Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers User Guide

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ID 767266
Date 12/19/2023
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers User Guide
Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers User Guide x
Introduction to Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers Game Optimization Methodology Install and Launch Intel® GPA Enable GPU Metrics Collection Launch Application for Analysis Configure Analysis Settings Analyze Desktop Graphics Applications Quick Start with Profiling Unreal Engine* Games Instrumentation and Tracing Technology API Support Intel® GPA Reference Notices and Disclaimers
Introduction to Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers x
Get Help
Launch Application for Analysis x
Start a Desktop Application with Graphics Monitor Start a Windows* Mixed Reality Application Connect to a Running Application (Windows* only) Analyze Applications in the Network Mode
Configure Analysis Settings x
Configure a Metric Set Customize Keyboard Shortcuts Set Up a Trigger Set Up Tracing Options Set Up Stream Options Set Frame Delimiters
Analyze Desktop Graphics Applications x
Manage Analysis with Graphics Monitor Monitor Real-Time Performance with System Analyzer Identify Issues in Graphics Application Execution with Trace Analyzer Analyze GPU-bound Applications with Graphics Frame Analyzer Optimize Specific Domains
Monitor Real-Time Performance with System Analyzer x
Pause and Resume a Running Application Export Metrics Data with System Analyzer
Analyze GPU-bound Applications with Graphics Frame Analyzer x
Run Render State Experiments with Frame Analyzer Use Advanced Profiling Mode Graphics Frame Analyzer Plugins
Graphics Frame Analyzer Plugins x
Create a Custom Plugin for Graphics Frame Analyzer
Optimize Specific Domains x
Optimize Shaders Analyze Textures Minimize Overdraw Optimize Graphic API States Identify Graphics Elements with Complex Geometry Visualize Color Distribution
Instrumentation and Tracing Technology API Support x
Compile and Link with ITT API Instrument Your Application Minimize ITT API Overhead Clock Domain API Counter API Domain API Marker API Metadata API Relation API String Handle API Thread Naming API Task API
Intel® GPA Reference x
Performance Metrics Reference User Interface Reference
Performance Metrics Reference x
CPU Metrics Device I/O Metrics GPU Metrics Graphics API Metrics Memory Metrics
User Interface Reference x
Graphics Monitor UI Reference Heads-Up Display (HUD) UI Reference System Analyzer UI Reference Graphics Frame Analyzer UI Reference Graphics Trace Analyzer UI Reference
Graphics Monitor UI Reference x
Graphics Monitor Context Menu Graphics Monitor Configuration Window Graphics Monitor Control Panel Graphics Monitor Window: Desktop Applications Tab Graphics Monitor Window: Universal Windows Applications Tab (Windows* only) Graphics Monitor Window: Options Dialog Box
Graphics Frame Analyzer UI Reference x
Graphics Frame Analyzer Window: Open Frame Capture Graphics Frame Analyzer Window: Multiframe View Graphics Frame Analyzer Window: Profiling View Graphics Frame Analyzer Window: Dependency Viewer Tools View Graphs View Inspector View Walkers View See Also
Graphics Frame Analyzer Window: Profiling View x
Main Toolbar Visualization Pane API Log Pane Resources Pane Metrics Pane Experiments Pane
Graphics Trace Analyzer UI Reference x
Graphics Trace Analyzer Window: Open Trace Capture Graphics Trace Analyzer Window: Platform View
Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers User Guide

Graphics Frame Analyzer Window: Dependency Viewer

Dependency Viewer is a tool for exploring the dependencies in frames captured with Graphics Frame Analyzer. The tool is available for DirectX* 11 and DirectX* 12.

To open the Dependency Viewer, do the following:

  1. Open a frame in the Profiling View window of the Graphics Frame Analyzer.

  2. Click the Dependency Viewer icon on the main toolbar at the top of the page.

The Dependency Viewer opens in a browser window.

NOTE:
After working with Dependency Viewer, you must close the browser window before interacting with Graphics Frame Analyzer.

The Dependency Viewer window consists of resizable panels, each of which could be configured to display one of the following views:



Tools view

Graphs view

Inspector view or Walkers view

Preview Thumbnails view

You can switch the desired view for each panel by clicking on the view icon () in the top left corner of each panel.

Additionally, you can enable resource content previews by clicking the Preview Thumbnails button (). However, keep in mind that for large frames extraction of all render targets may take a considerable amount of time.

Tools View

The Tools view shows the structure of a frame in a table format. You can choose between the List passes or List resources mode via the drop-down menu:

List Passes

The passes list shows the sequence of render passes in the order they are executed in the frame. A render pass is a sequential list of graphic events writing to the same set of resources. A graphic event is an API call that generates a GPU command such as Draw, Dispatch, Copy, and so on.

Each entry on the passes list consists of the following:

  • Pass ID that matches the Graphics Frame Analyzer IDs.
  • The two IDs of the first and last graphics events in the render pass that match the IDs in Graphics Frame Analyzer.
  • User-defined annotation that can be specified in the Inspector view.
  • Blue and gray horizontal bars illustrate the duration of the render passes and graphic event count, respectively. Bars are normalized relative to the longest render pass in the frame. In case of single-operation passes, the operation pass name is shown instead of a gray bar.
  • Duration of the render pass in milliseconds and percentage of the frame duration.
  • Count of graphic events in the render pass as well as the percentage of total events in the frame.

