docs(ai-stack): correct CUDA deprecation status, add Tesla power/cooling note

CUDA 13 already dropped Pascal/Volta (not a future warning anymore) -
call out pinning the driver branch instead. Also flag the 8-pin
CPU/EPS12V power connector and passive cooling on Tesla PCIe cards,
since it trips up anyone repurposing one in a tower case.
This commit is contained in:
Claude
2026-08-22 03:46:06 +00:00
parent f5a23b06ac
commit 503945e7c3
+19 -4
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@@ -77,10 +77,25 @@ flash-attention-class kernel path.
| Pascal (2016) | P100 16GB / P40 24GB | 16-24GB HBM2/GDDR5 | No | SD1.5 fine; SDXL runs but slow — no tensor cores at all, weak/emulated FP16 (worse on the P40 than the P100) | Same VRAM math as Ampere/Volta at matched capacity (P40 24GB ≈ 30B Q4), but noticeably slower tokens/sec | 32B coder Q4 fits the P40 24GB capacity-wise; fine for batch/background, not snappy interactive autocomplete |
| Maxwell (2014) | M40 / M60 24GB | 8-24GB GDDR5 | No | Impractical — SD1.5 only, very slow; no real FP16 tensor path | 7B-13B Q4 runs but slow | 7B-class coder models only — a novelty, not a daily driver |
NVIDIA's CUDA 12.9 release notes flag Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta as the last
architectures the *next* major toolkit will support — existing CUDA 12.x
builds keep working, but factor this in before buying used Pascal/Volta
hardware today.
**CUDA 13 has already dropped Pascal/Volta** (this happened, it's not a future
warning anymore) — pin the host driver to an LTS/LTSB branch that still lists
Volta as supported (check `ubuntu-drivers devices`' recommendation rather than
blindly taking the newest branch) before relying on one of these cards. Docker
GPU passthrough only needs the host *driver* to recognize the card — prebuilt
inference images (Ollama, ComfyUI, etc.) already bundle whatever CUDA runtime
they need — so this is a driver-branch choice at install time, not something
`require_docker` pins for you (it installs Docker/Compose only; NVIDIA
driver + `nvidia-container-toolkit` are still on you to install first).
**Tesla-card power connector — don't assume standard PCIe.** V100/P100/P40/M40
PCIe cards take an 8-pin **CPU/EPS12V** connector, not the 6+2-pin PCIe
connector a normal GPU uses — a standard PCIe cable will not plug in. Get the
dongle/adapter (splits a PCIe 8-pin into EPS12V, or use a real EPS cable) and
never daisy-chain both 8-pin rails off one PSU cable/splitter — use two
separate cable runs. These cards are also passively cooled (built for server
chassis airflow, no onboard fan) — a tower case needs a shroud + dedicated
fan blowing through the heatsink fins, and there's no display output, which
is a non-issue on a headless box like this but worth knowing going in.
**MoE models are the exception that gives Pascal/Volta real life for coding.**
The "coding" column above assumes dense models, where token speed tracks the