For Nvidia GPUs there is a tool nvidia-smi that can show memory usage, GPU utilization and temperature of GPU. There also is a list of compute processes and few more options but my graphic card (GeForce 9600 GT) is not fully supported.

Sun May 13 20:02:49 2012       
+------------------------------------------------------+                       
| NVIDIA-SMI 3.295.40   Driver Version: 295.40         |                       
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| Nb.  Name                     | Bus Id        Disp.  | Volatile ECC SB / DB |
| Fan   Temp   Power Usage /Cap | Memory Usage         | GPU Util. Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0.  GeForce 9600 GT           | 0000:01:00.0  N/A    |       N/A        N/A |
|   0%   51 C  N/A   N/A /  N/A |  90%  459MB /  511MB |  N/A      Default    |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------|
| Compute processes:                                               GPU Memory |
|  GPU  PID     Process name                                       Usage      |
|=============================================================================|
|  0.           Not Supported                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Answer from pbm on Stack Exchange
Discussions

A top-like utility for monitoring CUDA activity on a GPU - Stack Overflow
On linux, nVidia-smi 295.41 gives you just what you want. use nvidia-smi: [root@localhost release]# nvidia-smi Wed Sep 26 23:16:16 2012 +------------------------------------------------------+ | NVIDIA-SMI 3.295.41 Driver Version: 295.41 | |-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | Nb. Name | Bus Id Disp. | Volatile ECC SB / DB | | Fan Temp Power Usage /Cap | Memory Usage | GPU ... More on stackoverflow.com
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Monitoring GPU core usage by CUDA on Linux
Hello guys. I have a proplem when monitoring GPU core usage on CentOS 6.2 I searched for hours, and I knew that NVAPI and CUDA-Z would not be my solution. (NVAPI just for windows and CUDA-Z seems no info I want) Is it possible to monitoring GPU core usage by CUDA, such as API or something else? More on forums.developer.nvidia.com
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0
0
December 13, 2012
GPU utilization
Hi, I have DGX-1 systems with multiple Tesla GPU installed(Linux), the tool “nvidia-smi” only seems to give very basic view of GPU utilization, other tools such as profilers would only give detail about how a particular program uses GPU, is there a general tool that would give GPU usage like ... More on forums.developer.nvidia.com
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8
0
August 14, 2019
checking GPU usage
Hi All, This isn’t strictly a CUDA topic but I hope you’ll pardon me. This question has sat unanswered for several days in the general application forum. I hope that with all the linux gurus hanging out here I can get an anwer. Is there any way to check the GPU load on nVidia GPU’s on ... More on forums.developer.nvidia.com
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3
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March 31, 2008
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/linux › one small aspect where linux is really lacking is gpu resource monitoring
r/linux on Reddit: One small aspect where Linux is really lacking is GPU resource monitoring
June 8, 2022 -

Resource monitoring in general is not really a big deal for us in Tux-land. From great CLI tools, like all of the *tops (top, htop, bpytop, gotop, etc.) to great GUI tools (with KDE's newer resource monitor particularly REALLY great when it comes to presenting resource usage in a clean way to the user). But those really miss one essential aspect of resource monitoring, specially for desktop users. GPU usage.

Want to check how hard your $1000 graphics card is being stressed by that shiny new AAA game on Windows or in some sick benchmark or workflow? Just open Task Manager and check it, easy as that. Wanna do it on Linux? Well... get ready for a ride. Figure out what CLI tool works best for your GPU brand and go get'em at the terminal, champ! What, you want GUI tools? All you get is some small text in NVIDIA Settings for those that use NVIDIA.

It can get worse depending on what specific aspect of the GPU is being used. Want to check if your computer is properly using hardware encoding/decoding? Well, you're in luck (with CLI tools), nvidia-smi dmon and intel_gpu_top are really good. Unless you use AMD that is, since radeontop still doesn't have a way to expose GPU encoding/decoding.

I'm quite aware that developers are scarce and that this is definitely not a priority (and do I wish I knew enough code-fu to be able to do it myself), but it's kind of baffling that an integration with our DE's system resource monitoring tools doesn't exist for that particular aspect of the system. It's one of those many small papercuts you only realize hurts when you really need it.

EDIT: Yeah, I used a bad example for my point. Mangoud (specially with GOverlay) works great for monitoring your system during gaming or benchmarks. I meant more in the regular desktop usage sense of monitoring then in the gaming sense. Video editing or 3D modeling would be a better example of workflows where Mangohud wouldn't be the obvious answer for monitoring the resource usage.

