NVIDIA Tesla P40 GPU Accelerator (Pascal GP102) Up Close

As NVIDIA’s GPUs become increasingly vital to the fields of AI and intelligent machines, NVIDIA has produced GPU models specifically targeted to these applications. The new Tesla P40 GPU is NVIDIA’s premiere product for deep learning deployments. It is specifically designed for high-speed inference workloads, which means running data through pre-trained neural networks. However, it also offers significant processing performance for projects which do not require 64-bit double-precision floating point capability (many neural networks can be trained using the 32-bit single-precision floating point on the Tesla P40). For those cases, these GPUs can be used to accelerate both the neural network training and the inference.

Highlights of the new Tesla P40 GPU include:

  • Up to 12 TFLOPS single-precision floating-point performance
  • Support for INT8 operations with up to 47 TOPS (ideal for high-speed/high-volume inference)
  • 24GB of GDDR5 GPU memory, with bandwidths up to 346GB/s

PCI-Express Data Transfer Speeds

The Tesla P40 GPUs use the same generation 3.0 PCI-E connectivity as other recent GPUs (such as the Maxwell generation), so you should expect to achieve similar transfer speeds. As shown below, we’re able to achieve transfers up to ~12.8GB/s between the host and the GPU:

[root@node4 ~]# ./bandwidthTest --memory=pinned --device=0
[CUDA Bandwidth Test] - Starting...
Running on...

 Device 0: Tesla P40
 Quick Mode

 Host to Device Bandwidth, 1 Device(s)
 PINNED Memory Transfers
   Transfer Size (Bytes)	Bandwidth(MB/s)
   33554432			11842.8

 Device to Host Bandwidth, 1 Device(s)
 PINNED Memory Transfers
   Transfer Size (Bytes)	Bandwidth(MB/s)
   33554432			12899.9

 Device to Device Bandwidth, 1 Device(s)
 PINNED Memory Transfers
   Transfer Size (Bytes)	Bandwidth(MB/s)
   33554432			240357.5

Result = PASS

Technical Details of the Tesla P40 GPU

Below are the technical details reported by nvidia-smi. Note that “Pascal” Tesla GPUs now include fully integrated memory ECC support that is always enabled (memory performance in previous generations could be improved by disabling ECC).

[root@node4 ~]# nvidia-smi -a -i 0

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp                           : Mon Feb  6 12:30:52 2017
Driver Version                      : 367.57

