diff --git a/compiler/rustc_codegen_llvm/src/llvm_util.rs b/compiler/rustc_codegen_llvm/src/llvm_util.rs
index 180559d28d848..32694135705e8 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_codegen_llvm/src/llvm_util.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_codegen_llvm/src/llvm_util.rs
@@ -510,6 +510,9 @@ fn print_target_cpus(sess: &Session, tm: &llvm::TargetMachine, out: &mut String)
     };
     let mut cpus = cpu_names
         .lines()
+        .filter(|cpu_name| {
+            !sess.target.unsupported_cpus.contains(&std::borrow::Cow::Borrowed(*cpu_name))
+        })
         .map(|cpu_name| Cpu { cpu_name, remark: make_remark(cpu_name) })
         .collect::<VecDeque<_>>();
 
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/base.rs b/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/base.rs
index 50c439593c306..14f4dca532737 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/base.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/base.rs
@@ -696,6 +696,13 @@ pub fn codegen_crate<B: ExtraBackendMethods>(
         tcx.dcx().emit_fatal(errors::CpuRequired);
     }
 
+    if let Some(target_cpu) = &tcx.sess.opts.cg.target_cpu
+        && tcx.sess.target.unsupported_cpus.contains(&target_cpu.into())
+    {
+        // The target cpu is explicitly listed as an unsupported cpu
+        tcx.dcx().emit_fatal(errors::CpuUnsupported { target_cpu: target_cpu.clone() });
+    }
+
     let cgu_name_builder = &mut CodegenUnitNameBuilder::new(tcx);
 
     // Run the monomorphization collector and partition the collected items into
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/errors.rs b/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/errors.rs
index f1112510af0f0..006b7f881ce23 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/errors.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/errors.rs
@@ -540,6 +540,12 @@ pub(crate) struct InsufficientVSCodeProduct;
 #[diag("target requires explicitly specifying a cpu with `-C target-cpu`")]
 pub(crate) struct CpuRequired;
 
