No. Everytime Malcom installs the driver, the needed kernel modules for the kernel are built. Thats why he needs to install it everytime a new kernel shows up. SDB:NVIDIA the hard way - openSUSE Wiki
If you chose to install the Nvidia driver the “easy” way, via kms, the kernel modules get rebuild automatically without need of user interaction. SDB:NVIDIA drivers - openSUSE Wiki
Without Nvidia driver means nouveau driver. Yes it works. But you don’t want to use nouveau with crappy performance, if you can use the full driver…
@suse_rasputin yes it would work OTB with the ‘open’ nvidia drivers since it’s Turing, on install it adds them, so don’t need nouveau (bit like radeon/amdgpu)…
You still need to install cuda either via the cuda run file and install the open driver, or install the G06 compute rpm…
Since the P4 is pascal, I don’t use the open driver, maybe in another year or so may look at switching to a T4, but the P4 still has a few more years left before EOL.
I also used an RX 550, as suggested by @malcolmlewis, and it worked well - it’s a good option.
However, now I’m using an AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100, with both Leap and Tumbleweed, and it works flawlessly, out of the box - no driver tinkering needed. I’m very happy with it. These are still quite pricey new (about $400), but it shouldn’t be hard to find one on offer or second-hand for much less.
The big advantages of it are:
It is a true single-slot card.
8 GB VRAM
Powered only via the PCI slot, so no GPU power connectors needed (like the RX 550)
4 full-size DisplayPort connectors.
The only downside I’ve found with the WX 5100, relative to the RX 550, is that the power consumption at idle is a bit higher.