Yes, SteamOS On Nvidia Updates Fine - The Patch Heals Itself, Just Don't Touch It

The number one question since the SteamOS Nvidia patch dropped — can you update it without breaking everything? Yes. You always could. I just wasn't confident enough to tell you until I'd tested it properly. In this video I do a full OS update to the mainline branch AND a Steam client beta update, live, on a patched Nvidia system — and both survive.

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THE SELF-HEALING PATCH

Here's the clever bit. When SteamOS does an OS update, it takes the patch to pieces — but the patch repairs itself behind the scenes, recompiling the Nvidia drivers against the new kernel automatically. You don't need to download anything from Git. There's no separate update procedure. You just have to know what to expect and, crucially, leave it alone while it works.

SWITCHING TO MAINLINE

I walk through it step by step. Enable developer mode in settings, then tick "show advanced update channels" in the developer menu. Go back to System and you'll now have OS update branch options — steam stable, beta, and main, the cutting-edge branch. Select main, hit apply, and switch on automatic updates.

THE 15 MINUTE WAIT — DON'T TOUCH IT

This is the critical part. The download runs, hits the end, and then sits at 01 looking frozen. It is not frozen. Behind the scenes it's recompiling the Nvidia drivers against the new kernel — in my case jumping from the 6.16 Valve Neptune kernel to 6.18. On my 32-thread Ryzen 9 it took about 10 minutes. On older hardware it could be 20. Most people will assume something's gone wrong and hit reboot. Don't. Leave it completely alone and it will reboot itself when it's done.

When it comes back — 6.18 Neptune kernel, drivers repatched, everything working.

THE CLIENT UPDATE TOO

I then pushed my luck and switched the Steam client to beta on camera, not knowing if it would survive. It downloaded, restarted, and came back on the latest beta client with everything intact. So both the OS branch updates and the client channel updates work on a patched system.

OLDER GTX CARDS

For those asking about pre-Turing hardware — I've pushed a version to Git that pulls the 575 drivers instead of the latest, which means GTX 10-series cards work. I'm also updating the Windows installer to let you choose your driver version at build time — 575 for older cards, latest for everything else.

STOP FIXATING ON THE STEAM CUBE

Every content creator is obsessed with the Steam Machine right now. It's a great box — but don't think about the hardware. You can build a brilliant Steam box with what you've got. Nvidia works now. Arc works. AMD works with Resize BAR. And Nvidia flatly outperforms AMD — better frame gen, better upscaling. There are low-profile 4060s and 5060s out there, cheap 3060s with 8 or 16 gig. Build yourself a proper machine instead of queuing for the cube.

WHAT'S COMING

A video on updating the drivers themselves via the ISO rebuild and repatch icon. The Windows installer update with driver selection. And something I've gone slightly bananas with — a customised Steam desktop using QML that makes it look like Omarchy. That one's coming soon.

If Valve break the patch, I'll fix it and we'll get back to business.

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I make videos about Linux, Omarchy, SteamOS, gaming, and self-hosting. Subscribe if that's your thing.
00:00 - Start
00:09 - PREAMBLE
02:47 - MAIN LINE UPDATE 3.9
09:38 - CLIENT UPDATE TO BETA
12:19 - FINAL WORDS