+#[derive(Diagnostic)]
+#[diag("target cpu `{$target_cpu}` is known but unsupported")]
+pub(crate) struct CpuUnsupported {
+    pub target_cpu: String,
+}
+
 #[derive(Diagnostic)]
 #[diag("processing debug info with `dsymutil` failed: {$status}")]
 #[note("{$output}")]
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/target_features.rs b/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/target_features.rs
index 24f731c01996d..4b1b0866f2eb9 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/target_features.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_codegen_ssa/src/target_features.rs
@@ -387,8 +387,20 @@ pub fn target_spec_to_backend_features<'a>(
     sess: &'a Session,
     mut extend_backend_features: impl FnMut(&'a str, /* enable */ bool),
 ) {
-    // Compute implied features
     let mut rust_features = vec![];
+
+    // This check handles SM versions that defaults (by LLVM) to unsupported (by Rust) PTX ISA versions.
+    // sm_70, sm_72 and sm_75 defaults to PTX ISA versions with major version 6, while sm_80 default to 7.0
+    if sess.target.arch == Arch::Nvptx64
+        && matches!(
+            sess.opts.cg.target_cpu.as_deref(),
+            None | Some("sm_70") | Some("sm_72") | Some("sm_75")
+        )
+    {
+        rust_features.push((true, "ptx70"));
+    }
+
+    // Compute implied features
     parse_rust_feature_list(
         sess,
         &sess.target.features,
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/json.rs b/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/json.rs
index 5507af0866758..8448c2ab51b3d 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/json.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/json.rs
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ impl Target {
         forward!(asm_args);
         forward!(cpu);
         forward!(need_explicit_cpu);
+        forward!(unsupported_cpus);
         forward!(features);
         forward!(dynamic_linking);
         forward_opt!(direct_access_external_data);
@@ -320,6 +321,7 @@ impl ToJson for Target {
         target_option_val!(asm_args);
         target_option_val!(cpu);
         target_option_val!(need_explicit_cpu);
+        target_option_val!(unsupported_cpus);
         target_option_val!(features);
         target_option_val!(dynamic_linking);
         target_option_val!(direct_access_external_data);
@@ -543,6 +545,7 @@ struct TargetSpecJson {
     asm_args: Option<StaticCow<[StaticCow<str>]>>,
     cpu: Option<StaticCow<str>>,
     need_explicit_cpu: Option<bool>,
+    unsupported_cpus: Option<StaticCow<[StaticCow<str>]>>,
     features: Option<StaticCow<str>>,
     dynamic_linking: Option<bool>,
     direct_access_external_data: Option<bool>,
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/mod.rs b/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/mod.rs
index 768e43146a0c1..74cf01e77754e 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/mod.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/mod.rs
@@ -2361,6 +2361,10 @@ pub struct TargetOptions {
     /// Whether a cpu needs to be explicitly set.
     /// Set to true if there is no default cpu. Defaults to false.
     pub need_explicit_cpu: bool,
+    /// A list of CPUs that are provided by LLVM but are considered unsupported by Rust.
+    /// These CPUs are omitted from `--print target-cpus` output and will cause an error
+    /// if used with `-Ctarget-cpu`.
+    pub unsupported_cpus: StaticCow<[StaticCow<str>]>,
     /// Default (Rust) target features to enable for this target. These features
     /// overwrite `-Ctarget-cpu` but can be overwritten with `-Ctarget-features`.
     /// Corresponds to `llc -mattr=$llvm_features` where `$llvm_features` is the
@@ -2818,6 +2822,7 @@ impl Default for TargetOptions {
             asm_args: cvs![],
             cpu: "generic".into(),
             need_explicit_cpu: false,
+            unsupported_cpus: cvs![],
             features: "".into(),
             direct_access_external_data: None,
             dynamic_linking: false,
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/targets/nvptx64_nvidia_cuda.rs b/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/targets/nvptx64_nvidia_cuda.rs
index 87c2693e9877f..d8a0bd50ee204 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/targets/nvptx64_nvidia_cuda.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/targets/nvptx64_nvidia_cuda.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 use crate::spec::{
     Arch, LinkSelfContainedDefault, LinkerFlavor, MergeFunctions, Os, PanicStrategy, Target,
-    TargetMetadata, TargetOptions,
+    TargetMetadata, TargetOptions, cvs,
 };
 
 pub(crate) fn target() -> Target {
@@ -22,7 +22,13 @@ pub(crate) fn target() -> Target {
             linker_flavor: LinkerFlavor::Llbc,
 
             // With `ptx-linker` approach, it can be later overridden via link flags.
-            cpu: "sm_30".into(),
+            cpu: "sm_70".into(),
+
+            // No longer supported architectures
+            unsupported_cpus: cvs!(
+                "sm_20", "sm_21", "sm_30", "sm_32", "sm_35", "sm_37", "sm_50", "sm_52", "sm_53",
+                "sm_60", "sm_61", "sm_62"
+            ),
 
             // FIXME: create tests for the atomics.
             max_atomic_width: Some(64),
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_target/src/target_features.rs b/compiler/rustc_target/src/target_features.rs
index 9040c4eb1e399..498806f8c1c51 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_target/src/target_features.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_target/src/target_features.rs
@@ -536,19 +536,7 @@ const MIPS_FEATURES: &[(&str, Stability, ImpliedFeatures)] = &[
 
