Some GPUs include a GPU System Processor (GSP) which can be used to offload GPU initialization and management tasks. This processor is driven by the firmware file /lib/firmware/nvidia/495.44/gsp.bin. A few select products currently use GSP by default, and more products will take advantage of GSP in future driver releases.

Offloading tasks which were traditionally performed by the driver on the CPU can improve performance due to lower latency access to GPU hardware internals.

Query Mode

The nvidia-smi utility can be used to query the current driver mode which will display a valid version if GSP firmware is enabled, or “N/A” if disabled:

    $ nvidia-smi -q
    ...
       GSP Firmware Version                  : 470.01
    ...

This information is also present in the per-GPU information file in the /proc file system.

    $ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/domain:bus:device.function/information
    ...
       GSP Firmware:    470.01