About GPU

Zivid SDK requires a GPU on the host machine to run optimally. Both integrated and dedicated GPUs can work well with Zivid, where the difference in performance lies in the capture time you get.

• See GPU Requirements for driver requirements per OS and GPU vendor.

• See Performance Considerations for dedicated vs. integrated GPU recommendations.

• See Selecting Compute Device if you need to target a specific GPU or run on an unsupported compute device.

GPU Requirements

Windows

For optimal performance, the dedicated or integrated GPU should have at least 3 GB of RAM available. Additionally, either a CUDA (12 or later) or an OpenCL driver (1.2 or later) for the GPU is necessary to use Zivid. An OpenGL driver (3.0 or later) for the GPU is also necessary to use Zivid Studio or visualizers in the SDK; this is usually installed with the GPU driver, but older drivers can use a version below 3.0. Follow the instructions below for your specific GPU.

Intel

The OpenCL driver is usually installed together with the graphics driver, and should already be installed on Windows. Use the dropdown below if you want to check which GPU driver you have. If not, download and install the latest graphics driver from Intel.

Check GPU driver

Use Intel Driver & Support assistant to automatically detect your driver version or follow the instructions below to find it manually.

1. Start → Control Panel

2. Select Device Manager from the list (switch View by to Small Icons if needed)

3. Expand the Display Adapter section and right-click Properties on your Intel® Display Adapter

4. Navigate to the Driver tab and note the Driver Version presented

   

After installing the graphics drivers, open Zivid Studio and verify that you do not get OpenCL errors.

NVIDIA

Note

NVIDIA GPUs must have a compute capability higher than a minimum required value of 3.3. If this requirement is not fulfilled, the SDK will throw an exception:

The compute capability X.Y of the NVIDIA compute device is lower than the minimum required compute capability 3.3 (or The minimum required SM version is 3.3. Device has version X.Y).

An overview of NVIDIA GPUs and their corresponding compute capability can be found in https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus.

CUDA

The CUDA backend requires an NVIDIA driver that supports CUDA 12 or newer.

OpenCL

The OpenCL driver is usually installed together with the graphics driver.

Warning

The OpenCL version of the SDK treats NVIDIA GPUs as an unsupported compute device. After installing the OpenCL version of the SDK, you must edit the Config.yml file to allow it, or the SDK will fail with an error. Zivid recommends installing the CUDA version instead, which requires no extra configuration.

Use the dropdown below if you want to check which GPU driver you have. If not, download and install the relevant graphics driver for your GPU from NVIDIA.

Check GPU driver

Use NVIDIA Smart Scan to automatically detect your driver version or follow the instructions below to find it manually.

1. Open NVIDIA Control Panel (right-click on Desktop).

2. Click System Information (bottom-left corner).

3. Note the Driver version in the Details section.

   

After installing the graphics drivers, open Zivid Studio and verify that no errors occur.

AMD

Warning

Since SDK 2.10, support for AMD has been removed due to OpenCL stability issues in the drivers. It is possible to opt in to run the SDK with an unsupported compute device, by enabling an option in the Config.yml file. However, such a setup can give unexpected results and errors, and is not tested by Zivid.

Warning

Radeon no longer supports SPIR on some GPUs, please verify that your GPU drivers support SPIR to be compatible with Zivid.

The OpenCL driver is usually installed together with the graphics driver. Use the dropdown below if you want to check which GPU driver you have. If not, download and install the relevant graphics driver for your GPU from AMD.

Check GPU driver

Use AMD Driver Auto-detect tool to automatically detect your driver version or follow the instructions below to find it manually.

1. Open AMD Radeon Settings (right-click on Desktop).

2. Click on System to access the system overview, software and hardware details.

3. Select the Software tab for detailed information about the installed graphics driver. Note the Driver Packaging Version.

After installing the graphics drivers, open Zivid Studio and verify that you do not get OpenCL errors.

