Cuda memory model May 24, 2025 · Fix PyTorch CUDA out of memory errors with proven techniques. A powerful parallel programming model for issuing and managing computations on the GPU without mapping them to a graphics API. We know that accessing the DRAM is slow and expensive. We will explore different methods, including using PyTorch's built-in functions and best practices to CUDA Memory Model # Overview # NVIDIA GPUs incorporate a variety of memory types. CUDA Programming Model To a CUDA programmer, the computing system consists of a host that is a traditional Central Processing Unit (CPU), such an Intel Architecture microprocessor in personal computers today, and one or more devices that are massively parallel processors equipped with a large number of arithmetic execution units. CUDA stands for Compute Unified Device Architecture. Kernels 5. Let us discuss it one by one. But it M3: CUDA Memory Model and Performance ¶ In this third module, we begin diving into the CUDA memory hierarchy and its importance in the performance of CUDA programs. Visualizing CUDA memory hierarchy in terms of access, scope, lifetime and speed. memory_summary() call, but there doesn't seem to be anything informative that would lead to a fix. The memories introduced and discussed in this chapter are by no means, exhaustive. The Benefits of Using GPUs 3. 3. In the CUDA programming model a thread is the lowest level of abstraction for doing a computation or a memory operation. Programming Model 5. Having an understanding of the different kinds of memories allows us to use them accordingly such that code-performance is maximised. Like other GPU memory models, the PTX memory model is weakly ordered but provides scoped synchronization primitives that enable GPU program threads to communicate through memory. Introduction 3. Dec 24, 2024 · The memory required for these values is the same as the model parameters: Optimizer Intermediates Memory = N × P Optimizer Intermediates Memory = N ×P Total Memory Download scientific diagram | CUDA Memory Model (NVIDIA documentation). Pre-recorded Lectures ¶ Note: The pre-recorded videos for M3 will be posted after Wednesday’s lecture. (2 per thread, 256 threads Dec 1, 2019 · This gives a readable summary of memory allocation and allows you to figure the reason of CUDA running out of memory. This can help identify inefficient memory usage patterns or leaks. 4. Aug 23, 2023 · Understanding CUDA Memory Usage # Created On: Aug 23, 2023 | Last Updated On: Sep 02, 2025 To debug CUDA memory use, PyTorch provides a way to generate memory snapshots that record the state of allocated CUDA memory at any point in time, and optionally record the history of allocation events that led up to that snapshot. memory_summary () to track how much memory is being used at different points in your code. However, unlike some competing GPU memory models, PTX does not require data race freedom, and this 1. The constant memory allows read-only access by the device and provides faster and more parallel data access paths for CUDA kernel execution than the global memory. GPU Multi-core chip SIMD execution within a single core (many execution units performing the same instruction) Multi-threaded execution on a single core (multiple threads executed concurrently) The CUDA memory model provides different types of memory spaces, each with unique characteristics and use cases. I see rows for Allocated memory, Active memory, GPU reserved memory, etc. Sep 3, 2024 · The CUDA memory model unifies the host (CPU) and device (GPU) memory systems and exposes the full memory hierarchy, allowing developers to control data placement explicitly for optimal performance. A Scalable Programming Model 4. Modified from diagrams in NVIDIA's CUDA Refresher: The CUDA Programming Model and the NVIDIA CUDA C++ Programming Guide. We have already introduced global memory in Chapter 2. GPU vector addition Three key software abstractions enable efficient programming through the CUDA programming model: a hierarchy of thread groups, memory spaces, and synchronization. See examples of how to use registers, local, shared, global, and constant memory in CUDA programming. To overcome this problem, several low-capacity, high-bandwidth memories, both on-chip and off-chip are present The CUDA C Programming Guide is the official, comprehensive resource that explains how to write programs using the CUDA platform. Real-world project: Optimizing memory for image Apart from the device DRAM, CUDA supports several additional types of memory that can be used to increase the CGMA ratio for a kernel. 1. The pre-recorded lectures are available here: M3 Videos. Discover how to optimize memory access and minimize global memory traffic for improved computational performance. Learn gradient checkpointing, model sharding, and optimization strategies for large models. Each memory type has a di↵erent scope, lifetime, and caching behavior Jun 26, 2020 · The CUDA programming model uses a hierarchical structure for threads and blocks, with built-in 3D variables like threadIdx and blockIdx, and exposes a memory hierarchy that includes registers, shared memory, L1 and L2 caches, and global memory, allowing advanced developers to optimize CUDA programs. Apr 4, 2019 · This paper presents the first formal analysis of the official memory consistency model for the NVIDIA PTX virtual ISA. unlike c++, release-store in CUDA "happens before" a relaxed-load and subsequent ops that it "carries a dependency" into. Jan 4, 2021 · Hello CUDA community, We're happy to share our first online meetup! On January 4th we talked about CUDA memory consistency model. Mar 21, 2025 · This article explores how PyTorch manages memory, and provides a comprehensive guide to optimizing memory usage across the model lifecycle. Debugging and profiling CUDA memory to identify bottlenecks. CUDA®: A General-Purpose Parallel Computing Platform and Programming Model 3. NVIDIA MEMORY MODEL: GENERAL APPROACH Start with the least common denominator of modern CPU weak memory consistency models As weak as possible (better performance, more microarchitectural flexibility), as long as the result is properly programmable What is the CUDA Memory Hierarchy? Shared memory and global memory are two levels of the memory hierarchy in the CUDA programming model (left), mapping onto the L1 data cache and GPU RAM, respectively. Memory Hierarchy 5. Jul 23, 2025 · In this article, we will cover the overview of CUDA programming and mainly focus on the concept of CUDA requirement and we will also discuss the execution model of CUDA. Starting with devices based on the NVIDIA Ampere GPU Architecture, the CUDA programming model provides acceleration to memory operations via the asynchronous programming model. e. Changelog 5. This lesson extends the scope of NVIDIA’s heterogeneous parallelization platform to CUDA memory model, which exposes a unified hierarchical memory abstraction for both host and device memory systems. 