 const NVPTX_FEATURES: &[(&str, Stability, ImpliedFeatures)] = &[
     // tidy-alphabetical-start
-    ("sm_20", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &[]),
-    ("sm_21", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_20"]),
-    ("sm_30", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_21"]),
-    ("sm_32", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_30"]),
-    ("sm_35", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_32"]),
-    ("sm_37", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_35"]),
-    ("sm_50", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_37"]),
-    ("sm_52", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_50"]),
-    ("sm_53", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_52"]),
-    ("sm_60", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_53"]),
-    ("sm_61", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_60"]),
-    ("sm_62", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_61"]),
-    ("sm_70", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_62"]),
+    ("sm_70", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &[]),
     ("sm_72", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_70"]),
     ("sm_75", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_72"]),
     ("sm_80", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_75"]),
@@ -567,19 +555,7 @@ const NVPTX_FEATURES: &[(&str, Stability, ImpliedFeatures)] = &[
     ("sm_120a", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["sm_120"]),
     // tidy-alphabetical-end
     // tidy-alphabetical-start
-    ("ptx32", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &[]),
-    ("ptx40", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx32"]),
-    ("ptx41", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx40"]),
-    ("ptx42", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx41"]),
-    ("ptx43", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx42"]),
-    ("ptx50", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx43"]),
-    ("ptx60", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx50"]),
-    ("ptx61", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx60"]),
-    ("ptx62", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx61"]),
-    ("ptx63", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx62"]),
-    ("ptx64", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx63"]),
-    ("ptx65", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx64"]),
-    ("ptx70", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx65"]),
+    ("ptx70", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &[]),
     ("ptx71", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx70"]),
     ("ptx72", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx71"]),
     ("ptx73", Unstable(sym::nvptx_target_feature), &["ptx72"]),
diff --git a/src/doc/rustc/src/platform-support/nvptx64-nvidia-cuda.md b/src/doc/rustc/src/platform-support/nvptx64-nvidia-cuda.md
index 2d9fc85dad33d..02510d9f3dee2 100644
--- a/src/doc/rustc/src/platform-support/nvptx64-nvidia-cuda.md
+++ b/src/doc/rustc/src/platform-support/nvptx64-nvidia-cuda.md
@@ -25,13 +25,23 @@ There are two options for using the core library:
 
 ### Target and features
 
-It is generally necessary to specify the target, such as `-C target-cpu=sm_89`, because the default is very old. This implies two target features: `sm_89` and `ptx78` (and all preceding features within `sm_*` and `ptx*`). Rust will default to using the oldest PTX version that supports the target processor (see [this table](https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/parallel-thread-execution/index.html#release-notes-ptx-release-history)), which maximizes driver compatibility.
-One can use `-C target-feature=+ptx80` to choose a later PTX version without changing the target (the default in this case, `ptx78`, requires CUDA driver version 11.8, while `ptx80` would require driver version 12.0).
+It is often beneficial to specify the target SM architecture, such as `-C target-cpu=sm_89`, because the default prioritizes broad compatibility rather than performance. Doing so also selects the PTX version as the *maximum* of (a) the oldest PTX version that supports the chosen target processor (see [this table](https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/parallel-thread-execution/index.html#release-notes-ptx-release-history)) and (b) the oldest PTX version supported by the Rust toolchain, which maximizes driver compatibility.
+One can use `-C target-feature=+ptx80` to choose a later PTX version without changing the target SM architecture (the default in this case, `ptx78`, requires CUDA driver version 11.8, while `ptx80` would require driver version 12.0).
 Later PTX versions may allow more efficient code generation.
 
 Although Rust follows LLVM in representing `ptx*` and `sm_*` as target features, they should be thought of as having crate granularity, set via (either via `-Ctarget-cpu` and optionally `-Ctarget-feature`).
 While the compiler accepts `#[target_feature(enable = "ptx80", enable = "sm_89")]`, it is not supported, may not behave as intended, and may become erroneous in the future.
 
+## Minimum SM and PTX support by Rust version
+Support for old hardware architectures and PTX ISA versions is periodically dropped. This table shows the minimum supported versions per Rust version.
+
+| Rust         | SM minimum     | PTX ISA minimum |
+| ------------ | -------------- | --------------- |
+|  - 1.96      | 2.0            | 3.2             |
+| 1.97 - TBD   | 7.0 (Volta+)   | 7.0 (CUDA 11+)  |
+
+For a full overview of which GPUs support code built for a specific SM version, see the [CUDA GPU Compute Capability documentation](https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda/gpus).
+
 ## Building Rust kernels
 
 A `no_std` crate containing one or more functions with `extern "ptx-kernel"` can be compiled to PTX using a command like the following.
diff --git a/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-default.rs b/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-default.rs
index 22b4a680e322c..e71304e453303 100644
--- a/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-default.rs
+++ b/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-default.rs
@@ -8,5 +8,6 @@
 extern crate breakpoint_panic_handler;
 