In addition to the OpenCL or CUDA driver above, Zivid Studio and the SDK’s visualizers also need an OpenGL driver.

Check OpenGL drivers

1. Download OpenGL Extensions Viewer.

2. Install it, launch it, and check the OpenGL version:

   

In case the version is below 3.0, you need to install the latest GPU driver following the instructions for your GPU above.

Ubuntu

For optimal performance, the dedicated or integrated GPU should have at least 3 GB of RAM available. Additionally, either a CUDA (12 or later) or an OpenCL driver (1.2 or later) for the GPU is necessary to use Zivid. An OpenGL driver (3.0 or later) for the GPU is also necessary to use Zivid Studio or visualizers in the SDK; this is usually installed with the GPU driver, but older drivers can use a version below 3.0. Follow the instructions below for your specific GPU.

Intel

The graphics driver for Intel should already be installed on Ubuntu, but not necessarily the OpenCL driver. Use the dropdown below if you want to check if your graphics driver is present.

Check GPU driver

Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T keys on the keyboard, and check if the driver is present.

lspci -k | grep -EA3 'VGA|3D|Display'

For more information, visit the official Intel pages.

1. Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T keys on the keyboard, and install the OpenCL driver.

   Ubuntu 26.04

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install intel-opencl-icd
   

   Ubuntu 24.04

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install intel-opencl-icd
   

   Ubuntu 22.04

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install intel-opencl-icd
   

   Ubuntu 20.04

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install intel-opencl-icd
   

   Ubuntu 18.04

   Note

   Support for Ubuntu 18.04 is removed since SDK 2.10. To see Ubuntu 18.04 instructions for an earlier SDK version, change the Knowledge Base version in the top left corner.

2. Open Zivid Studio and verify that you do not get OpenCL errors.

Note

If you get OpenCL errors, you might have to add your user to group Video.

NVIDIA

Note

NVIDIA GPUs must have a compute capability higher than a minimum required value of 3.3. If this requirement is not fulfilled, the SDK will throw an exception:

The compute capability X.Y of the NVIDIA compute device is lower than the minimum required compute capability 3.3 (or The minimum required SM version is 3.3. Device has version X.Y).

An overview of NVIDIA GPUs and their corresponding compute capability can be found in https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus.

CUDA

The CUDA backend requires an NVIDIA driver that supports CUDA 12 or newer.

OpenCL

The OpenCL driver for NVIDIA is installed with the graphics driver.

Warning

The OpenCL version of the SDK treats NVIDIA GPUs as an unsupported compute device. After installing the OpenCL version of the SDK, you must edit the Config.yml file to allow it, or the SDK will fail with an error. Zivid recommends installing the CUDA version instead, which requires no extra configuration.

Use the dropdown below if you want to check if your graphics driver is present, or continue to install the latest driver for your system.

Check GPU driver

Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T keys on the keyboard, then execute the following command:

nvidia-smi

This will print the driver version.

1. Add the NVIDIA GPU driver PPA to your system:

   Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T keys on the keyboard, and add the graphics-driver PPA.

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
   

   This makes the latest long-lived driver release, packaged as nvidia-xxx, available to install in the next step.

2. Install the latest drivers for your system:

   Ubuntu 26.04

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install nvidia-driver-xxx
   

   Ubuntu 24.04

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install nvidia-driver-xxx
   

   Ubuntu 22.04

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install nvidia-driver-xxx
   

   Ubuntu 20.04

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install nvidia-driver-xxx
   

   Ubuntu 18.04

   Note

   Support for Ubuntu 18.04 is removed since SDK 2.10. To see Ubuntu 18.04 instructions for an earlier SDK version, change the Knowledge Base version in the top left corner.

   After installing the driver, reboot your system.

   sudo reboot
   

3. Open Zivid Studio and verify that you do not get OpenCL errors.

Note

If you get OpenCL errors, you might have to add your user to group Video.

