Source · Tier B · Preprint

Part-time Power Measurements: nvidia-smi's Lack of Attention

Z. Yang, K. Adamek, W. Armour. 2023. arXiv.

Linkhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2312.02741
DOI10.48550/arXiv.2312.02741
arXiv2312.02741
Versionv3 (2024-12-12) read on 2026-09-24; v1 was submitted 2023-12-05. arXiv links the peer-reviewed version in the SC24 proceedings (DOI 10.1109/SC41406.2024.00028), published there as "Accurate and Convenient Energy Measurements for GPUs: A Detailed Study of NVIDIA GPU's Built-In Power Sensor".
Accessed2026-09-24
NoteMicro-benchmark study of nvidia-smi power readings on over 70 NVIDIA GPUs from every generation since Fermi. States that nvidia-smi uses NVML, that on A100 and H100 GPUs only 25% of runtime is sampled for power, and that the reading's error is about ±5% rather than the ±5 W NVIDIA claims.

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