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TechChinese modder runs GeForce RTX 4060 on Huawei Arm workstation via modified Nvidia driver
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A Chinese modder known as VoidTech has successfully gotten an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card working in a Huawei Qingyun W510 workstation running Windows 11 on an Arm-based Kunpeng 920 CPU. The achievement was made possible by borrowing a driver from Nvidia's upcoming RTX Spark Arm-based processor. While the GPU was recognized and could render games like Black Myth Wukong and Genshin Impact, performance was severely limited by the slow single-core performance of the Kunpeng 920 CPU, resulting in frame rates as low as 21 FPS. Additionally, the modder could not get a video signal directly from the graphics card due to missing encoder support in the Arm driver, and instead used game streaming software (Sunshine/Moonlight) to output video. The project also faced issues with broken ACPI tables and missing Windows drivers for the workstation's network controller. This marks the first public demonstration of an Nvidia discrete GPU running on an Arm-based Windows 11 system.
Source report
When Microsoft and Qualcomm launched the first Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X Elite processors, CPU performance was beyond reproach. However, due to immature software or underwhelming integrated hardware, GPU horsepower left much to be desired. The obvious solution—connecting a discrete GPU—had not been achieved by anyone—until now.
An enterprising hacker in China has become the first person to publicly get an Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU running on an Arm-based platform using Windows 11, according to WindowsLatest. Notably, the system does not use a Snapdragon processor or an Nvidia CPU.
Background: Nvidia RTX Spark and Arm Drivers
We knew that Nvidia RTX Spark processors used an integrated GPU directly derived from Nvidia's Blackwell technology, and that those machines would run Arm-based Windows 11. This meant an Nvidia client graphics driver for Arm Windows 11 existed—it was only a matter of time before someone used it.
That someone is "VoidTech" on BiliBili, who conducted the experiment—though not without pitfalls.
The Setup: Huawei Qingyun W510 Workstation
VoidTech got an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8GB graphics card working in a Huawei Qingyun W510 workstation. This machine does not use a Snapdragon processor; instead, it features Huawei's own Kunpeng 920 CPU, created by the HiSilicon division.
The Kunpeng 920 was considered a major milestone when introduced in 2019—a 7nm server CPU with up to 80 cores. However, the specific implementation in the Qingyun W510 has "only" 24 cores.
Gaming Performance: Limited by CPU
All those cores don't help much in gaming. As PC gamers know, CPU gaming performance depends on single-threaded CPU performance and system memory latency. The custom TaiShan v110 cores in the Kunpeng 920 offer only about one-sixth the single-core performance of something like a Ryzen 9 9700X (based on Passmark, with the usual caveats). Combined with relatively small caches and a DDR4 memory interface tuned for throughput rather than latency, the result is middling gaming performance—before even considering x86 emulation penalties.
Benchmark Comparison
| Benchmark | Qingyun W510 + GeForce RTX 4060 8GB | Ryzen 7 5800X + GeForce RTX 4060 8GB | |-----------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------| | Passmark ST / MT | 733 / 9,496 | 3,448 / 27,671 | | Genshin Impact 1080p High | ~25 FPS | 60 FPS (cap) | | Black Myth Wukong 1080p Medium | 21 FPS | 83 FPS | | 3DMark Speed Way | 2,252 | 2,682 | | 3DMark Time Spy Graphics | 6,369 | 10,939 | | 3DMark Time Spy CPU | 3,402 | 10,775 | | 3DMark Night Raid GPU | 43,530 | 61,080 | | 3DMark Solar Bay | 32,373 | 49,435 |
What Worked—and What Didn't
Successes
The GeForce RTX 4060 performed about half its job flawlessly, running:
- Advanced games like the Unreal Engine 5-based Black Myth Wukong (21 FPS)
- Less advanced games like Genshin Impact (~25 FPS, with frequent stuttering)
- Various 3DMark tests
Most software worked without issues, aside from overall weak performance due to the slow Kunpeng 920 CPU.
Failures
- Arknights: Endfield refused to launch, likely due to incompatibility between its restrictive "Anti-Cheat Expert" package and the Prism translation layer required to run x86 Windows games on Arm Windows.
- No video output from the graphics card. VoidTech noted the card and monitor were recognized, but the system could not properly push pixels to the monitor. This likely stems from the Nvidia Arm driver being built specifically for the RTX Spark, missing necessary code to support HDMI and DisplayPort encoders on desktop graphics cards.
Workaround
To bypass the video output issue, VoidTech used the Sunshine game streaming server and the Moonlight game streaming client (on another system) to run the Huawei machine headlessly. A janky solution, but it worked.
Additional Challenges
Because the workstation was designed for Linux, there are no Windows drivers for the network controller or other integrated devices, including audio. VoidTech also struggled to get Windows 11 to boot due to broken ACPI tables, and faced frustration with missing Windows 11 drivers for the HiSilicon Network Subsystem (HNS).
Other Tests Conducted
The video also includes:
- A Blender Cycles render on the GeForce RTX 4060
- Several Nvidia RTX demos, including the Star Wars "Reflections" demo shown at launch
Source
Latest from Tom's HardwareNeutral / independent
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Chinese Modder Runs GeForce RTX 4060 on Huawei Arm Workstation Using Modified Nvidia Driver