GPU Nodes
A GPU node is a game server node that has a GPU and is enabled for rendering work. GPU nodes power everything in 5Stack that produces video:
Without a GPU node, the panel still works — matches, stats, and 2D/3D replay all run fine — but those video features are unavailable.
How it works
A GPU node runs real CS2 instances to render demos and live observers in a GPU pod. Each render job (a demo session, a live stream, or a highlight render) boots a pod, does its work, and frees the GPU again. The GPU Nodes admin page shows the node roster with live GPU/VRAM usage, what each node is currently doing, and how many GPUs are free in the pool.
Adding a GPU node
A GPU node is created the same way as any other game server node — the node is detected as GPU-capable and can be enabled for streaming, demo playback, and rendering.
Steam account pool
To render a demo or observe a live match, the pod has to log into CS2 with a Steam account. GPU nodes draw from a shared Steam account pool that you manage from the GPU Nodes page. Add at least as many accounts as you have GPU nodes so each node can claim one; the page shows how many accounts are available versus how many nodes are registered.
WARNING
Use dedicated Steam accounts for the pool, not your personal account — an account in use by a render job can't be used to play at the same time.
Shader baking
The first time a GPU node renders, CS2 compiles its shader cache, which can take a while. 5Stack can bake shaders ahead of time from the GPU Nodes page so the first real render isn't slowed down by compilation. Bake progress and logs are shown inline per node.
Monitoring
The GPU Nodes page surfaces, per node: status and region, GPU model and VRAM, live GPU/memory graphs, the current task (live stream, demo playback, or highlight render) with a snapshot preview, and shader-bake state. Pool-level counters at the top show free vs. registered GPUs and Steam pool usage.