Is nvidia driver 580.xx.xx and cuda 12.9 compulsory for installing deepmd-kit 3.1.2?

[qchempku2017]

It seems that deepmd-kit 3.1.2's installation sh file now lists cuda12.9 in its filename, and cuda 12.9 will further require 580.xx.xx. Does that mean a technically outdated machine unable to compile nvidia driver 580 cannot run deepmd-kit 3.1.2 and its DPA-3 functionalities? I would appreciate it if you can also answer the following two questions:

1, Does the installation sh file require cuda12.9 and nvidia driver 580?
2, Would it be possible to compile from source, with cuda12.9 and nvidia driver 580 absent?

[dosubot[bot]]

No, nvidia driver 580.xx.xx and CUDA 12.9 are not strictly compulsory for installing or running deepmd-kit 3.1.2. The installation sh file lists CUDA 12.9 in its filename because the pre-built binary is built against CUDA 12.9, so to use that binary with GPU support, your system needs a CUDA runtime and Nvidia driver compatible with CUDA 12.9. However, you can still use deepmd-kit 3.1.2 on systems with older CUDA versions and drivers by compiling from source, as long as your CUDA version and driver are compatible with each other. You can also build a CPU-only version if GPU support is not possible on your hardware.

1. The installation sh file does not strictly require CUDA 12.9 and Nvidia driver 580, but the pre-built binary expects a CUDA 12.9-compatible environment. If your system doesn't have CUDA 12.9 and a compatible driver, the binary may not work for GPU tasks (docs).
2. Yes, you can compile from source without CUDA 12.9 and Nvidia driver 580. DeePMD-kit supports building with CUDA versions as old as 9.0, and you can match your build to your available CUDA and driver versions. You can also build a CPU-only version if you don't have a compatible GPU setup (docs).

The key is that your CUDA version and Nvidia driver must be compatible with each other, not with a specific deepmd-kit version. If your hardware can't support newer drivers, compiling from source with your available CUDA version is the recommended path. This applies to DPA-3 functionalities as well—there's no evidence that they require anything stricter than the general GPU requirements.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[njzjz]

cuda 12.9 will further require 580.xx.xx

This is incorrect. I take a screenshot of the NVIDIA documentation: