NVIDIA is about to give up support for Kepler architecture graphics cards

The Kepler architecture occupies a very important position in the development history of NVIDIA. So far, many Apple Mac Pro or professional users are still using Kepler graphics cards. Unknowingly, the Kepler architecture has retired since its release. It has been ten years, and it has been quite a long time.

Recently, according to Nvidia’s driver support roadmap document for data center customers, Nvidia has planned to stop supporting Kepler architecture GPUs, that is, most GeForce 600/700 series graphics cards.

In the upcoming R470 version of the driver, this version will be the last driver version to support GeForce 600/700 series graphics cards, which means that the Kepler architecture is about to retire, including the Quadro and Tesla series products that use the same architecture. The Fermi architecture before the Kepler architecture, that is, the GeForce 400/500 series graphics cards, stopped at the R390 version in 2018

At present, NVIDIA’s driver has reached the stage of the R465 version, and it will still provide support for Kepler architecture GPU. Nvidia’s driver releases a large version every three months. There will still be regular driver updates in the next few months, and there will only be small updates afterward. However, on Linux systems, the R470 branch is listed as LTSB (long-term support branch), and long-term support will still be provided in the next three years.

Among the graphics cards of the Kepler architecture, the GeForce GTX 690 is probably the most famous one. Until now, I have seen it many times on the Internet from time to time. GeForce GTX 690 has two complete specifications of GK104 chips, and uses PLX PEX8747 chip bridge, using a single central axial fan for heat dissipation, TDP of 300W, using dual 8Pin power supply, is the strongest graphics card at the time.