nvtop(1)

📦
version 3.3.2 · 9 versions
, in arch rolling, epel 10, epel 9, fedora 43, fedora 44

👑 nvtop — the manual, but make it cute

okay bestie, welcome to nvtop, aka the nvtop command from the nvtop manual. yes she's a real section 1 page and yes she ATE. let's get into it 💅

✨ NAME ✨

nvtop — interactive GPU process viewer 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

nvtop [-hvCfpPris] [-d delay] [-c config-file] [-E seconds]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

nvtop is a ncurses-based GPU status viewer for AMD, Intel and NVIDIA GPUs. she's giving top, but for your graphics cards. iconic behavior honestly 🔥

🎀 COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS 🎀

  • -d, --delay=delay — the delay between updates, measured in tenths of seconds, so it's literally delay * 0.1s. math girlie moment ⭐
  • -h, --help — print the help and dip out. exit stage left 🫶
  • -C, --no-color — monochrome mode. sad beige interface, no cap 🥲
  • -f, --freedom-unit — use fahrenheit as the temperature scale. freedom units fr fr 🦅
  • -E, --encode-hide=seconds — changes the setting for the encode/decode auto-hide timer. it's always visible if negative. default is 30 seconds. 💜
  • -r, --reverse-abs — reverse abscissa: flips the plot data order from "old --- recent" (which is the default) to "recent --- old". time travel but make it a chart 🕰️
  • -p, --no-plot — show only one bar plot, the one corresponding to the maximum of all GPUs. minimalism ✨
  • -v, --version — print the version and exit. her little resume moment 📄

🌈 INTERACTIVE SETUP WINDOW 🌈

you can enter the setup utility by pressing F2 to view and modify the following interface options:

General

this section deals with general interface options. color support and the interface update interval can be modified here. the basics, the essentials 💅

Devices

this section deals with the devices display — that's the top of the interface. you can switch the temperature scale to fahrenheit and set the encoder/decoder hiding timer. 🌡️

Chart

this section deals with the line plots — that's the middle of the interface. you can reverse the plot direction and select which metric is being shown in the plots. 📈

Processes

this section deals with the process list — that's the bottom of the interface. you can select the sort order, select the metric by which to sort the processes by, and select which metric is displayed. sort queen energy 👑

⭐ INTERACTIVE COMMANDS ⭐

the following commands are available while you're in nvtop:

  • Up — select (highlight) the previous process. ⬆️
  • Down — select (highlight) the next process. ⬇️
  • Left / Right — scroll in the process row. ⬅️➡️
  • + — sort increasingly. 📊
  • - — sort decreasingly. 📉
  • F2 — enter the setup utility to modify the interface options. 🛠️
  • F12 — save the current interface options to persistent storage. see the CONFIGURATION FILE section. 💾
  • F9 — "Kill" process: select a signal to send to the highlighted process. 💀
  • F6 — Sort: select the field for sorting. the current sort field is highlighted inside the header bar. 🎯
  • F10, q, Esc — Quit. bye bestie 👋

🧚 DYNAMIC METERS 🧚

when the video encoder (ENC) and decoder (DEC) of the GPU are in use, new percentage meters will appear next to the GPU utilization bar. they will disappear automatically after some time of inactivity — see option -E. they're just popping in to say hi and then leaving, very demure 🌸

💜 CONFIGURATION FILE 💜

the configuration file follows the XDG Base Directory Specification and is stored at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nvtop/interface.ini. the location defaults to $HOME/.config/nvtop/interface.ini if the XDG location is not defined. 🗂️

⚠️ Do not edit this file. the file is automatically created or updated upon toggling the interface saving key F12. hands off, bestie 🙈

the configuration is loaded during program initialization. if no configuration file is present, default options are used. no config? no problem, defaults got you 🫶

🍓 MEMORY SIZES 🍓

memory sizes in nvtop are displayed as multiples of 1024 bytes or 1 KiB. base 1024 supremacy, that's just how we do it here ✨

💀 BUGS 💀

Some fields are shown as N/A

ask AMD or NVIDIA for better support of your hardware! 😭

if your card uses the AMDGPU driver, a more recent kernel might have improved support. lowkey worth checking 🧐

Compatibility issues

does not work with nouveau driver stack and older NVIDIA GPU for the time being. ngl that's rough 💔

does not work for AMD graphics card using the old radeon driver. periodt.

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

written by Maxime Schmitt. legend behavior, we love to see it 👑

Version 3.3.2 · February 2026 — that's the tea, bestie. mwah, go check your GPUs 💋🦋✨

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