AMD

Warning

Since SDK 2.10, support for AMD has been removed due to OpenCL stability issues in the drivers. It is possible to opt in to run the SDK with an unsupported compute device, by enabling an option in the Config.yml file. However, such a setup can give unexpected results and errors, and is not tested by Zivid.

Warning

Radeon no longer supports SPIR on some GPUs, please verify that your GPU drivers support SPIR to be compatible with Zivid.

1. Download, extract, and install the correct Radeon Software for Linux:

   Ubuntu 22.04

   Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T keys on the keyboard, and create a temporary folder.

   mkdir amd && cd amd
   

   Download the driver installer package for the verified-working version, 22.20.3:

   wget --referer http://support.amd.com http://repo.radeon.com/amdgpu-install/22.20.3/ubuntu/jammy/amdgpu-install_22.20.50203-1_all.deb
   

   Note

   AMD’s release notes page and its /latest path both link to a broken installer. Use the pinned version above instead, which Zivid has verified to work.

   Install this package with apt:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install ./amdgpu-install_22.20.50203-1_all.deb
   

   AMDs own instructions

   amdgpu-install --usecase=graphics,opencl --no-32 --no-dkms
   

   Note

   If you require Secure Boot you may have to include DKMS (remove --no-dkms in the above command). For more information see secure-boot-support.

   Now add your user as member of both the render group and the video group.

   sudo gpasswd -a $USER render
   sudo gpasswd -a $USER video
   

   You may have to reboot for the changes to take effect.

   sudo reboot
   

   You can now try to open Zivid Studio. If it fails, follow the Secure Boot configuration step below.

   Ubuntu 20.04

   Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T keys on the keyboard, and create a temporary folder.

   mkdir amd && cd amd
   

   Check your Linux Kernel version:

   uname -r
   

   Kernel 5.4

   For Linux Kernel version 5.4 (Ubuntu LTS), download Radeon Software 20.45 for Ubuntu 20.04:

   wget --referer http://support.amd.com https://drivers.amd.com/drivers/linux/amdgpu-pro-20.45-1188099-ubuntu-20.04.tar.xz
   

   Extract the contents:

   tar -Jxvf amdgpu-pro-20.45-1188099-ubuntu-20.04.tar.xz
   cd amdgpu-pro-20.45-1188099-ubuntu-20.04
   

   Kernel 5.8

   For Linux Kernel version 5.8 (Ubuntu LTS HWE stacks), download Radeon Software 20.50 for Linux 20.04:

   wget --referer http://support.amd.com https://drivers.amd.com/drivers/linux/amdgpu-pro-20.50-1234664-ubuntu-20.04.tar.xz
   

   Extract the contents:

   tar -Jxvf amdgpu-pro-20.50-1234664-ubuntu-20.04.tar.xz
   cd amdgpu-pro-20.50-1234664-ubuntu-20.04
   

   AMDs own instructions.

   ./amdgpu-pro-install --opencl=pal
   

   Ubuntu 18.04

   Note

   Support for Ubuntu 18.04 is removed since SDK 2.10. To see Ubuntu 18.04 instructions for an earlier SDK version, change the Knowledge Base version in the top left corner.

2. Follow the steps to Configure Secure Boot (if prompted):

   

   

   

   If you are not able to boot, check System Boot Error After AMD OpenCL Drivers Installation.

3. Open Zivid Studio and verify that you do not get OpenCL errors.

Note

If you get OpenCL errors, you might have to add your user to group Video.

In addition to the OpenCL or CUDA driver above, Zivid Studio and the SDK’s visualizers also need an OpenGL driver.

Check OpenGL drivers

Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T keys on the keyboard, then execute the following commands:

sudo apt install mesa-utils
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"

This will print the OpenGL version.

In case the version is below 3.0, you need to install the latest GPU driver following the instructions for your GPU above.

Nvidia Jetson Linux

Nvidia Jetson Orin and Thor have CUDA enabled Nvidia GPUs. All required GPU drivers are installed with the operating system.

Zivid Studio and the SDK’s visualizers also need an OpenGL driver.

