nvidia graphics card - Is it possible to get the serial number of a GPU without opening the case?

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.

Answer

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.