Windows Installation and Setup

Before you install NVIDIA Nsight Graphics, please make sure that you have prepared your system by completing the following tasks:

Task For more information, see...

Review the hardware and software requirements for the product to make sure that you have the minimum or recommended configurations.

System Requirements for NVIDIA Nsight Graphics Software

Configure Windows 10 Hybrid mode to use the high-performance NVIDIA GPU for NVIDIA Nsight Graphics.

Setup Hybrid Mode

Walkthrough how to make sure your system is running with the most current NVIDIA graphics driver.

How To: Install the NVIDIA Display Driver

System Requirements

NVIDIA Nsight Graphics™ supports flexible hardware configurations:

  • Single GPU System

  • Dual GPU System:

  • Notebook equipped with NVIDIA Optimus technology: The recommended single notebook machine configuration for a GPGPU developer. This configuration supports both the NVIDIA Nsight Graphics Debugger and Analyzer using NVIDIA Optimus technology.

Display Driver

You must install the NVIDIA display driver that supports the NVIDIA Nsight Graphics tools. If you have an NVIDIA graphics card installed on your target machine, you likely already have an NVIDIA display driver; however, NVIDIA Nsight Graphics requires a specific version of the driver in order to function properly.

The required driver version can be found in the Release Notes.

Supported Graphics Cards

For the latest updates to the list of supported GPUs, see the full GPU list here.

C++ Capture Requirements

C++ Captures require that the host machine have Visual Studio 2015 or newer installed to compile. For Direct3D applications, this version of Visual Studio must have an SDK version that is compatible with the Direct3D SDK usage of the application being captured.

Installing the NVIDIA Display Driver

It is recommended that you install an NVIDIA display driver that NVIDIA Nsight Graphics requires. See the Release Notes for more information.

If you have an NVIDIA graphics card installed on your target machine, you probably already have an NVIDIA display driver. However, NVIDIA Nsight Graphics™ requires an updated version of the driver in order to function properly. Please see the latest release notes for instructions on compatible driver versions:

To install the NVIDIA Display Driver:

  1. Run the NVIDIA Display Driver installer.

    The Display Driver Installer appears.

  2. Follow installer directions until final screen. Do not reboot.

  3. When prompted, select No, I will restart my computer later.

  4. Click Finish.

See also:

NVIDIA Driver Downloads

Setup Hybrid Mode

NVIDIA Nsight Graphics™ is able to profile and debug applications on laptops using Windows 10 Hybrid mode. In order to do so, you will need to configure your machine to use the high-performance NVIDIA GPU for NVIDIA Nsight Graphics.

There are two methods to direct an application to use the NVIDIA GPU.

  1. Configure all applications use the NVIDIA GPU.

  2. Configure only specific applications to use the NVIDIA GPU.

The first option is the easiest to control, but may adversely affect overall system performance. The second option is more fine grain and allows the system to maintain lower power.

To get started, right-click on your desktop, and open the NVIDIA Control Panel.

Once the NVIDIA Control Panel has opened, click Manage 3D Settings.

Option 1: Global Settings

  • On the Global Settings tab, select the drop-down menu under Preferred graphics processor, and select High Performance NVIDIA processor.

  • Click Apply to save the changes. All applications can now be profiled, traced, and debugged in Hybrid mode.

Option 2: Program Settings

On the Program Settings tab, you can add each application that should run on the NVIDIA GPU.

  • Under 1. Select a program to customize, press Add to select a running instance of the executable to be debugged, profiled, and/or traced. You may also Browse directly to the location of the desired executable.

    If you plan on running a serialized frame capture, the solution (and built executable) are typically found in:

    C:\Users\<user>\Documents\NVIDIA Nsight Graphics\Captures\<TimeStampedCaptureProcess>

    with the built executable in the subdirectory:

    <architecture>\<build>\<TimeStampedCaptureProcess>.exe
  • Press Add Selected Program to confirm your selection.

  • Click the drop-down menu under 2. Select the preferred graphics processor for this program:, and select High-performance NVIDIA processor.

