What Is Jetson Super Mode?

Jetson Super Mode is the name for the higher-power operating modes NVIDIA added to the Jetson Orin Nano and Orin NX modules with JetPack 6.2, released in January 2025. It brought to production modules the performance NVIDIA had launched a month earlier with the Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit, which is the same Orin Nano 8GB module running the new modes. No silicon changed: the modules simply run their GPU, CPU and memory at higher clocks within a higher power limit.

Super Mode is a software change, but it asks more of the hardware around the module. The carrier board must supply the extra power and the cooling must remove the extra heat, which matters most in sealed, fanless systems. Check that a carrier and enclosure are rated for the higher power modes before relying on the bigger figures.

The gain depends on the module. NVIDIA’s published ratings are sparse INT8 peaks; real models typically see a smaller but still large uplift, often well over 50 percent on GPU-bound work.

On the Orin Nano 8GB, the GPU clock rises from around 625 MHz to 1,020 MHz, the CPU from 1.5 GHz to 1.7 GHz and memory bandwidth from 68 GB/s to 102 GB/s. The memory bandwidth increase is what helps transformer and generative models most, because they are often limited by memory rather than compute.

Super Mode is a set of power modes, selected the same way as any other Jetson power mode.

More performance means more power and more heat. A module that ran at 15 W now draws up to 25 W, and an Orin NX up to 40 W, so the power supply, the carrier’s regulators and the thermal path all need margin for it. A fanless enclosure sized for the original modes may hold the module at its old limit, or let it throttle under sustained load, which gives back much of the gain.

Our Jetson thermal design guide explains how to size a heatsink and enclosure for a given power mode. Many of our Jetson Orin Nano carrier boards and rugged Jetson computers are rated for the Super modes; check the datasheet for the exact board and the ambient temperature it is rated at.

Running nvpmodel -q on the module reports the current power mode by name and number, and tegrastats or the community jtop tool shows live clocks, power draw and temperatures. The power mode persists across reboots, so set it once in the production image rather than relying on someone to change it on site.

If a system reports a Super mode but its clocks stay at the old values under load, it is usually throttling on temperature or hitting a current limit on the carrier, and the enclosure or power design needs another look.

Super Mode covers the four Orin Nano and Orin NX modules only. The Jetson AGX Orin already ran at its full rating in its MAXN mode, so it gained no Super profile, and Jetson Thor launched later with its own power modes. Older Xavier, TX2 and original Jetson Nano modules cannot run JetPack 6, so they cannot use it.

For existing Orin Nano and Orin NX products, Super Mode is often a free upgrade: reflash with JetPack 6.2, confirm the cooling and gain the extra headroom. For a full look at what the Super refresh means for the Orin Nano, see our Orin Nano Super update. The JetPack release notes list the power modes available for each module.

We build Orin Nano and Orin NX systems on carriers and enclosures rated for the Super modes, and confirm under load that the cooling holds the module without throttling before the system ships. Tell us your power budget and site temperature, and we will recommend the build that suits them.