Getting Started with the NVIDIA Nsight Integration#
Overview#
NVIDIA Nsight Integration is a Visual Studio extension that allows you to access the power of NVIDIA Nsight standalone tools from within Microsoft Visual Studio.
Participating NVIDIA Nsight Tool |
Purpose |
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CUDA application interactive kernel profiler |
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Graphics application frame debugger and profiler |
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System-wide performance analysis tool |
When any of these tools are installed along with NVIDIA Nsight Integration, commands to access these tools will appear under the NVIDIA Nsight menu in the Visual Studio menu bar.
Prior to NVIDIA Nsight Integration version 2020.1, the Nsight menu was reserved for NVIDIA Nsight Visual Studio Edition’s integrated build and Next-Gen CPU/GPU debugging along with functionality now provided by the standalone Nsight tools mentioned above. While the functionality of the standalone tools is being moved out of NVIDIA Nsight Visual Studio Edition, the CUDA Debugger and code correctness tools will remain.
The NVIDIA Nsight Integration Overview contains the latest information of the participating tools and links to related information and downloads.
If you are a current or preview user of NVIDIA Nsight Visual Studio Edition, you may be interested in learning more about the Migration of Functionality from Nsight VSE to Standalone Tools.
Access the Standalone Tools Under the Nsight Menu#
Assuming you install the standalone tools and enable the Visual Studio Integration option, the tools are seen at the top of your Nsight menu, above the NVIDIA Nsight Visual Studio Edition extension (if NVIDIA Nsight VSE is installed).
NVIDIA Nsight Compute |
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NVIDIA Nsight Graphics |
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NVIDIA Nsight Systems |
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Standalone Tools with NVIDIA Nsight Visual Studio Edition |
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Visual Studio 2019 (and later) Extensions Menu#
In Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 and later, Microsoft moved extensions, like the standalone NVIDIA Nsight tools and NVIDIA Nsight Visual Studio Edition (Nsight) under the Extensions menu, as shown here. |
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In Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 Update 4 and later, you can choose to move the Nsight menu to the Visual Studio main menu by using Visual Studio main menu > Tools > Customize, then unchecking the following items to the right (assuming both are installed):
After restarting Visual Studio, Nsight will no longer be included under the Extension menu. Instead, the Nsight menu will appear on the Visual Studio main menu. NOTE: This must be done for each extension after integration of the extension. By default, the installer places the extension under the Extensions menu. NOTE: If this doesn’t work as expected, see Nsight menu is missing or not in the expected location in Visual Studio 2019, in the Troubleshooting section. |
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Launch Standalone Tools Under the Nsight Menu#
When a tool is activated, it will create an instance of the standalone tool. If you launch a tool when an instance of the tool is already running, the existing instance will be brought to the foreground and become the active window.
When the tool loads, it is pre-configured with an NVIDIA Nsight project that has the executable path to the startup project within your Microsoft Visual Studio project, as well as the debugger arguments, working directory, and environment that you have configured. This is one way in which NVIDIA Nsight Integration saves you time; it prevents you from having to update your settings in two locations. This NVIDIA Nsight project may be saved in case you wish to adjust any of the activity settings that the NVIDIA Nsight tool in use provides.
Note
In most cases, the launched activity uses the Visual Studio project’s Debugging > Command for the tool’s Application Executable, so you can direct the tool’s activity to use any application launcher. If NVIDIA Nsight Integration is unable to acquire a non-zero length Command argument from the Visual Studio project, it launches the activity with the project output path.
Visual Studio Project Properties |
NVIDIA Nsight Auto-Populated Project Properties |
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If you launch a tool from Microsoft Visual Studio, and the tool already has an active session, you are offered an opportunity to terminate the active session so you can start a new one, as shown in the following message box:
Migrate Functionality from NVIDIA Nsight VSE to Standalone Tools#
Background
NVIDIA Nsight Visual Studio Edition was developed to provide a single Visual Studio extension for integrated GPU compute debugging, profiling, and trace analysis, as well as graphics frame debugging. Demand for these tools on other operating systems and platforms, in addition to the need for tools that were not tied to Visual Studio on Windows led to the creation of standalone versions of these GPU tools. These next generation standalone tools support the latest NVIDIA GPUs and are known as:
Nsight Compute – Standalone CUDA Compute Profiler
Nsight Graphics – Standalone Graphics Frame Debugger and Profiler
Nsight Systems – Standalone System (CPU/GPU/Memory) Trace and Analysis tool
Previous | Next#
Previous Topics |
Next Topics |
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Manage the Standalone Tools Under the Nsight Menu |
Notices
Notice
NVIDIA® Nsight™ Application Development Environment for Heterogeneous Platforms, Visual Studio Code Edition 2023.1.0 User Guide
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