diff --git a/src/llama-kv-cache-unified.cpp b/src/llama-kv-cache-unified.cpp
index 5744e00a8..f6a553239 100644
--- a/src/llama-kv-cache-unified.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-kv-cache-unified.cpp
@@ -130,6 +130,13 @@ llama_kv_cache_unified::llama_kv_cache_unified(
 
     const char * LLAMA_KV_CACHE_DEBUG = getenv("LLAMA_KV_CACHE_DEBUG");
     debug = LLAMA_KV_CACHE_DEBUG ? atoi(LLAMA_KV_CACHE_DEBUG) : 0;
+
+    const char * LLAMA_SET_ROWS = getenv("LLAMA_SET_ROWS");
+    supports_set_rows = LLAMA_SET_ROWS ? atoi(LLAMA_SET_ROWS) : 0;
+
+    if (!supports_set_rows) {
+        LLAMA_LOG_WARN("%s: LLAMA_SET_ROWS=0, using old ggml_cpy() method for backwards compatibility\n", __func__);
+    }
 }
 
 void llama_kv_cache_unified::clear(bool data) {
@@ -751,15 +758,21 @@ ggml_tensor * llama_kv_cache_unified::cpy_k(ggml_context * ctx, ggml_tensor * k_
 
     auto * k = layers[ikv].k;
 
+    const int64_t n_embd_k_gqa = k->ne[0];
     const int64_t n_tokens = k_cur->ne[2];
 
-    if (kv_idxs) {
-        return ggml_set_rows(ctx, k, ggml_reshape_2d(ctx, k_cur, k->ne[0], n_tokens), kv_idxs);
+    k_cur = ggml_reshape_2d(ctx, k_cur, k->ne[0], n_tokens);
+
+    if (kv_idxs && supports_set_rows) {
+        return ggml_set_rows(ctx, k, k_cur, kv_idxs);
     }
 
+    // TODO: fallback to old ggml_cpy() method for backwards compatibility
+    //       will be removed when ggml_set_rows() is adopted by all backends
+
     ggml_tensor * k_view = ggml_view_1d(ctx, k,
-            n_tokens*hparams.n_embd_k_gqa(il),
-            ggml_row_size(k->type, hparams.n_embd_k_gqa(il))*head_cur);
+            n_tokens*n_embd_k_gqa,
+            ggml_row_size(k->type, n_embd_k_gqa)*head_cur);
 
     return ggml_cpy(ctx, k_cur, k_view);
 }
@@ -769,37 +782,43 @@ ggml_tensor * llama_kv_cache_unified::cpy_v(ggml_context * ctx, ggml_tensor * v_
 
     auto * v = layers[ikv].v;
 
+    const int64_t n_embd_v_gqa = v->ne[0];
     const int64_t n_tokens = v_cur->ne[2];
 
-    v_cur = ggml_reshape_2d(ctx, v_cur, hparams.n_embd_v_gqa(il), n_tokens);
+    v_cur = ggml_reshape_2d(ctx, v_cur, n_embd_v_gqa, n_tokens);
+
+    if (kv_idxs && supports_set_rows) {
+        if (!v_trans) {
+            return ggml_set_rows(ctx, v, v_cur, kv_idxs);
+        }
+
+        // note: the V cache is transposed when not using flash attention
+        v_cur = ggml_transpose(ctx, v_cur);
+
+        // the row becomes a single element and we repeat the KV indices d_head times
+        ggml_tensor * v_view = ggml_reshape_3d(ctx, v, 1, v->ne[1], v->ne[0]);
+
+        v_cur = ggml_cont_3d(ctx, v_cur, 1, v_cur->ne[0], v_cur->ne[1]);
+
+        // TODO: this repeat can be avoided if ggml_set_rows() supports broadcast
+        kv_idxs = ggml_repeat_4d(ctx, kv_idxs, v_cur->ne[1], v_cur->ne[2], 1, 1);
+
+        return ggml_set_rows(ctx, v_view, v_cur, kv_idxs);
+    }
+
+    // TODO: fallback to old ggml_cpy() method for backwards compatibility
+    //       will be removed when ggml_set_rows() is adopted by all backends
 
     ggml_tensor * v_view = nullptr;
 
     if (!v_trans) {
-        if (kv_idxs) {
-            return ggml_set_rows(ctx, v, v_cur, kv_idxs);
-        }
-
         v_view = ggml_view_1d(ctx, v,
-                n_tokens*hparams.n_embd_v_gqa(il),
-                ggml_row_size(v->type, hparams.n_embd_v_gqa(il))*head_cur);
+                n_tokens*n_embd_v_gqa,
+                ggml_row_size(v->type, n_embd_v_gqa)*head_cur);
     } else {
         v_cur = ggml_transpose(ctx, v_cur);
 
-        // note: the V cache is transposed when not using flash attention
-        if (kv_idxs) {
-            // the row becomes a single element and we repeat the KV indices d_head times
-            // TODO: this seems not very optimal - can we do something better?
-            v_view = ggml_reshape_3d(ctx, v, 1, v->ne[1], v->ne[0]);
-
-            v_cur = ggml_cont_3d(ctx, v_cur, 1, v_cur->ne[0], v_cur->ne[1]);
-
-            kv_idxs = ggml_repeat_4d(ctx, kv_idxs, v_cur->ne[1], v_cur->ne[2], 1, 1);
-
-            return ggml_set_rows(ctx, v_view, v_cur, kv_idxs);
-        }
-
-        v_view = ggml_view_2d(ctx, v, n_tokens, hparams.n_embd_v_gqa(il),
+        v_view = ggml_view_2d(ctx, v, n_tokens, n_embd_v_gqa,
                 (v->ne[1])*ggml_element_size(v),
                 (head_cur)*ggml_element_size(v));
     }
@@ -808,6 +827,10 @@ ggml_tensor * llama_kv_cache_unified::cpy_v(ggml_context * ctx, ggml_tensor * v_
 }
 
 void llama_kv_cache_unified::set_input_kv_idxs(ggml_tensor * dst, const llama_ubatch * ubatch, uint32_t head_cur) const {
+    if (!supports_set_rows) {
+        return;
+    }
+
     const uint32_t n_tokens = ubatch->n_tokens;
 
     GGML_ASSERT(ggml_backend_buffer_is_host(dst->buffer));
diff --git a/src/llama-kv-cache-unified.h b/src/llama-kv-cache-unified.h
index 5b5da3dc2..6f8efeb79 100644
--- a/src/llama-kv-cache-unified.h
+++ b/src/llama-kv-cache-unified.h
@@ -158,8 +158,13 @@ private:
     // SWA
     const uint32_t n_swa = 0;
 
+    // env: LLAMA_KV_CACHE_DEBUG
     int debug = 0;
 
+    // env: LLAMA_SET_ROWS (temporary)
+    // ref: https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/pull/14285
+    int supports_set_rows = false;
+
     const llama_swa_type swa_type = LLAMA_SWA_TYPE_NONE;
 
     std::vector<ggml_context_ptr>        ctxs;