Attached GPUs                       : 4
GPU 0000:02:00.0
    Product Name                    : Tesla P40
    Product Brand                   : Tesla
    Display Mode                    : Disabled
    Display Active                  : Disabled
    Persistence Mode                : Enabled
    Accounting Mode                 : Enabled
    Accounting Mode Buffer Size     : 1920
    Driver Model
        Current                     : N/A
        Pending                     : N/A
    Serial Number                   : 0324416xxxxxx
    GPU UUID                        : GPU-16254654-0bd3-8d18-e8fe-d53865xxxxxx
    Minor Number                    : 0
    VBIOS Version                   : 86.02.23.00.01
    MultiGPU Board                  : No
    Board ID                        : 0x200
    GPU Part Number                 : 900-2G610-0000-000
    Inforom Version
        Image Version               : G610.0200.00.03
        OEM Object                  : 1.1
        ECC Object                  : 4.1
        Power Management Object     : N/A
    GPU Operation Mode
        Current                     : N/A
        Pending                     : N/A
    GPU Virtualization Mode
        Virtualization mode         : None
    PCI
        Bus                         : 0x02
        Device                      : 0x00
        Domain                      : 0x0000
        Device Id                   : 0x1B3810DE
        Bus Id                      : 0000:02:00.0
        Sub System Id               : 0x11D910DE
        GPU Link Info
            PCIe Generation
                Max                 : 3
                Current             : 1
            Link Width
                Max                 : 16x
                Current             : 16x
        Bridge Chip
            Type                    : N/A
            Firmware                : N/A
        Replays since reset         : 0
        Tx Throughput               : 0 KB/s
        Rx Throughput               : 0 KB/s
    Fan Speed                       : N/A
    Performance State               : P8
    Clocks Throttle Reasons
        Idle                        : Active
        Applications Clocks Setting : Not Active
        SW Power Cap                : Not Active
        HW Slowdown                 : Not Active
        Sync Boost                  : Not Active
        Unknown                     : Not Active
    FB Memory Usage
        Total                       : 22912 MiB
        Used                        : 0 MiB
        Free                        : 22912 MiB
    BAR1 Memory Usage
        Total                       : 32768 MiB
        Used                        : 2 MiB
        Free                        : 32766 MiB
    Compute Mode                    : Default
    Utilization
        Gpu                         : 0 %
        Memory                      : 0 %
        Encoder                     : 0 %
        Decoder                     : 0 %
    Ecc Mode
        Current                     : Enabled
        Pending                     : Enabled
    ECC Errors
        Volatile
            Single Bit            
                Device Memory       : 0
                Register File       : N/A
                L1 Cache            : N/A
                L2 Cache            : N/A
                Texture Memory      : N/A
                Texture Shared      : N/A
                Total               : 0
            Double Bit            
                Device Memory       : 0
                Register File       : N/A
                L1 Cache            : N/A
                L2 Cache            : N/A
                Texture Memory      : N/A
                Texture Shared      : N/A
                Total               : 0
        Aggregate
            Single Bit            
                Device Memory       : 0
                Register File       : N/A
                L1 Cache            : N/A
                L2 Cache            : N/A
                Texture Memory      : N/A
                Texture Shared      : N/A
                Total               : 0
            Double Bit            
                Device Memory       : 0
                Register File       : N/A
                L1 Cache            : N/A
                L2 Cache            : N/A
                Texture Memory      : N/A
                Texture Shared      : N/A
                Total               : 0
    Retired Pages
        Single Bit ECC              : 0
        Double Bit ECC              : 0
        Pending                     : No
    Temperature
        GPU Current Temp            : 27 C
        GPU Shutdown Temp           : 95 C
        GPU Slowdown Temp           : 92 C
    Power Readings
        Power Management            : Supported
        Power Draw                  : 12.34 W
        Power Limit                 : 250.00 W
        Default Power Limit         : 250.00 W
        Enforced Power Limit        : 250.00 W
        Min Power Limit             : 125.00 W
        Max Power Limit             : 250.00 W
    Clocks
        Graphics                    : 544 MHz
        SM                          : 544 MHz
        Memory                      : 405 MHz
        Video                       : 544 MHz
    Applications Clocks
        Graphics                    : 1531 MHz
        Memory                      : 3615 MHz
    Default Applications Clocks
        Graphics                    : 1303 MHz
        Memory                      : 3615 MHz
    Max Clocks
        Graphics                    : 1531 MHz
        SM                          : 1531 MHz
        Memory                      : 3615 MHz
        Video                       : 1379 MHz
    Clock Policy
        Auto Boost                  : N/A
        Auto Boost Default          : N/A
    Processes                       : None

The latest NVIDIA GPU architectures support large numbers of clock speeds, as well as automated boosting of the clock speed (when power and thermals allow). Administrators can also set specific power consumption limits and monitor the clock speeds (including explanations for any reasons the clocks are running at a lower speed). The list below shows the available clock speeds for the Tesla P40 GPU:

[root@node4 ~]# nvidia-smi -q -d SUPPORTED_CLOCKS -i 0

==============NVSMI LOG==============

Timestamp                           : Mon Feb  6 12:31:56 2017
Driver Version                      : 367.57

Attached GPUs                       : 4
GPU 0000:02:00.0
    Supported Clocks
        Memory                      : 3615 MHz
            Graphics                : 1531 MHz
            Graphics                : 1518 MHz
            Graphics                : 1506 MHz
            Graphics                : 1493 MHz
            Graphics                : 1480 MHz
            Graphics                : 1468 MHz
            Graphics                : 1455 MHz
            Graphics                : 1442 MHz
            Graphics                : 1430 MHz
            Graphics                : 1417 MHz
            Graphics                : 1404 MHz
            Graphics                : 1392 MHz
            Graphics                : 1379 MHz
            Graphics                : 1366 MHz
            Graphics                : 1354 MHz
            Graphics                : 1341 MHz
            Graphics                : 1328 MHz
            Graphics                : 1316 MHz
            Graphics                : 1303 MHz
            Graphics                : 1290 MHz
            Graphics                : 1278 MHz
            Graphics                : 1265 MHz
            Graphics                : 1252 MHz
            Graphics                : 1240 MHz
            Graphics                : 1227 MHz
            Graphics                : 1215 MHz
            Graphics                : 1202 MHz
            Graphics                : 1189 MHz
            Graphics                : 1177 MHz
            Graphics                : 1164 MHz
            Graphics                : 1151 MHz
            Graphics                : 1139 MHz
            Graphics                : 1126 MHz
            Graphics                : 1113 MHz
            Graphics                : 1101 MHz
            Graphics                : 1088 MHz
            Graphics                : 1075 MHz
            Graphics                : 1063 MHz
            Graphics                : 1050 MHz
            Graphics                : 1037 MHz
            Graphics                : 1025 MHz
            Graphics                : 1012 MHz

