CUDA backwards capability

Question

I read where NVidia guarantees backward capability for drivers but what about apps?

The app (asteroids-at-home) generates the following error message when using libcudart.so.5.5

Unsupported CC detected (CC2.0 and better supported only)

The co-processor is GTX-1660Ti which is far better than CC2.0

Seems to me this should have worked if backwards compatible. I tried substituting the 10.2 shared library for the 5.5 which didnt work. It was used by the app (different error message) but that was as far as I got. If the project app does not take advantage of new processors one would think their code should still work if the lib is backwards compatible IMHO.

Answer 1

Depends on how the app was compiled and with what resources. The app in question was compiled/developed when CC2.0 was current and probably checks for that as minimum requirement. When the app checks current hardware and software drivers, the returned values are outside the minimum requirement because the app wasn't written for >2.0 as a possibility.

Your statement about the code still working as backwards compatible is only correct if it was written to do so.

Also your statement about Nvidia guaranteeing that their drivers are backwards compatible is not true. They have regularly deprecated both hardware and drivers after a reasonable length of time after the models were sold. Seems like 10-15 years is typical.