NOTE:
Render pass is a sequential list of graphic events writing to the same set of resources. A graphic event is any API call which generates a GPU command, such as Draw, Dispatch, Copy, etc.

Use the Expand button to see the list of graphic events in the render pass. All events that perform reads from CPU-produced resources are marked with s on the left. Additionally, Resource Barriers are marked with a red bar on the left.

Use the filter field at the bottom of this view to highlight passes containing operations of a given type:

List Resources

This tool shows basic information about each resource generated in the frame. There are two separate lists of textures and buffers.

The tool represents each texture by a row containing the following information:

  • Thumbnail of the resource on the last graphics event that modifies it. Thumbnails are not collected by default and must be enabled via the Preview Thumbnails button at the top of the Dependency Viewer.
  • ID that matches the Graphics Frame Analyzer resource IDs.
  • Debug name, if available in the captured frame. This value can be manually specified or overridden in the Inspector view.
  • Texture type
  • Resolution
  • Format
  • Number of sub-resources, slices, and mips
  • Flag for resources presented on the screen

NOTE:
Resource version is a snapshot of the resource on each graphic event (such as Draw, Dispatch, Copy, etc.) which modifies its state.

Each buffer row contains an ID, a name, and a size in bytes.

Double-click a texture row to open the Resource Preview that enables you to switch between textures and their versions or compare two versions of the same resource:

Graphs View

The Graphs view shows render pass dependencies: pass reads from the resources produced by other passes. This view could operate in either a Table graph or a Focused graph mode.

Table Graph

The Table graph helps you visually analyze the frame structure:

  • Rows represent rendering passes; columns represent resources. If a pass N writes to resource M, a graph node representing the state of the resource at the end of the render pass is placed in row N, column M.

  • Each node shows a brief resource description:

    • View type: Render Target (RT), Unordered Access (UA), Depth Stencil (DS).
    • For textures (can be toggled on or off via the Texture Information button): Format, Dimension, Number of slices, Number of mips, and Preview (if enabled via the Preview Thumbnails button at the top of the Dependency Viewer).

  • If a pass reads from a resource, a dot is placed underneath it in the same column with the input view type: Shader Resource (SR), Constant Buffer (CB)

  • Barriers are represented with a red bar and a letter representing its type, for example, T represents a transition. Ideally for optimal performance, a barrier should be right before the resource usage.

Focused Graph

Because graphs for the entire frame may be very complex, the Focused graph shows data similar to the Table graph but limits the depth of dependencies before and after the selected render pass. You can alter the dependency depth using the controls at the top and at the bottom:

Inspector View

The Inspector view displays additional information for the selected render pass, resource, or the buffer.

Render Pass Inspection

If you select a render pass in the Tools view, the following information is available:

  • Overview:

    • Annotation: An annotation for the selected render pass that will be displayed in Tools view. Click and type a required annotation here.

    • Pass Id: Render pass ID as it is listed in Tools view.

    • Event count: Number of graphic events in the selected render pass.

    • Duration: Duration of the render pass in milliseconds.

    • Input dynamic resources: Number of input resources with the content produced by another render pass.

    • Input static resources: Number of input resources with the static content.

    • Output resources count: Number of output resources for the selected render pass.

  • Dependencies: Number of preceding render passes with IDs from which the selected render pass uses dynamic resources. For each render pass, the list specifies the dependency type: read-after-write (RAW), write-after-read (WAR), or write-after-write (WAW).

  • Dependents: Number of render passes with IDs which depend on the selected render pass. For each render pass, the list specifies the dependency type: read-after-write (RAW), write-after-read (WAR), or write-after-write (WAW).

Resource Inspection

If you select a texture is selected in the Tools view, the following information is available:

  • Overview:

    • Annotation: An annotation for the selected texture that will be displayed in Tools view. Click and type a required annotation here.

    • Texture Id: Texture ID as it is listed in the Tools view.

    • Type, Resolution, Format, Subresource count, Array level count, Mip level count: Texture creation parameters.

    • Name: Texture name from the original application.

    • Version count: Number of modifications of the texture in the frame.

    • Is presented: True if this texture was presented on the screen.

  • Versions per pass: First and last versions of the texture in the frame. You can double-click a version to inspect it further in the Texture Preview view.
  • All versions: All versions of the texture in the frame. You can double-click a version to inspect it further in Texture Preview view.

Buffer Inspection

If you select the buffer in the Tools view, then its overview is displayed:

  • Annotation: An annotation for the selected buffer that will be displayed in Tools view. Click and type a required annotation here.

  • Buffer Id: Buffer ID as it is listed in Tools view.

  • Name: Buffer name from the original application.

  • Size: Buffer size in bytes.

Walkers View

The Walkers view automatically identifies and displays potential performance issues caused by redundant work, redundant allocated resources, and barriers that have been placed too early.

NOTE:

The Walkers view may produce false positives for the following reasons:

  • Dependency Viewer takes only a single frame into account; cross-frame dependencies are not discovered. Multi-frame support is planned for a later release.
  • Some depth buffers might be marked as unused because they are not read in subsequent passes but still do their job.
Parent topic: Graphics Frame Analyzer UI Reference
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