diff --git a/ansible/roles/cuda/README.md b/ansible/roles/cuda/README.md
index be6439cd5..1e74d07f3 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/cuda/README.md
+++ b/ansible/roles/cuda/README.md
@@ -10,6 +10,6 @@ Requires OFED to be installed to provide required kernel-* packages.
 
 - `cuda_repo_url`: Optional. URL of `.repo` file. Default is upstream for appropriate OS/architecture.
 - `cuda_nvidia_driver_stream`: Optional. Version of `nvidia-driver` stream to enable. This controls whether the open or proprietary drivers are installed and the major version. Changing this once the drivers are installed does not change the version.
-- `cuda_packages`: Optional. Default: `['cuda', 'nvidia-gds']`.
+- `cuda_packages`: Optional. Default: `['cuda', 'nvidia-gds', 'cmake', 'cuda-toolkit-12-8']`.
 - `cuda_package_version`: Optional. Default `latest` which will install the latest packages if not installed but won't upgrade already-installed packages. Use `'none'` to skip installing CUDA.
 - `cuda_persistenced_state`: Optional. State of systemd `nvidia-persistenced` service. Values as [ansible.builtin.systemd:state](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/systemd_module.html#parameter-state). Default `started`.
diff --git a/ansible/roles/cuda/defaults/main.yml b/ansible/roles/cuda/defaults/main.yml
index 31cfe23d5..fd4bf37c8 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/cuda/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/cuda/defaults/main.yml
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 cuda_repo_url: "https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/rhel{{ ansible_distribution_major_version }}/{{ ansible_architecture }}/cuda-rhel{{ ansible_distribution_major_version }}.repo"
 cuda_nvidia_driver_stream: '570-open'
 cuda_package_version: '12.8.1-1'
+cuda_version_short: '12.8'
 cuda_packages:
   - "cuda{{ ('-' + cuda_package_version) if cuda_package_version != 'latest' else '' }}"
   - nvidia-gds
-# _cuda_version_tuple: # discovered from installed package e.g. ('12', '1', '0')
-cuda_version_short: "{{ _cuda_version_tuple[0] }}.{{ _cuda_version_tuple[1] }}"
+  - cmake
+  - cuda-toolkit-12-8
 cuda_samples_release_url: "https://github.com/NVIDIA/cuda-samples/archive/refs/tags/v{{ cuda_version_short }}.tar.gz"
-cuda_samples_path: "/home/{{ ansible_user }}/cuda_samples"
+cuda_samples_path: "/var/lib/{{ ansible_user }}/cuda_samples"
 cuda_samples_programs:
   - deviceQuery
   - bandwidthTest
diff --git a/ansible/roles/cuda/tasks/samples.yml b/ansible/roles/cuda/tasks/samples.yml
index 679ce5644..38ce3339d 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/cuda/tasks/samples.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/cuda/tasks/samples.yml
@@ -1,12 +1,3 @@
-- name: Read CUDA version file
-  slurp:
-    src: /usr/local/cuda/version.json
-  register: _cuda_samples_version
-
-- name: Set fact for discovered CUDA version
-  set_fact:
-    _cuda_version_tuple: "{{ (_cuda_samples_version.content | b64decode | from_json).cuda.version | split('.') }}" # e.g. '12.1.0'
-
 - name: Ensure cuda_samples_path exists
   file:
     state: directory