cudaDeviceReset

The cudaDeviceReset function in NVIDIA's CUDA toolkit is used to deinitialize a CUDA device. When a CUDA application is finished using a GPU, calling cudaDeviceReset ensures that all resources associated with that device are properly released and freed. This includes releasing memory allocated on the GPU, destroying CUDA contexts, and resetting the device to its default state.

It is important to call cudaDeviceReset when a CUDA application exits to prevent potential memory leaks or resource conflicts, especially in environments where multiple CUDA applications might run concurrently or sequentially on the same hardware. Failing to reset the device might leave GPU memory occupied by a previous process, leading to errors or reduced performance for subsequent applications. The function returns a cudaError enum, indicating success or the type of error encountered. Common error codes include cudaSuccess for successful execution and other values if the device is not in a state that can be reset or if an invalid device was specified.

The use of cudaDeviceReset is typically placed at the end of a CUDA application's execution flow, after all computations and memory deallocations have been completed. It is a fundamental part of CUDA resource management, contributing to the stability and efficiency of GPU computing.