LinuxCommandLibrary

radeontop

Monitor AMD GPU utilization

TLDR

Show the utilization of the default AMD GPU

$ radeontop
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Enable colored output
$ radeontop --color
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Select a specific GPU (the bus number is the first number in the output of lspci)
$ radeontop --bus [bus_number]
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Specify the display refresh rate (higher means more GPU overhead)
$ radeontop --ticks [samples_per_second]
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SYNOPSIS

radeontop [options]

PARAMETERS

-d
    Specify the DRM device to use. Defaults to /dev/dri/card0

-i
    Set the refresh interval in milliseconds. Defaults to 1000 (1 second)

-n
    Number of iterations to run before exiting. Defaults to unlimited.

-V
    Show version information and exit.

-h
    Show help message and exit.

DESCRIPTION

radeontop is a command-line utility that provides real-time monitoring of the activity of AMD Radeon graphics processing units (GPUs). It displays information about GPU utilization, memory usage (VRAM), power consumption, and clock speeds. The tool is particularly useful for diagnosing performance bottlenecks, understanding GPU workload distribution, and optimizing application performance. It leverages the AMD Platform Monitoring (APM) and other kernel interfaces to gather its data, presenting it in a user-friendly, continuously updating terminal interface.

radeontop can display activity for multiple GPUs in a system, identifying them by their PCI bus ID. This makes it valuable for systems with multiple graphics cards, like mining rigs or high-performance computing setups. The displayed information is updated at a configurable interval, allowing users to observe short-term performance fluctuations. It offers a quick and lightweight alternative to more complex profiling tools, suitable for identifying basic performance issues without extensive overhead.

CAVEATS

The accuracy of radeontop's data depends on the availability and accuracy of the kernel drivers and hardware sensors. Certain features might not be supported on all Radeon GPU models or with older driver versions. Root privileges may be required to access the necessary hardware monitoring interfaces.

UNDERSTANDING OUTPUT COLUMNS

The main window displays key metrics:
GPU Activity: Percentage of time the GPU is actively processing workloads.
VRAM Usage: Amount of video memory being used.
GTT Usage: Amount of Graphics Translation Table memory being used.
Power: GPU power consumption (if available).
Temperature: GPU temperature (if available).
Clocks: Current clock speeds of various GPU components.

HISTORY

radeontop was originally developed as a tool to monitor Radeon GPU performance. It has evolved over time to support newer GPU architectures and to provide more detailed information. Its development is driven by the open-source community and aims to provide an accessible and lightweight GPU monitoring solution for Linux systems.

SEE ALSO

perf(1), top(1), glxinfo(1)

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