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GPU Setup

Grilly uses Vulkan compute shaders for GPU acceleration. You need Vulkan drivers installed on your system.

Windows

1. Install Visual Studio 2022

Download Visual Studio 2022 Community (free). In the installer, select "Desktop development with C++". This installs MSVC, CMake, and Windows SDK.

2. Install the Vulkan SDK

Download from https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home (Windows tab). Run the installer -- it sets VULKAN_SDK automatically. Restart your terminal.

3. Verify

vulkaninfo --summary

You should see your GPU listed with Vulkan 1.2+ support.

Ubuntu 24.04

Ubuntu does not bundle the Vulkan SDK. Install from LunarG.

1. Add the LunarG APT Repository

wget -qO- https://packages.lunarg.com/lunarg-signing-key-pub.asc | \
    sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/lunarg.asc
sudo wget -qO /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lunarg-vulkan-noble.list \
    https://packages.lunarg.com/vulkan/lunarg-vulkan-noble.list
sudo apt update

2. Install the Vulkan SDK

sudo apt install vulkan-sdk

3. Install GPU-Specific Drivers

sudo apt install mesa-vulkan-drivers

RADV is the open-source Vulkan driver for AMD. Recommended for consumer cards.

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-560  # or latest version

sudo apt install intel-media-va-driver-non-free mesa-vulkan-drivers

4. Verify

vulkaninfo --summary

If your GPU is not listed, check that drivers are loaded:

lsmod | grep amdgpu   # AMD
lsmod | grep nvidia    # NVIDIA

5. Verify Grilly Sees the GPU

python -c "import grilly; backend = grilly.Compute(); print('OK:', backend.device_name)"

CI / Headless Servers (No Physical GPU)

For CI environments without a physical GPU, use Mesa's software Vulkan driver:

sudo apt install libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-tools
export ALLOW_CPU_VULKAN=1

This is slow but runs the full test suite without GPU hardware.

Multi-GPU Selection

If you have multiple GPUs (e.g., integrated + discrete), select by index:

export VK_GPU_INDEX=1  # Use second GPU

List available GPUs:

vulkaninfo --summary | grep "GPU"

Supported Devices

See SUPPORTED_DEVICES.md for the full tested device list.

Tested configurations:

  • AMD RX 6750 XT (Windows 11, Ubuntu 24.04)
  • NVIDIA GTX 1060+ (Windows, Linux)
  • Intel Arc A-series (Windows, Linux)
  • Mesa llvmpipe (CI, headless)