Programmatically fetch GPU utilization

Question

Is there a standard way of getting the current load on the GPU? I'm looking for something similar to the Task Manager showing CPU%. Utilities such as GPU-Z show this value but I'm not sure how it gets this. I'm specifically interested in AMD graphics cards at the moment, any pointers would be helpful.

If there's no clean API way of doing it, are there any programs whose output I can capture to get this info?

Alan · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-29 20:20:23Z

4

For AMD/ATI cards, check out GPU PerfStudio. http://developer.amd.com/gpu/Pages/default.aspx

For NVidia cards, look at PerfHUD. http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nvperfhud_home.html

There is also a more generic tool in the DirectX SDK from MS called Pix that overlaps partially with these tools.

AFAIK there's no way to get something as simple as a %-use number for the GPU because it isn't that simple. But these tools will help in debugging and profiling what's going on in the GPU. Both ATI and NVidia provide public documentation with recommended steps to find and fix specific types of GPU bottlenecks.

answered Jan 29, 2010 at 20:20

Alan

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2 Comments

Amit G Over a year ago

Both of these are tools, rather than API. Still, quite useful. From the AMD developer site I found AMD Display Library SDK which looks like it might do the trick. Thanks.

Brian Vandenberg Over a year ago

PerfHUD is windows-only, unfortunately.

fflower · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-23 03:43:14Z

4

Try nvidia-smi -a. It is shipped with nvidia drivers. Provides current GPU core and memory utilization information.

nvidia --help for full helping information.

answered Feb 23, 2011 at 3:43

fflower

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Comments

Hans Passant · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-29 09:45:16Z

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This kind of information is always provided either through a PerformanceCounter or WMI. Use Perfmon.exe or download WmiCodeCreator to find out what the card manufacturer provided. Perhaps needless to say, this kind of code doesn't port well from one machine to another.

answered Jan 29, 2010 at 9:45

Hans Passant

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2 Comments

Amit G Over a year ago

+1 for mentioning the WmiCodeCreator tool, looks very useful. Sadly, it doesn't seem to show anything useful for this particular case.

Hans Passant Over a year ago

Browse the video adapter manufacturer's web site, see what kind of WMI providers they have available.

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