2 are registers and shared memories. They differ in their size, latency, throughput, permissions and other characteristics. It provides detailed documentation of the CUDA architecture, programming model, language extensions, and performance guidelines. Speaker: Georgy Evtushenko Abstract: The main source of non Jul 23, 2025 · Use torch. Objective To learn to effectively use the CUDA memory types in a parallel program Importance of memory access efficiency Registers, shared memory, global memory Scope and lifetime A CUDA device has many different memory components, each with a different size, bandwidth, and scope. In modern software applications, there are often program 11 Shared Memory and Threading For an SM with 16KB shared memory Shared memory size is implementation dependent! For TILE_WIDTH = 16, each thread block uses 2*256*4B = 2KB of shared memory. What Is the CUDA C Programming Guide? 3. From GPU memory allocation and caching to mixed precision and gradient checkpointing, we’ll cover strategies to help you avoid out-of-memory (OOM) errors and run models more efficiently. Oct 15, 2024 · CUDA Series: Memory and Allocation Efficient memory management is critical for maximizing performance. I printed out the results of the torch. System allocated memory refers to memory that is ultimately allocated by the operating system; for example, through malloc, mmap, the C++ new operator The CUDA programming model uses pointer annotations to indicate where the different objects are allocated in memory. 5 Jun 19, 2017 · This post introduces CUDA programming with Unified Memory, a single memory address space that is accessible from any GPU or CPU in a system. The generated snapshots can then be drag and dropped onto the . Thread Hierarchy 5. Dec 14, 2023 · In this series, we show how to use memory tooling, including the Memory Snapshot, the Memory Profiler, and the Reference Cycle Detector to debug out of memory errors and improve memory usage. from publication: Architectural evolution of NVIDIA GPUs for High-Performance Computing | In this report we consider the Feb 11, 2025 · Your answer seems to suggest a discrepancy between C++ and CUDA memory model, i. 2. Thread Block Clusters 5. CUDA is a programming language that uses the Graphical Kernel’s execution requirements: Each thread block must execute 128 CUDA threads Each thread block must allocate 130 x sizeof( oat) = 520 bytes of shared memory Feb 28, 2024 · Learn how to optimize GPU programming using the CUDA memory model, from local memory to shared memory and constant memory, for efficient parallelization and performance. Jul 23, 2025 · Managing GPU memory effectively is crucial when training deep learning models using PyTorch, especially when working with limited resources or large models. For 16KB shared memory, one can potentially have up to 8 thread blocks executing This allows up to 8*512 = 4,096 pending loads. Blocks as Clusters 5. This article will guide you through various techniques to clear GPU memory after PyTorch model training without restarting the kernel. Whether you’re just getting started or optimizing complex GPU kernels, this guide is an essential reference for effectively leveraging Nov 25, 2011 · An analysis of the different types of memory that are available on the GPU and usable to the CUDA programmer. Learn about the basic CUDA memory routines, the CUDA memory model, and the CUDA memory rules and lifetimes. Finally, we will see the application. Since CUDA programs can read and write to specific memory components, we need to know how GPU memory is organized on these components. When allocating global memory, C-style malloc functions can be used to create device-pointers. Heterogeneous Programming 5. While L1 and L2 cache remain non-programmable, the CUDA memory model exposes many additional types of programmable memory: Registers, shared memory, local memory, constant memory, texture memory and global memory. Memory Hierarchy Overview CUDA implements a hierarchical memory model, with different memory spaces varying in size, scope, access speed, and visibility to threads. cuda. Overview 2. The CUDA Memory Model While L1 and L2 cache remain non-programmable, the CUDA memory model exposes many additional types of programmable memory: Registers, shared memory, local memory, constant memory, texture memory and global memory. Above the thread execution boxes in Figure 4. Nov 18, 2024 · The nitty-gritty of CUDA memory types: global, shared, local, constant, and more. Nov 6, 2024 · Explore practical solutions to overcome CUDA memory errors in PyTorch while training deep learning models. Understanding these memory types is crucial for developing efficient CUDA applications and optimizing performance. To account for non-uniform thread synchronization costs that are not always low, CUDA C++ extends the standard C++ memory model and concurrency facilities in the cuda:: namespace with thread scopes, retaining the syntax and semantics of standard C++ by default. CUDA provides various mechanisms for allocating memory on both the host (CPU) and the device … Learn about the memory hierarchy in CUDA and the performance characteristics of different memory spaces, including global, shared, and local memory. Heterogenous - mixed serial-parallel programming Aug 22, 2023 · Heterogeneous Memory Management (HMM) is a CUDA memory management feature that extends the simplicity and productivity of the CUDA Unified Memory programming model to include system allocated memory on systems with PCIe-connected NVIDIA GPUs. It is an extension of C/C++ programming. eoq pk jzj by26o cd5t tjduwttf z9o k3u jidf8p sh1qp