Why Your NVIDIA A100 Shows 25% Utilization and How Persistence Mode Fixes It
After installing drivers on an NVIDIA Tesla A100, the GPU reports a constant 25% utilization despite no workload, which can be resolved by enabling persistence mode using a simple nvidia‑smi command to keep the driver loaded and improve performance stability.
Problem
The NVIDIA Tesla A100 GPU, after driver installation and some usage, continuously shows a 25% GPU utilization when running nvidia-smi, even though no workload is active.
Solution
Apply the following setting: sudo nvidia-smi -pm 1 This command enables NVIDIA GPU persistence mode.
What Is Persistence Mode?
By default, when no program is using the GPU, the NVIDIA driver unloads part of its kernel modules to conserve resources. Persistence mode forces the driver to remain loaded even when the GPU is idle.
The benefit is improved performance stability, avoiding potential performance fluctuations or anomalies caused by frequent driver load/unload cycles.
To verify whether persistence mode is already enabled, run: nvidia-smi -q | grep "Persistence Mode" Inspect the output for the "Persistence Mode" entry.
Signed-in readers can open the original source through BestHub's protected redirect.
This article has been distilled and summarized from source material, then republished for learning and reference. If you believe it infringes your rights, please contactand we will review it promptly.
Tech Stroll Journey
The philosophy behind "Stroll": continuous learning, curiosity‑driven, and practice‑focused.
How this landed with the community
Was this worth your time?
0 Comments
Thoughtful readers leave field notes, pushback, and hard-won operational detail here.