Nvidium swaps out Sodium’s default rendering backend for one that uses NVIDIA’s mesh shader OpenGL extensions. The result is a big FPS jump, especially at high render distances with lots of terrain on screen. If you have an NVIDIA GPU and you’re already running Sodium, this is one of the easiest performance gains you can get.
It’s NVIDIA-only by design. The mod needs mesh shader support, which was introduced with Turing architecture cards. That means any GTX 16xx or RTX 20xx card and newer. If your GPU doesn’t qualify, Nvidium disables itself automatically and your game keeps running normally through Sodium.
How It Works
Nvidium builds a near-fully GPU-driven rendering pipeline using mesh shaders. This lets your GPU handle terrain geometry culling much more efficiently than Sodium’s standard approach. The practical effect is more frames at the same settings, or you can push your render distance higher without the usual performance cost.
One heads-up: mesh shaders are uncommon tech in games, and Nvidium pushes them hard. There’s a real (if small) chance of Minecraft crashing unexpectedly. Most players don’t hit this, but it’s worth knowing before you add it to a serious setup.
Features
- GPU-Driven Terrain: Passes geometry culling to the GPU via mesh shaders for a much more efficient render pipeline compared to Sodium alone.
- Serious FPS Gains: Especially noticeable at high render distances or in dense terrain. Over 6.5 million downloads on Modrinth is a decent signal it actually works.
- Smart Fallback: Checks for required OpenGL extensions at launch. If your GPU doesn’t support mesh shaders, it disables itself cleanly and silently.
- Iris-Aware: Automatically disables when Iris shaders are active, so it won’t conflict with your shader pack.
Compatibility
Works only on NVIDIA GPUs with mesh shader support. That covers the GTX 16xx (Turing) series and up: 16xx, 20xx, 30xx, 40xx series cards. AMD and Intel GPU users can install it without breaking anything, it’ll just stay disabled and have no effect.
Nvidium also disables itself when Iris shaders are running. You don’t get both the Nvidium render pipeline and Iris shader visuals at the same time.
Recent Changes
The latest release updates Nvidium to Minecraft 1.20.6 and fixes a memory leak that was present in earlier builds.
Requirements
- Sodium – Required. Nvidium is a rendering backend add-on for Sodium, not a standalone mod.
- Fabric or Quilt – No Forge support. This mod runs on Fabric and Quilt only.
Supported Versions
Fabric and Quilt: 1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2, 1.20.3, 1.20.4, 1.20.6, 1.21, 1.21.1
How to Install
- Install Fabric or Quilt for your Minecraft version.
- Install Sodium. Nvidium requires it.
- Download the Nvidium .jar file for your version below.
- Drop it in your
.minecraft/modsfolder. - Launch Minecraft. Nvidium will either activate (if your GPU supports it) or silently disable itself.
Nvidium Mod Download Links
For Minecraft 1.19.4 to 1.20.1
Fabric/Quilt:
nvidium-0.2.7-beta.jarThis file is part of Nvidium Mod (1.21.1, 1.20.6) – NVIDIA FPS Boost for Minecraft. Visit the main page for features, installation guide, screenshots, and more download options.
Size: 153.3 KB
For Minecraft 1.20.1, 1.20
Fabric/Quilt:
Nvidium-Mod-Fabric-1.20.1.jarThis file is part of Nvidium Mod (1.21.1, 1.20.6) – NVIDIA FPS Boost for Minecraft. Visit the main page for features, installation guide, screenshots, and more download options.
Size: 160.4 KB
For Minecraft 1.20.2
Fabric/Quilt:
Nvidium-Mod-Fabric-1.20.2.jarThis file is part of Nvidium Mod (1.21.1, 1.20.6) – NVIDIA FPS Boost for Minecraft. Visit the main page for features, installation guide, screenshots, and more download options.
Size: 158.5 KB
For Minecraft 1.20.4, 1.20.3
Fabric/Quilt:
Nvidium-Mod-Fabric-1.20.4.jarThis file is part of Nvidium Mod (1.21.1, 1.20.6) – NVIDIA FPS Boost for Minecraft. Visit the main page for features, installation guide, screenshots, and more download options.
Size: 158.5 KB
Original project by its author on Modrinth. Mirrored here for a faster, ad-light download.