Understanding Outputs - nvidia-smi GPU Monitoring
Example nvidia-smi Output:
------ Wed Jul 2 17:12:23 IST 2025 ------
Wed Jul 2 17:12:23 2025
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 560.35.05 Driver Version: 560.35.05 CUDA Version: 12.6 |
|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------|
| GPU Name Persistence-M | Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap | Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
| 0 NVIDIA H100 NVL On | 00000000:AB:00.0 Off | 0 |
| N/A 37C P0 86W / 400W | 1294MiB / 95830MiB | 0% Default |
| | | Disabled |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=========================================================================================|
| 0 N/A N/A 2234986 C python 1284MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
…
Explanation of nvidia-smi Output:
GPU Summary Header
- NVIDIA-SMI Version: 560.35.05 — Monitoring tool version.
- Driver Version: 560.35.05 — NVIDIA driver version installed.
- CUDA Version: 12.6 — CUDA toolkit compatibility version.
GPU Info Section
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| GPU | GPU index number (0) |
| Name | GPU model: NVIDIA H100 NVL |
| Persistence-M | Persistence Mode: On (reduces init overhead) |
| Bus-Id | PCI bus ID location |
| Disp.A | Display Active: Off (no display connected) |
| Volatile Uncorr. ECC | GPU memory error count (0 = no errors) |
| Fan | Fan speed (N/A — passive cooling) |
| Temp | Temperature (37C — healthy) |
| Perf | Performance state (P0 = maximum performance) |
| Pwr:Usage/Cap | Power usage (86W of 400W max) |
| Memory-Usage | 1294MiB used / 95830MiB total |
| GPU-Util | GPU utilization (0% — idle) |
| Compute M. | Compute mode (Default) |
| MIG M. | Multi-Instance GPU mode (Disabled) |
Processes Section
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| GPU | GPU ID (0) |
| PID | Process ID (2234986) |
| Type | Type of process: C (compute) |
| Process Name | Process name (python) |
| GPU Memory | 1284MiB used by this process |
- These explanations cover the descriptions of each of the different parameters given by the
nvidia-smioutput.