diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e40752f4dea0..6f5cbd0733da 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 /vllm/_version.py
 
 # vllm-flash-attn built from source
-vllm/vllm_flash_attn/
+vllm/vllm_flash_attn/*
+!vllm/vllm_flash_attn/fa_utils.py
 
 # Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
 __pycache__/
diff --git a/vllm/attention/backends/flash_attn.py b/vllm/attention/backends/flash_attn.py
index 4cb0b916739a..27bd292b51f2 100755
--- a/vllm/attention/backends/flash_attn.py
+++ b/vllm/attention/backends/flash_attn.py
@@ -22,12 +22,13 @@
     compute_slot_mapping_start_idx, get_num_prefill_decode_query_kv_tokens,
     get_seq_len_block_table_args, is_all_cross_attn_metadata_set,
     is_all_encoder_attn_metadata_set, is_block_tables_empty)
-from vllm.fa_utils import get_flash_attn_version
 from vllm.logger import init_logger
 from vllm.multimodal import MultiModalPlaceholderMap
 from vllm.utils import async_tensor_h2d, make_tensor_with_pad
 from vllm.vllm_flash_attn import (flash_attn_varlen_func,
                                   flash_attn_with_kvcache)
+from vllm.vllm_flash_attn.fa_utils import (flash_attn_supports_fp8,
+                                           get_flash_attn_version)
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from vllm.worker.model_runner import (ModelInputForGPUBuilder,
@@ -632,10 +633,13 @@ def __init__(
         self.kv_cache_dtype = kv_cache_dtype
         self.vllm_flash_attn_version = get_flash_attn_version(
             requires_alibi=self.alibi_slopes is not None)
-        if (is_quantized_kv_cache(self.kv_cache_dtype)
-                and self.vllm_flash_attn_version != 3):
+        if is_quantized_kv_cache(self.kv_cache_dtype) and (
+                not self.kv_cache_dtype.startswith("fp8")
+                or not flash_attn_supports_fp8()):
             raise NotImplementedError(
-                "Only FlashAttention3 supports FP8 KV cache")
+                f"FlashAttention does not support {self.kv_cache_dtype} "
+                "kv-cache on this device "
+                f"(FA supports fp8 = {flash_attn_supports_fp8()}).")
         if logits_soft_cap is None:
             # In flash-attn, setting logits_soft_cap as 0 means no soft cap.
             logits_soft_cap = 0
@@ -704,6 +708,10 @@ def forward(
         logits_soft_cap: Optional[float] = self.logits_soft_cap
         fp8_attention = kv_cache_dtype.startswith("fp8")
 
+        if fp8_attention and not flash_attn_supports_fp8():
+            raise NotImplementedError(
+                "FlashAttention does not support FP8 kv-cache on this device.")
+
         if kv_cache.numel() > 0:
             key_cache = kv_cache[0]
             value_cache = kv_cache[1]
diff --git a/vllm/attention/backends/mla/common.py b/vllm/attention/backends/mla/common.py
index 258090d3e80e..1b1ab314c01e 100644
--- a/vllm/attention/backends/mla/common.py
+++ b/vllm/attention/backends/mla/common.py
@@ -205,7 +205,6 @@
                                            compute_slot_mapping_start_idx,
                                            is_block_tables_empty)
 from vllm.attention.ops.triton_merge_attn_states import merge_attn_states
-from vllm.fa_utils import get_flash_attn_version
 from vllm.model_executor.layers.linear import (ColumnParallelLinear,
                                                LinearBase, RowParallelLinear,
                                                UnquantizedLinearMethod)
@@ -214,6 +213,7 @@
 from vllm.multimodal import MultiModalPlaceholderMap
 from vllm.platforms import current_platform
 from vllm.utils import async_tensor_h2d, cdiv, make_tensor_with_pad, round_down
+from vllm.vllm_flash_attn.fa_utils import get_flash_attn_version
 
 try:
     from vllm.vllm_flash_attn import flash_attn_varlen_func
diff --git a/vllm/config.py b/vllm/config.py
index 1f7147f7cfd4..3f1307f9c6e0 100644
--- a/vllm/config.py
+++ b/vllm/config.py
@@ -1150,10 +1150,6 @@ def _verify_cache_dtype(self) -> None:
         if self.cache_dtype == "auto":
             pass
         elif self.cache_dtype in ("fp8", "fp8_e4m3", "fp8_e5m2"):
-            if envs.VLLM_USE_V1:
-                raise NotImplementedError(
-                    "V1 does not yet support fp8 KV cache. "
-                    "Set VLLM_USE_V1=0 to enable fp8 kv cache.")
             logger.info(
                 "Using fp8 data type to store kv cache. It reduces the GPU "
                 "memory footprint and boosts the performance. "
diff --git a/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py b/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
index edfa748b82d7..29f61189187f 100644
--- a/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
+++ b/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
@@ -1500,9 +1500,20 @@ def _is_v1_supported_oracle(self, model_config: ModelConfig) -> bool:
 
         # No Fp8 KV cache so far.
         if self.kv_cache_dtype != "auto":
-            _raise_or_fallback(feature_name="--kv-cache-dtype",
-                               recommend_to_remove=False)
-            return False
+            fp8_attention = self.kv_cache_dtype.startswith("fp8")
+            will_use_fa = (
+                current_platform.is_cuda()
+                and not envs.is_set("VLLM_ATTENTION_BACKEND")
+            ) or envs.VLLM_ATTENTION_BACKEND == "FLASH_ATTN_VLLM_V1"
+            supported = False
+            if fp8_attention and will_use_fa:
+                from vllm.vllm_flash_attn.fa_utils import (
+                    flash_attn_supports_fp8)
+                supported = flash_attn_supports_fp8()
+            if not supported:
+                _raise_or_fallback(feature_name="--kv-cache-dtype",
+                                   recommend_to_remove=False)
+                return False
 