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GPU Mart
gpu-mart.com › blog › top-3-linux-gpu-monitoring-command-line-tools
Top 3 Linux GPU Monitoring Command Line Tools
Explore top GPU monitoring software for Linux and Ubuntu. Discover how to use tools like GPUStat, NVTOP, and NVITOP for CPU and GPU monitoring.
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Linux Mint Forums
forums.linuxmint.com › board index › main edition support › beginner questions
(solved)Monitor GPU details - Linux Mint Forums
May 28, 2024 - diabolicbg wrote: Tue May 28, 2024 4:21 pm Psensor from Software Manager. 2024-05-28_23-20.png it can also tell my gpu memory like 1gb ,2gb and so on instead of percentage %? I got the solution with the help of this command you can easily foung gpu memory : lspci -v -s 00:02.0
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University of North Carolina
help.rc.unc.edu › gpumonitor
Research Computing GPU Resources
The atop command is a powerful UNIX command-line utility for monitoring system resources and performance. It provides real-time information about various aspects of the system, including the CPU, GPU, memory, disk, and network usage. A nice feature of atop is that it logs system activity in ...
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It's FOSS
itsfoss.com › gpu-usage-linux
Monitor GPU Usage on Ubuntu and Other Linux Systems
September 13, 2024 - When you have a GPU on board, integrated or dedicated, there are some programs that help you get the necessary stats to check its temperature, free memory, and more. You can use them on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions as well. Unfortunately, default system monitoring tools and command-line utilities like htop or top do not display GPU usage data.
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DigitalOcean
digitalocean.com › community › tutorials › monitoring-gpu-utilization-in-real-time
Monitor GPU Utilization in Real Time: A Complete Guide | DigitalOcean
April 6, 2026 - The fastest way to monitor GPU utilization in real time on Linux is to run nvidia-smi --loop=1, which refreshes GPU stats every second including core utilization, VRAM usage, temperature, and power draw.
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HCC-DOCS
hcc.unl.edu › docs › submitting_jobs › monitoring_GPU_usage
GPU Monitoring and Optimizing - HCC-DOCS
Every 1.0s: nvidia-smi ... |-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC | | Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M....
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Codidact
linux.codidact.com › posts › 291595
Basic GPU usage monitoring - Linux Systems
If you are using KDE/Plasma, there should be a widget for the taskbar that shows GPU usage. Go to the same screen where you normally add widgets and look for a "system monitor" widget.
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NVIDIA Developer Forums
forums.developer.nvidia.com › accelerated computing › cuda › cuda programming and performance
Monitoring GPU core usage by CUDA on Linux - CUDA Programming and Performance - NVIDIA Developer Forums
December 13, 2012 - Hello guys. I have a proplem when monitoring GPU core usage on CentOS 6.2 I searched for hours, and I knew that NVAPI and CUDA-Z would not be my solution. (NVAPI just for windows and CUDA-Z seems no info I want) Is i…
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NVIDIA Developer Forums
forums.developer.nvidia.com › accelerated computing › dgx systems (data center)
GPU utilization - DGX Systems (Data Center) - NVIDIA Developer Forums
August 14, 2019 - Hi, I have DGX-1 systems with multiple Tesla GPU installed(Linux), the tool “nvidia-smi” only seems to give very basic view of GPU utilization, other tools such as profilers would only give detail about how a particular…
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NVIDIA Developer Forums
forums.developer.nvidia.com › accelerated computing › cuda › cuda programming and performance
checking GPU usage - CUDA Programming and Performance - NVIDIA Developer Forums
March 31, 2008 - Hi All, This isn’t strictly a CUDA topic but I hope you’ll pardon me. This question has sat unanswered for several days in the general application forum. I hope that with all the linux gurus hanging out here I can get an anwer. Is there any way to check the GPU load on nVidia GPU’s on ...
🌐
NVIDIA Developer Forums
forums.developer.nvidia.com › gaming and visualization technologies › general topics & other sdks › drivers - linux, windows, macos
How to evaluate GPU utilization(usage) on Windows? - Drivers - Linux, Windows, MacOS - NVIDIA Developer Forums
March 9, 2023 - I found that the GPU usage in Windows task manager not that accurate(may be too low): when I run some 3D games on my computer, the total usage of GPU in task manager showed about 1%-10%, that seems not the right one. while the “3D” engine usage is about 1%-10%, but the Graphics_1 engine ...
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LinuxBlog
linuxblog.io › home › best linux gpu monitor
Best Linux GPU Monitor | LinuxBlog.io
February 2, 2025 - GPUStat is for users who want a lightweight, simple way to keep an eye on their NVIDIA GPUs. The ncurses based interface gives you a quick snapshot of GPU usage, so it’s perfect for quick checks and troubleshooting without eating system resources.
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nixCraft
cyberciti.biz › nixcraft › open source › command line hacks › top 7 linux gpu monitoring and diagnostic commands line tools
Linux GPU Monitoring and Diagnostic Commands Line Tools - nixCraft
February 3, 2025 - Here are the top 7 Linux and BSD GPU monitoring, diagnostic, benchmarking command line tools to get the most out of your GPU.
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NVIDIA Developer Forums
forums.developer.nvidia.com › graphics / linux › linux
Bug ID 4341092: ~40% permanent GPU usage, but all GPU processes are idle (Ubuntu 23.10) - Linux - NVIDIA Developer Forums
October 19, 2023 - nvtop showing ~40% permanent usage, with all gpu processes idle (since Ubuntu 23.10 - see screenshot) I have tried killing off gpu processes but it nothing seems to have an effect. Running latest Gnome 45 desktop. Dual…
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Baeldung
baeldung.com › home › administration › displaying full gpu details with nvidia-smi
Displaying Full GPU Details With nvidia-smi | Baeldung on Linux
March 25, 2025 - GPU-Util – shows the percentage of GPU computational capacity in current usage · Compute M. – displays the current compute mode of the GPU · Notably, when we place nvidia-smi beside tools like GPU-Z, interesting contrasts emerge. nvidia-smi excels with its comprehensive command-line outputs, making it a favorite for scripting and automation in professional and server environments. However, on many Linux servers, we might have stumbled upon a perplexing issue when nvidia-smi doesn’t always display the full name of the GPU.
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TechPowerUp
techpowerup.com › gpuz
GPU-Z Graphics Card GPU Information Utility
May 20, 2026 - GPU-Z is free to use for personal and commercial usage. However, you may not redistribute GPU-Z as part of a commercial package. We also offer a GPU-Z SDK, which is provided as simple-to-use DLL with full feature set that can be used from C/C++/.NET and others.