 // Verify default target arch with ptx-linker.
-// CHECK: .target sm_30
+// CHECK: .version 7.0
+// CHECK: .target sm_70
 // CHECK: .address_size 64
diff --git a/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-emit-asm.rs b/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-emit-asm.rs
index e47f8e78e3679..9266309c6202e 100644
--- a/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-emit-asm.rs
+++ b/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-emit-asm.rs
@@ -5,5 +5,6 @@
 #![no_std]
 
 // Verify default arch without ptx-linker involved.
-// CHECK: .target sm_30
+// CHECK: .version 7.0
+// CHECK: .target sm_70
 // CHECK: .address_size 64
diff --git a/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-target-cpu.rs b/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-target-cpu.rs
index e02ad0d558a96..b5062f1ba20d7 100644
--- a/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-target-cpu.rs
+++ b/tests/assembly-llvm/nvptx-arch-target-cpu.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //@ assembly-output: ptx-linker
-//@ compile-flags: --crate-type cdylib -C target-cpu=sm_50
+//@ compile-flags: --crate-type cdylib -C target-cpu=sm_87
 //@ only-nvptx64
 
 #![no_std]
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@
 extern crate breakpoint_panic_handler;
 
 // Verify target arch override via `target-cpu`.
-// CHECK: .target sm_50
+// CHECK: .target sm_87
 // CHECK: .address_size 64
diff --git a/tests/ui/check-cfg/target_feature.stderr b/tests/ui/check-cfg/target_feature.stderr
index b53419c512b08..981c173242408 100644
--- a/tests/ui/check-cfg/target_feature.stderr
+++ b/tests/ui/check-cfg/target_feature.stderr
@@ -229,18 +229,6 @@ LL |     cfg!(target_feature = "_UNEXPECTED_VALUE");
 `power9-altivec`
 `power9-vector`
 `prfchw`
-`ptx32`
-`ptx40`
-`ptx41`
-`ptx42`
-`ptx43`
-`ptx50`
-`ptx60`
-`ptx61`
-`ptx62`
-`ptx63`
-`ptx64`
-`ptx65`
 `ptx70`
 `ptx71`
 `ptx72`
@@ -290,18 +278,6 @@ LL |     cfg!(target_feature = "_UNEXPECTED_VALUE");
 `sm_101a`
 `sm_120`
 `sm_120a`
-`sm_20`
-`sm_21`
-`sm_30`
-`sm_32`
-`sm_35`
-`sm_37`
-`sm_50`
-`sm_52`
-`sm_53`
-`sm_60`
-`sm_61`
-`sm_62`
 `sm_70`
 `sm_72`
 `sm_75`
diff --git a/tests/ui/target-cpu/unsupported-target-cpu.nvptx-sm60.stderr b/tests/ui/target-cpu/unsupported-target-cpu.nvptx-sm60.stderr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..76092b8391f33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ui/target-cpu/unsupported-target-cpu.nvptx-sm60.stderr
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+error: target cpu `sm_60` is known but unsupported
+
+error: aborting due to 1 previous error
+
diff --git a/tests/ui/target-cpu/unsupported-target-cpu.rs b/tests/ui/target-cpu/unsupported-target-cpu.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..dafbfbc015ec1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ui/target-cpu/unsupported-target-cpu.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+//! Check that certain target *respect* the unsupported-cpus in `-C target-cpu`.
+
+//@ revisions: nvptx-sm60
+
+//@[nvptx-sm60] compile-flags: --target=nvptx64-nvidia-cuda --crate-type=rlib -Ctarget-cpu=sm_60
+//@[nvptx-sm60] needs-llvm-components: nvptx
+//@[nvptx-sm60] build-fail
+//@ ignore-backends: gcc
+
+#![feature(no_core)]
+#![no_core]
+#![crate_type = "rlib"]
+
+//[nvptx-sm60]~? ERROR target cpu `sm_60` is known but unsupported