First reported by Tom’s {Hardware}, the patch notes for the newest replace to Nvidia’s CUDA Toolkit state that help for the Maxwell and Pascall architectures—GTX 9 and 10-series playing cards—can be deprecated in an upcoming replace. These playing cards will nonetheless be getting GeForce driver updates, and whereas Nvidia has not but introduced for a way lengthy, we are able to look again on the mothballing of a earlier Nvidia structure to get an thought.
The information comes from the replace 12.8 launch notes for the CUDA Toolkit, Nvidia’s assortment of instruments and libraries for programming GPU-powered purposes. Below part 1.5.1, “Deprecated Architectures,” the patch notes learn: “Structure help for Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta is taken into account feature-complete and can be frozen in an upcoming launch.”
Volta was nearly completely utilized in enterprise {hardware}, however Maxwell and Pascal are of expensive significance to PC avid gamers: The 9 and 10-series playing cards characterize a worth vs. efficiency golden age in hindsight, with the GTX 970, 980 Ti, 1060, and 1080 Ti particularly being fondly remembered playing cards that might moderately help a gaming pastime to this present day, relying on what graphical and determination compromises you are prepared to make. The 1060 was nonetheless the Steam {Hardware} Survey’s hottest GPU in March 2022, six years after its launch, whereas the GTX 970 was the minimum-spec GPU for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a triple-A RPG launched 10 years after the 970’s launch. In December’s Steam {Hardware} Survey, Maxwell and Pascal playing cards collectively accounted for 10.75% of respondents.
Nvidia has not revealed when driver updates will finish for these playing cards, however I feel we are able to have a look at a earlier technology for an thought of the timeline we are able to anticipate. CUDA help for Kepler, the structure behind GTX 7-series GPUs just like the 780 Ti, began to be deprecated in CUDA v10.2 in November 2019—the archive web page was up to date in 2020, however the Wayback Machine exhibits Kepler’s deprecation was current from when the web page first went stay in 2019.
The ultimate driver replace for Kepler got here two years later in August 2021, so there’s good purpose to anticipate continued driver help for 9 and 10-series playing cards for the same window after the CUDA deprecation. Maxwell has already outlived Kepler by greater than two years by way of CUDA help, and the big set up base Maxwell and Kepler nonetheless command inclines me to imagine that Nvidia will delay their already-amazing run into 2026, if not longer.
Even with souped-up AI-powered playing cards just like the RTX 5090 crashing on us like a terrific wave, there’s nonetheless loads of mileage to be gotten out of outdated {hardware}. The GTX 980 Ti stays probably the most highly effective shopper graphics card ever launched to nonetheless boast an analogue DVI port, making it a prize merchandise for these in possession of holy grail CRT screens just like the blisteringly high-refresh Iiyama Imaginative and prescient Grasp Professional 512. That is not precisely a standard use case although, and even your common CRT gaming sicko can be well-served by adapter like those made by StarTech.