diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_object.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_object.c
index 55c9fdcfa67fc3a02517f9308f752ddf26c67508..c64fd971b867edc24ed5eee36ba55a8a82857c83 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_object.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_object.c
@@ -643,10 +643,13 @@ nouveau_gpuobj_gr_new(struct nouveau_channel *chan, u32 handle, int class)
 found:
 	switch (oc->engine) {
 	case NVOBJ_ENGINE_SW:
-		ret = nouveau_gpuobj_sw_new(chan, class, &gpuobj);
-		if (ret)
-			return ret;
-		goto insert;
+		if (dev_priv->card_type < NV_C0) {
+			ret = nouveau_gpuobj_sw_new(chan, class, &gpuobj);
+			if (ret)
+				return ret;
+			goto insert;
+		}
+		break;
 	case NVOBJ_ENGINE_GR:
 		if (dev_priv->card_type >= NV_50 && !chan->ramin_grctx) {
 			struct nouveau_pgraph_engine *pgraph =
@@ -669,6 +672,10 @@ nouveau_gpuobj_gr_new(struct nouveau_channel *chan, u32 handle, int class)
 		break;
 	}
 
+	/* we're done if this is fermi */
+	if (dev_priv->card_type >= NV_C0)
+		return 0;
+
 	ret = nouveau_gpuobj_new(dev, chan,
 				 nouveau_gpuobj_class_instmem_size(dev, class),
 				 16,