Check OpenGL drivers

Jetson Linux comes with a compatible OpenGL version, hence no actions are required.

Performance Considerations

Dedicated GPU

A dedicated GPU gives the best performance with Zivid. It is also the best choice if the GPU will be used for more than Zivid’s computations. A medium to high-end NVIDIA GPU with at least 3 GB of memory is required for optimal performance. This is the preferred solution for Zivid.

Recommendations:

• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or better for desktops

• NVIDIA GeForce MX150 or better for laptops

Integrated GPU

This is the most cost-efficient solution for Zivid. The benefit of an integrated GPU is that the data transfer from GPU to CPU is fast. It is also beneficial for applications that require low power consumption, e.g., battery-powered mobile platforms. A high-end integrated GPU with at least 3 GB of memory available is required for optimal performance.

Recommendations:

• Intel i7 with HD630 or better

Nvidia Jetson

Zivid recommends Jetson boards that have at least 16GB of RAM for running Zivid SDK and additional software.

While Zivid SDK supports Jetson Orin Nano, Orin Nano has only 4GB/8GB of total RAM, which is shared between the CPU and the GPU. 4GB is generally insufficient to run any application using Zivid SDK, while 8GB in practice is insufficient for many use cases, especially when combining longer captures, the Stripe/Omni engine, and many filters. Therefore, when using Orin Nano, RAM usage in your application must be carefully evaluated.

Jetson Thor modules (T4000/T5000) ship with 64GB or 128GB of RAM, well above the recommended minimum.

Warning

Jetson boards may boot in a reduced power profile that significantly slows down Zivid SDK point cloud processing. Set the maximum power profile as described in Install Zivid on Jetson Linux.

Selecting Compute Device

If you have multiple GPUs and want Zivid SDK to use a specific one, you can specify the compute device in the Configuration file. You can also configure Zivid SDK to run on a CPU, but CPU is an unsupported compute device mode.

CUDA and OpenCL

Zivid SDK is available in two versions, a CUDA version and an OpenCL version. The version is selected when you install the SDK, not in the configuration file.

The CUDA version runs on NVIDIA GPUs only. The OpenCL version runs on Intel GPUs, and can run on NVIDIA GPUs as an unsupported compute device. To use an NVIDIA GPU as a supported compute device, install the CUDA version of the SDK.

Configuration file

If the file does not already exist, download the Config.yml file and place it in the following directory:

Windows

mkdir %LOCALAPPDATA%\Zivid\API
move %HOMEPATH%\Downloads\Config.yml %LOCALAPPDATA%\Zivid\API\

Ubuntu

mkdir --parents "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME-$HOME/.config}"/Zivid/API
mv ~/Downloads/Config.yml "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME-$HOME/.config}"/Zivid/API/

The desired GPU is assigned by changing the ComputeDevice parameters in the configuration file.

Single vendor

If you have multiple GPUs from a single vendor (e.g. two Nvidia GPUs), SelectionFilter must specify which GPU to use. We will use clinfo to list all compute devices. Follow the dropdown below for more information about clinfo, how to install it and how to use it.

clinfo

Windows

1. Download the clinfo Windows binary file.

2. Launch the Command Prompt by pressing Win + R keys on the keyboard, then type cmd and press Enter.

   

3. Navigate to the directory that contains the downloaded file (clinfo.exe) and execute the following command:

   clinfo.exe -l
   

   This will print all available information about all OpenCL platforms on the system and the devices they expose.

   

   
   

   If your GPU is not listed you may need to install the OpenCL drivers and/or graphics drivers.

4. To check the OpenCL driver version, use clinfo and search for the OpenCL platform version:

   clinfo.exe | findstr "Platform\ Version"
   

   If the version is below OpenCL 1.2, you need to update your graphics drivers.

Ubuntu

1. Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T keys on the keyboard and install clinfo.

   sudo apt install -y clinfo
   

2. Run clinfo -l to list all OpenCL platforms.

   sudo /usr/bin/clinfo -l
   

   This will print all available information about all OpenCL platforms on the system and the devices they expose.

