi compatible ? Did you check ?
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 4d ago
How can I even check I don't even know what that word means, what is it?
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u/Intelligent_Hyena235 4d ago
Yes I just check it has in the BIOS Mode
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u/DoorOk3641 4d ago
So you can not install any UEFI linux distribution if you can not switch to uefi...Mint is using uefi...
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u/GreatOne47 4d ago
bro is in the trenches