Nvidia gpu serial numbers

Accelerated Computing CUDA CUDA Programming and Performance
1

Does someone knows why nvidia-smi doesn’t return GPU serial number ?

Tried on few different systems. Isn’t serial number stored also(Digitally) on GPU, or is it only stored physically?

Tried .\nvidia-smi -q command on Windows machines.

Or is there some other way how to get it digitally.

Probably this is not right place to ask, but couldn’t find anywhere so Nvidia GPU centric places.

Thanks for answers.

2

when I run nvidia-smi -a I get output like this:

GPU 00000000:84:00.0
    Product Name                    : Tesla K20Xm
    Product Brand                   : Tesla
    Display Mode                    : Disabled
    Display Active                  : Disabled
    Persistence Mode                : Enabled
    Accounting Mode                 : Disabled
    Accounting Mode Buffer Size     : 4000
    Driver Model
        Current                     : N/A
        Pending                     : N/A
    <b>Serial Number                   : 0324812019985</b>
    GPU UUID                        : GPU-49fa3a59-ba1b-eb51-dc8b-9a0254300a38
    Minor Number                    : 3
    VBIOS Version                   : 80.10.17.00.02
    ...

I don’t recall if GeForce boards have serial numbers. Perhaps they don’t. All Tesla cards should.

3

For what it is worth my Quadro GPU also has a serial number reported by nvidia-smi.

I don’t know whether GeForce cards have serial numbers, but the fact that they are made by multiple third manufacturers could mean that serial numbers (if they exist) are an unreliable means of identification unless NVIDIA were to coordinate the serial number space between vendors (which seems unlikely).

[Later:] Looking a bunch of nvidia-smi output reported on the internet, it seems that on GeForce boards, nvidia-smi always reports the serial number as N/A.

Isn’t the UUID supposed to fill the role of globally unique identifier? If the goal here is something like cluster management, I would give that a try.

4

I am not Nvidia developer, but i wanted to know, couldn’t find better place where to ask this, because it’s little bit technical.

How manufacturer then know if it’s their card if they receive it for warranty and box(which contained gpu) is missing and also serial number sticker on it(GPU and box).

So does it mean they cant see it on software or they doesn’t store it on chip set? but where then ? Is it engraved on PCB?

Also how they can be sure against fraud, if someone takes sticker from another GPU(which is working) and stamps it on another GPU(which is not working) but same model, manufacturer, etc and then sends it in for warranty.

Also you mentioned that all Tesla cards should have serial numbers, why is that?

Thanks for answers.

5

Hardware manufacturers usually have proprietary means of distinguishing counterfeits from genuine parts, so other than publicly visible information like a sticker with a serial number there may be other, hidden, markings.

Having a process of assigning serial numbers to their own products and recording these by electronic and mechanical means may be part of that. Just because nvidia-smi cannot report that data does not mean that card manufacturers could not have software of their own to display their vendor-specific data stored by electronic means.