Nvidia is making great strides with its newest generation of graphics cards. With the Blackwell series (i.e., the exciting new RTX 50 series), Nvidia is focusing on powerful GPUs that rely ever more on AI features and AI-driven improvements.
If you own an older Nvidia graphics card, though, things are getting tight. According to the release notes for CUDA 12.8 — Nvidia’s programming interface that allows its GPUs to be used for general purposes — several GPU models are now considered “feature-complete” and will be “frozen” in an upcoming release, reports Tom’s Hardware.
Affected GPU models are ones that have Maxwell, Pascal and Volta architectures, which include all Nvidia graphics cards from GeForce 700 up to and including Nvidia’s 10 series. They’re all deprecated, obsolete, and waiting to be put on ice.
What does this mean for you?
If you own one of these affected Nvidia GPUs, your GPU will no longer receive any new features through future updates, so don’t expect any more improvements or optimizations going forward. However, basic security fixes will likely continue via driver updates.
So, if you’re okay with that, you can keep using your GPU and don’t have to dispose of it straight away. No specific date has been announced for end of support, but it will likely come with the next CUDA update.
Nvidia broke new standards with all three GPU series that are about to be shuttered, whether in terms of raw performance, energy efficiency, or being the first architecture for mobile GPUs (Maxwell). Though these are now in the past, the company continues to break new ground and shows no signs of slowing down or stopping any time soon.