   If your GPU is not listed you may need to install the OpenCL drivers and/or graphics drivers.

   

3. To check the OpenCL driver version, use clinfo and search for the OpenCL platform version:

   sudo /usr/bin/clinfo | grep "Platform Version"
   

   If the version is below OpenCL 1.2, you need to update your OpenCL drivers and/or graphics drivers.

To find the specific GPU name, run clinfo to list your compute devices.

clinfo -l

Note

clinfo lists OpenCL devices and applies to the OpenCL version of the SDK. With the CUDA version, run nvidia-smi -L in a terminal instead, and use any unique part of the CUDA device name. Both commands run on Windows and Ubuntu. On Windows, clinfo is not installed by default and nvidia-smi is sometimes not on the PATH.

Change the SelectionFilter in the configuration file to be any unique part of the name of the desired device. For example, for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 in the following output

set SelectionFilter to

ComputeDevice:
    SelectionFilter: "RTX 3060"
    Type: Any
    Vendor: Any

Multiple vendors

If you have multiple GPUs from multiple vendors (e.g. an integrated Intel GPU and a dedicated NVIDIA GPU), change Type to GPU and Vendor to Nvidia or Intel, e.g.

ComputeDevice:
    SelectionFilter: ""
    Type: GPU
    Vendor: Nvidia

Enabling unsupported compute devices

Enabling unsupported compute devices can be done by enabling an option in the Configuration file. However, such a setup can give unexpected results and errors, and is not tested by Zivid. Currently, the unsupported compute devices are AMD GPUs, NVIDIA GPUs on the OpenCL version of the SDK, and CPUs. Download the Config.yml file for your compute device below:

Enable AMD

Download the Config.yml file, which contains the following information, where AllowUnsupported: yes enables unsupported compute devices:

__version__:
    serializer: 1
    data: 19
Configuration:
    ComputeDevice:
        AllowUnsupported: yes

Enable NVIDIA on the OpenCL version

The OpenCL version of the SDK treats NVIDIA GPUs as unsupported compute devices. If you install the OpenCL version on an NVIDIA GPU without enabling it, the SDK will fail with an error saying that NVIDIA compute devices are not supported (see NVIDIA Compute Devices Are Not Supported by the OpenCL Version for the exact error message). Download the Config.yml file below, where Vendor is set to Nvidia and AllowUnsupported to yes. For a supported setup on NVIDIA GPUs, install the CUDA version of the SDK instead.

__version__:
    serializer: 1
    data: 19
Configuration:
    ComputeDevice:
        Type: GPU
        Vendor: Nvidia
        AllowUnsupported: yes

Enable CPU

It is possible to run the Zivid SDK on an Intel chipset using their CPU Runtime for OpenCL. Download the Config.yml file below, where the compute device Type is set to CPU, and Vendor to Intel.

__version__:
    serializer: 1
    data: 19
Configuration:
    ComputeDevice:
        Type: CPU
        Vendor: Intel
        AllowUnsupported: yes

Warning

CPU is an unsupported compute device mode. Capture time will be greatly increased when using CPU and this setup is not recommended for most applications. In mixed OpenCL platform setups, CPU selection can also cause unstable behavior, including crashes.

Once downloaded, place the Config.yml file in the following directory:

Windows

mkdir %LOCALAPPDATA%\Zivid\API
move %HOMEPATH%\Downloads\Config.yml %LOCALAPPDATA%\Zivid\API\

Ubuntu

mkdir --parents "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME-$HOME/.config}"/Zivid/API
mv ~/Downloads/Config.yml "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME-$HOME/.config}"/Zivid/API/

Version History

SDK	Changes
2.18.0	Added support for the CUDA compute backend for NVIDIA GPUs. Added Jetson Thor support. Added support for Ubuntu 26.04.
2.12.0	Added Jetson Orin support.