         # No Prompt Adapter so far.
         if self.enable_prompt_adapter:
diff --git a/vllm/platforms/cuda.py b/vllm/platforms/cuda.py
index 38d8fffd63c0..bb77318092fc 100644
--- a/vllm/platforms/cuda.py
+++ b/vllm/platforms/cuda.py
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # import custom ops, trigger op registration
 import vllm._C  # noqa
 import vllm.envs as envs
-from vllm.fa_utils import get_flash_attn_version
 from vllm.logger import init_logger
 from vllm.utils import import_pynvml
 
@@ -258,7 +257,7 @@ def get_attn_backend_cls(cls, selected_backend, head_size, dtype,
             try:
                 import vllm.vllm_flash_attn  # noqa: F401
                 from vllm.attention.backends.flash_attn import (  # noqa: F401
-                    FlashAttentionBackend)
+                    FlashAttentionBackend, flash_attn_supports_fp8)
 
                 supported_sizes = \
                     FlashAttentionBackend.get_supported_head_sizes()
@@ -269,10 +268,9 @@ def get_attn_backend_cls(cls, selected_backend, head_size, dtype,
                     target_backend = _Backend.XFORMERS
                 fp8_kv_cache = (kv_cache_dtype is not None
                                 and kv_cache_dtype.startswith("fp8"))
-                if (fp8_kv_cache and get_flash_attn_version() != 3):
+                if (fp8_kv_cache and not flash_attn_supports_fp8()):
                     logger.info(
-                        "Cannot use FlashAttention-2 backend for FP8 KV cache."
-                    )
+                        "Cannot use FlashAttention backend for FP8 KV cache.")
                     logger.warning(
                         "Please use FlashInfer backend with FP8 KV Cache for "
                         "better performance by setting environment variable "
diff --git a/vllm/v1/attention/backends/flash_attn.py b/vllm/v1/attention/backends/flash_attn.py
index 27b3aabbc350..92e4ffd0371a 100755
--- a/vllm/v1/attention/backends/flash_attn.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/attention/backends/flash_attn.py
@@ -11,10 +11,11 @@
                                               AttentionMetadata, AttentionType,
                                               is_quantized_kv_cache)
 from vllm.attention.ops.triton_merge_attn_states import merge_attn_states
-from vllm.fa_utils import get_flash_attn_version
 from vllm.logger import init_logger
 from vllm.platforms import current_platform
 from vllm.utils import cdiv
+from vllm.vllm_flash_attn.fa_utils import (flash_attn_supports_fp8,
+                                           get_flash_attn_version)
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from vllm.v1.core.sched.output import SchedulerOutput
@@ -182,9 +183,6 @@ def __init__(
         else:
             self.sliding_window = (sliding_window - 1, 0)
         self.kv_cache_dtype = kv_cache_dtype
-        if is_quantized_kv_cache(self.kv_cache_dtype):
-            raise NotImplementedError(
-                "FlashAttention V1 with FP8 KV cache not yet supported")
         if logits_soft_cap is None:
             # In flash-attn, setting logits_soft_cap as 0 means no soft cap.
             logits_soft_cap = 0
@@ -206,6 +204,10 @@ def __init__(
                                       "are not implemented for "
                                       "FlashAttentionImpl")
         self.vllm_flash_attn_version = get_flash_attn_version()
+        if is_quantized_kv_cache(self.kv_cache_dtype) \
+            and not flash_attn_supports_fp8():
+            raise NotImplementedError(
+                "FlashAttention does not support fp8 kv-cache on this device.")
 
     def forward(
         self,
diff --git a/vllm/v1/attention/backends/mla/common.py b/vllm/v1/attention/backends/mla/common.py
index 31244443108b..1437db7e9d48 100644
--- a/vllm/v1/attention/backends/mla/common.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/attention/backends/mla/common.py
@@ -196,7 +196,6 @@
                                               AttentionMetadata,
                                               MLAAttentionImpl)
 from vllm.attention.ops.triton_merge_attn_states import merge_attn_states
-from vllm.fa_utils import get_flash_attn_version
 from vllm.logger import init_logger
 from vllm.model_executor.layers.linear import (ColumnParallelLinear,
                                                LinearBase, RowParallelLinear,
@@ -204,6 +203,7 @@
 from vllm.model_executor.layers.rotary_embedding import RotaryEmbedding
 from vllm.platforms import current_platform
 from vllm.utils import cdiv, round_down
+from vllm.vllm_flash_attn.fa_utils import get_flash_attn_version
 
 try:
     from vllm.vllm_flash_attn import flash_attn_varlen_func
diff --git a/vllm/fa_utils.py b/vllm/vllm_flash_attn/fa_utils.py
similarity index 90%
rename from vllm/fa_utils.py
rename to vllm/vllm_flash_attn/fa_utils.py
index 417653490158..ca88549f3f72 100644
--- a/vllm/fa_utils.py
+++ b/vllm/vllm_flash_attn/fa_utils.py
@@ -46,3 +46,9 @@ def get_flash_attn_version(requires_alibi: bool = False) -> Optional[int]:
         return fa_version
     except (ImportError, AssertionError):
         return None
+
+
+def flash_attn_supports_fp8() -> bool:
+    from vllm.platforms import current_platform
+    return get_flash_attn_version() == 3 and \
+        current_platform.get_device_capability().major == 9