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I have an Nvidia GPU GTX 470 - Can I get it's serial number with out opening the case?

EDIT Thanks for all the comments: I tried the Device path as well as the WMIC command (which are the same actually) Value returned from the WMIC command

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470  PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06CD&SUBSYS_079F10DE&REV_A3\4&2F1C4782&0&0018

The WMIC (device path is) 2F1C4782 which is translated to: 790382466 (converted to decimal).

My card SN is: 101500021088 - I think this does not get the correct values.

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  • PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C03&SUBSYS_62643842&REV_A1\4&1BA317CD&0&XXXX last 4 digis removed, what is mt serial number? Jun 23, 2018 at 14:36

4 Answers 4

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Note: Note that this technique only works if the hardware manufacturer implements it. I can't give a percentage of accuracy, but I would guess the big players would implement it. If it's not implemented, Windows will generate a unique number instead.

Method 1 - Device Manager

Open the Windows Device Manager. Find your video card under Display Adapters. Double-click on it. Under the "Details" tab, select the "Device Instance Path" property.

Method 2 - WMI

Using WMI, at the command line, run the following command.

wmic PATH Win32_VideoController GET Description,PNPDeviceID

Method 3 - Use a Tool

A program like SIW will grab the PNP Device ID for you, but it won't do the parsing for the serial number.

Parsing It

Looking at the PNPDeviceID value, break it up by "\".

  • The first piece it the bus type. For me, it is PCI.
  • The second section describes the card. There's a vendor code, model number, etc.
  • The last section contains a number separated by ampersands. The serial number is the second number in that list, formatted in hex.
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  • There are "PNPDeviceID"s for other things too. Replace "Win32_VideoController" with "Win32_DiskDrive" to see the IDs for your disk drives. If possible, you may want to verify the numbers against something you can look at to make sure you're parsing the number correctly.
    – dangowans
    Sep 2, 2012 at 14:24
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    Further research shows that the value in the PNPDeviceID may be just an autogenerated number made up by Windows to uniquely identify the card. So, it is important to try and verify what you see.
    – dangowans
    Sep 2, 2012 at 14:43
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    wait ... so do any of these methods conclusively provide the product serial number? Because if the case must be opened to verify that the serial number is correct, you have defeated the purpose of the question... which was to find a method of determining the serial number without opening the case.
    – Bon Gart
    Sep 2, 2012 at 16:01
  • @BonGart This technique is used to determine serial numbers on USB hard drives. It may also work on video cards. You are correct though that, depending on the device manufacturer, this may not properly identify the serial number.
    – dangowans
    Sep 2, 2012 at 16:08
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    @BonGart I don't mind opening the case once to verify that this method works, if I can proof that it is correct for 100's other systems :-) for now it doesn't work, so back to square 1
    – Saariko
    Sep 3, 2012 at 7:37
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For some Nvidia GPUs you can use a command like this. I believe this works on all Quadro and Titan cards, but not GTX “gaming” cards. The nvidia-smi tool is included with the Nvidia driver.

nvidia-smi --format=csv --query-gpu=name,serial,pci.bus_id
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  • Worked on my Tesla P100, matched the serial number on the back of the card.
    – ReeseWang
    Jun 17, 2022 at 7:54
  • For the RTX 4000-series it only returns "[N/A]" in the place of serial :(
    – kiler129
    Feb 25, 2023 at 20:15
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I contacted Nvidia via chat-support on this subject, and unfortunately the official answer to your question is no:

the only way to get the serial number of the graphics card is, it will be written on the graphics card hardware or the box of purchase.

chatlog from http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/chat/chat_landing

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  • I don't know if this was the case in the past but Elliot's answer worked for me with Titan RTX. nvidia-smi --format=csv --query-gpu=name,serial
    – skbrhmn
    Jan 20, 2021 at 20:28
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c:\ nvidia-smi --format=csv --query-gpu=name,serial,pci.bus_id name, serial, pci.bus_id NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, 0322916107542, 00000000:03:00.0

That worked on a GTX1080 on windows 10x64 pro, but it is the wrong S/N :(

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