Supported Hardware

NVTOP supports a wide range of GPUs and accelerators. Support for certain features, especially per-process statistics, may depend on your kernel version and driver stack.

NVIDIA

  • Driver: Proprietary NVIDIA drivers are required.
  • Library: Relies on the NVIDIA Management Library (NVML), which is included with the driver.
  • Compatibility: GPUs from the Kepler microarchitecture (GeForce 600 series, GeForce 800M series) and newer are supported. Older GPUs may not support all queries.
  • Note: The open-source nouveau driver is not supported.

AMD

  • Driver: The open-source amdgpu kernel driver is required.
  • Kernel Version: To view per-process statistics, a Linux kernel version 5.14 or newer is required. This is when AMD introduced the necessary fdinfo interface.
  • Note: The older radeon driver is not supported.

Intel

  • Driver: The i915 or xe Linux kernel drivers are supported.
  • Kernel Version: To view per-process statistics, a Linux kernel version 5.19 or newer is required.
  • Permissions: To read total memory usage, nvtop requires CAP_PERFMON or CAP_SYS_ADMIN capabilities. You can grant the necessary permission permanently by running: 
    sudo setcap cap_perfmon=ep $(which nvtop)
    Alternatively, running nvtop with sudo will also work.

Qualcomm Adreno

  • Driver: The msm Linux kernel driver is required.
  • Kernel Version: To view per-process statistics, a Linux kernel version 6.0 or newer is required.

Apple

  • Framework: Uses the Metal API for monitoring.
  • Compatibility: Initial support for Apple M1 & M2 series GPUs is included. This backend is only enabled when building nvtop on macOS.
  • Status: Apple support is still under development, and some limitations may apply.

Huawei Ascend

  • API: Uses the Ascend DCMI (Data Center Management Interface) API.
  • Compatibility: Tested on Atlas 800 (910B). Some information like PCIe generation and power draw may be unavailable due to limitations in the DCMI API.

Broadcom VideoCore

  • Compatibility: Tested on Raspberry Pi 4B.
  • Features: Supports monitoring GPU frequency, temperature, utilization (including per-process), memory usage, and H264 decoding utilization.
  • Requirements: On non-Raspberry Pi OS systems, a linux-rpi kernel (version 6.12.y or newer) and the /dev/vcio device are required.

Rockchip

  • Compatibility: Tested on Orange Pi 5 Plus.
  • Features: Supports monitoring NPU frequency, temperature, and utilization.

MetaX

  • Library: Uses the MetaX System Management Library (MXSML), which comes with the GPU driver.
  • Compatibility: Tested on MXC500.

Other Drivers

Support for Mali GPUs is provided via the panfrost and panthor drivers.