diff --git a/src/nouveau/compiler/nak/ir.rs b/src/nouveau/compiler/nak/ir.rs
index 6102d2e8671..8c67f9e4855 100644
--- a/src/nouveau/compiler/nak/ir.rs
+++ b/src/nouveau/compiler/nak/ir.rs
@@ -7732,6 +7732,11 @@ pub trait ShaderModel {
         self.sm() >= 32 && self.sm() < 40
     }
 
+    #[allow(dead_code)]
+    fn is_kepler(&self) -> bool {
+        self.is_kepler_a() || self.is_kepler_b()
+    }
+
     // The following helpers are pulled from GetSpaVersion in the open-source
     // NVIDIA kernel driver sources
 
diff --git a/src/nouveau/compiler/nak/sph.rs b/src/nouveau/compiler/nak/sph.rs
index ffca4c6d515..a1d3a3f752d 100644
--- a/src/nouveau/compiler/nak/sph.rs
+++ b/src/nouveau/compiler/nak/sph.rs
@@ -473,12 +473,14 @@ pub fn encode_header(
     let mut sph =
         ShaderProgramHeader::new(ShaderType::from(&shader_info.stage), sm.sm());
 
+    let slm_size = shader_info.slm_size.next_multiple_of(16);
     sph.set_sass_version(1);
-    sph.set_does_load_or_store(shader_info.uses_global_mem);
+    sph.set_does_load_or_store(
+        shader_info.uses_global_mem || (sm.is_kepler() && slm_size > 0),
+    );
     sph.set_does_global_store(shader_info.writes_global_mem);
     sph.set_does_fp64(shader_info.uses_fp64);
 
-    let slm_size = shader_info.slm_size.next_multiple_of(16);
     sph.set_shader_local_memory_size(slm_size.into());
     let crs_size = sm.crs_size(shader_info.max_crs_depth);
     sph.set_shader_local_memory_crs_size(crs_size);