  • Click Apply to save the changes. The specified application(s) can now be profiled, traced, and debugged in Hybrid mode.

Linux Installation and Setup

NVIDIA Nsight Graphics™ can be downloaded from the NVIDIA GameWorks Download Center, and is installed as a standalone application.

Host Setup

  1. Run the .run file.

  2. When prompted, accept the license agreement.

  3. Specify whether or not you want to create a symlink.

  4. Complete the installation.

  5. Install additional dependencies. On Ubuntu, for example, the package currently requires the following dependencies:

    libgstreamer0.10-0
    libgstreamer0.10-dev
    libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0

 

Notices

Notice

THE INFORMATION IN THIS GUIDE AND ALL OTHER INFORMATION CONTAINED IN NVIDIA DOCUMENTATION REFERENCED IN THIS GUIDE IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” NVIDIA MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION FOR THE PRODUCT, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Notwithstanding any damages that customer might incur for any reason whatsoever, NVIDIA’s aggregate and cumulative liability towards customer for the product described in this guide shall be limited in accordance with the NVIDIA terms and conditions of sale for the product.

THE NVIDIA PRODUCT DESCRIBED IN THIS GUIDE IS NOT FAULT TOLERANT AND IS NOT DESIGNED, MANUFACTURED OR INTENDED FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH THE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE, AND/OR OPERATION OF ANY SYSTEM WHERE THE USE OR A FAILURE OF SUCH SYSTEM COULD RESULT IN A SITUATION THAT THREATENS THE SAFETY OF HUMAN LIFE OR SEVERE PHYSICAL HARM OR PROPERTY DAMAGE (INCLUDING, FOR EXAMPLE, USE IN CONNECTION WITH ANY NUCLEAR, AVIONICS, LIFE SUPPORT OR OTHER LIFE CRITICAL APPLICATION). NVIDIA EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR SUCH HIGH RISK USES. NVIDIA SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO CUSTOMER OR ANY THIRD PARTY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, FOR ANY CLAIMS OR DAMAGES ARISING FROM SUCH HIGH RISK USES.

NVIDIA makes no representation or warranty that the product described in this guide will be suitable for any specified use without further testing or modification. Testing of all parameters of each product is not necessarily performed by NVIDIA. It is customer’s sole responsibility to ensure the product is suitable and fit for the application planned by customer and to do the necessary testing for the application in order to avoid a default of the application or the product. Weaknesses in customer’s product designs may affect the quality and reliability of the NVIDIA product and may result in additional or different conditions and/or requirements beyond those contained in this guide. NVIDIA does not accept any liability related to any default, damage, costs or problem which may be based on or attributable to: (i) the use of the NVIDIA product in any manner that is contrary to this guide, or (ii) customer product designs.

Other than the right for customer to use the information in this guide with the product, no other license, either expressed or implied, is hereby granted by NVIDIA under this guide. Reproduction of information in this guide is permissible only if reproduction is approved by NVIDIA in writing, is reproduced without alteration, and is accompanied by all associated conditions, limitations, and notices.

Trademarks

NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, and cuBLAS, CUDA, CUDA-GDB, CUDA-MEMCHECK, cuDNN, cuFFT, cuSPARSE, DIGITS, DGX, DGX-1, DGX Station, NVIDIA DRIVE, NVIDIA DRIVE AGX, NVIDIA DRIVE Software, NVIDIA DRIVE OS, NVIDIA Developer Zone (aka "DevZone"), GRID, Jetson, NVIDIA Jetson Nano, NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier, NVIDIA Jetson TX2, NVIDIA Jetson TX2i, NVIDIA Jetson TX1, NVIDIA Jetson TK1, Kepler, NGX, NVIDIA GPU Cloud, Maxwell, Multimedia API, NCCL, NVIDIA Nsight Compute, NVIDIA Nsight Eclipse Edition, NVIDIA Nsight Graphics, NVIDIA Nsight Systems, NVLink, nvprof, Pascal, NVIDIA SDK Manager, Tegra, TensorRT, Tesla, Visual Profiler, VisionWorks and Volta are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.