NVIDIA deviceQuery on Tesla P40 GPU

Each new GPU generation brings tweaks to the design. The output below, from the CUDA 8.0 SDK samples, shows additional details of the architecture and capabilities of the “Pascal” Tesla P40 GPU accelerators. Take note of the new Compute Capability 6.1, which is what you’ll want to target if you’re compiling your own CUDA code.

./deviceQuery Starting...

 CUDA Device Query (Runtime API) version (CUDART static linking)

Detected 4 CUDA Capable device(s)

Device 0: "Tesla P40"
  CUDA Driver Version / Runtime Version          8.0 / 8.0
  CUDA Capability Major/Minor version number:    6.1
  Total amount of global memory:                 22913 MBytes (24025956352 bytes)
  (30) Multiprocessors, (128) CUDA Cores/MP:     3840 CUDA Cores
  GPU Max Clock rate:                            1531 MHz (1.53 GHz)
  Memory Clock rate:                             3615 Mhz
  Memory Bus Width:                              384-bit
  L2 Cache Size:                                 3145728 bytes
  Maximum Texture Dimension Size (x,y,z)         1D=(131072), 2D=(131072, 65536), 3D=(16384, 16384, 16384)
  Maximum Layered 1D Texture Size, (num) layers  1D=(32768), 2048 layers
  Maximum Layered 2D Texture Size, (num) layers  2D=(32768, 32768), 2048 layers
  Total amount of constant memory:               65536 bytes
  Total amount of shared memory per block:       49152 bytes
  Total number of registers available per block: 65536
  Warp size:                                     32
  Maximum number of threads per multiprocessor:  2048
  Maximum number of threads per block:           1024
  Max dimension size of a thread block (x,y,z): (1024, 1024, 64)
  Max dimension size of a grid size    (x,y,z): (2147483647, 65535, 65535)
  Maximum memory pitch:                          2147483647 bytes
  Texture alignment:                             512 bytes
  Concurrent copy and kernel execution:          Yes with 2 copy engine(s)
  Run time limit on kernels:                     No
  Integrated GPU sharing Host Memory:            No
  Support host page-locked memory mapping:       Yes
  Alignment requirement for Surfaces:            Yes
  Device has ECC support:                        Enabled
  Device supports Unified Addressing (UVA):      Yes
  Device PCI Domain ID / Bus ID / location ID:   0 / 2 / 0
  Compute Mode:
     < Default (multiple host threads can use ::cudaSetDevice() with device simultaneously) >

deviceQuery, CUDA Driver = CUDART, CUDA Driver Version = 8.0, CUDA Runtime Version = 8.0, NumDevs = 4, Device0 = Tesla P40, Device1 = Tesla P40, Device2 = Tesla P40, Device3 = Tesla P40
Result = PASS

Additional Information on Tesla P40 GPUs

To learn more about the NVIDIA “Pascal” GPU architecture and to compare Tesla P40 with other models in the Tesla product line, read our “Pascal” Tesla GPU knowledge center article.

If you’re thinking about using GPUs for the first time, please consider getting in touch with us. We’ve been implementing GPU-accelerated systems for nearly a decade and have the expertise to help make your project a success!

If you’re an existing GPU user considering a new deployment, review or Tesla GPU clusters page and our list of GPU servers.

Eliot Eshelman

About Eliot Eshelman

My interests span from astrophysics to bacteriophages; high-performance computers to small spherical magnets. I've been an avid Linux geek (with a focus on HPC) for more than a decade. I work as Microway's Vice President of Strategic Accounts and HPC Initiatives.
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