diff --git a/scripts/ci/strix_quick_gate.sh b/scripts/ci/strix_quick_gate.sh
index 337373001..1e85b8661 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/strix_quick_gate.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/strix_quick_gate.sh
@@ -221,7 +221,8 @@ has_strix_report_failure_signal() {
 			report_root="$newest_report_root"
 		fi
 		while IFS= read -r -d '' report_log; do
-			if grep -Eiq '(^|[^[:alpha:]])(Fatal|Denied|Warn|Warning|WARNING|Timeout)([^[:alpha:]]|$)' "$report_log"; then
+			if grep -Eiv '^[[:space:]]*[^[:alnum:]]*[[:space:]]*MODEL QUALITY WARNING[[:space:]]*[^[:alnum:]]*[[:space:]]*$' "$report_log" |
+				grep -Eiq '(^|[^[:alpha:]])(Fatal|Denied|Warn|Warning|WARNING|Timeout)([^[:alpha:]]|$)'; then
 				return 0
 			fi
 		done < <(find "$report_root" -type f -name '*.log' -print0)
@@ -3151,7 +3152,8 @@ is_llm_token_limit_error() {
 # was interrupted or incomplete.  Used as a guard to prevent the
 # below-threshold override from silently passing an aborted scan.
 has_detected_infrastructure_error() {
-	if grep -Eiq '(^|[^[:alpha:]])(Fatal|Denied|Warn|Warning)([^[:alpha:]]|$)' "$STRIX_LOG"; then
+	if grep -Eiv '^[[:space:]]*[^[:alnum:]]*[[:space:]]*MODEL QUALITY WARNING[[:space:]]*[^[:alnum:]]*[[:space:]]*$' "$STRIX_LOG" |
+		grep -Eiq '(^|[^[:alpha:]])(Fatal|Denied|Warn|Warning)([^[:alpha:]]|$)'; then
 		return 0
 	fi
 
diff --git a/scripts/ci/test_strix_quick_gate.sh b/scripts/ci/test_strix_quick_gate.sh
index bf0a8693e..fd39a44c5 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/test_strix_quick_gate.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/test_strix_quick_gate.sh
@@ -3416,6 +3416,23 @@ REPORT
 			;;
 		esac
 		;;
+	nvidia-nim-quality-warning-fallback-success)
+		case "${STRIX_LLM:-}" in
+		nvidia_nim/nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b)
+			echo "Error: litellm.RateLimitError: Nvidia_nimException - Error code: 429"
+			exit 1
+			;;
+		nvidia_nim/nvidia/llama-3.3-nemotron-super-49b-v1.5)
+			echo "│  MODEL QUALITY WARNING"
+			echo "scan ok with NVIDIA NIM fallback"
+			exit 0
+			;;
+		*)
+			echo "unexpected model ${STRIX_LLM:-}" >&2
+			exit 9
+			;;
+		esac
+		;;
 	vertex-all-notfound)
 		echo "Error: litellm.NotFoundError: Vertex_aiException - x"
 		echo '"status": "NOT_FOUND"'
@@ -5951,6 +5968,18 @@ run_filtered_gate_case_if_requested() {
 			"vertex_ai/ready-primary" \
 			"<unset>"
 		;;
+	nvidia-nim-quality-warning-fallback-success)
+		run_gate_case "nvidia-nim-quality-warning-fallback-success" \
+			"nvidia_nim/nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b" \
+			"nvidia_nim/nvidia/llama-3.3-nemotron-super-49b-v1.5" \
+			"0" \
+			"REGEX:Strix quick scan succeeded with fallback model 'nvidia_nim/nvidia/llama-3.3-nemotron-super-49b-v1.5' in [0-9]+s\\." \
+			"2" \
+			"nvidia_nim/nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b|nvidia_nim/nvidia/llama-3.3-nemotron-super-49b-v1.5" \
+			"<unset>|<unset>" \
+			"openai" \
+			""
+		;;
 	pr-rust-workspace-context)
 		run_gate_case "pr-rust-workspace-context" \
 			"openai/gpt-4o-mini" \
@@ -12370,6 +12399,17 @@ run_gate_case "direct-openai-gpt-does-not-require-github-models-api-base" \
 	"openai" \
 	""
 
+run_gate_case "nvidia-nim-quality-warning-fallback-success" \
+	"nvidia_nim/nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b" \
+	"nvidia_nim/nvidia/llama-3.3-nemotron-super-49b-v1.5" \
+	"0" \
+	"REGEX:Strix quick scan succeeded with fallback model 'nvidia_nim/nvidia/llama-3.3-nemotron-super-49b-v1.5' in [0-9]+s\\." \
+	"2" \
+	"nvidia_nim/nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b|nvidia_nim/nvidia/llama-3.3-nemotron-super-49b-v1.5" \
+	"<unset>|<unset>" \
+	"openai" \
+	""
+
 run_gate_case "github-models-model-prefix-with-api-base-succeeds" \
 	"openai/gpt-5" \
 	"" \