I know what a CPU is(I think). It’s the thing who’s speed is measured in GigaHertz(these days).
However, you hear a lot about a GPU, and letting the GPU take over, not letting the CPU but the GPU do it, GPU-based rendering, etc…
What is this GPU anyway? How can I access it and use it to my advantage? What am I missing out on here?
Solution:
The GPU is the graphical processing unit. It is the CPU of the video card.
Traditionally the CPU did all of the graphics processing until video card manufacturers began including GPUs on the display adapters. The GPU was a dedicated piece of hardware similar to the old FPU (floating point unit that was dedicated to performing advanced math routines faster than the CPU), that could perform common graphics routines really fast. (Actually GPUs came with the move on the part of video card manufacturers to incorporate graphics acceleration into the card instead of requiring a separate board, just like the function of FPUs was eventually incorporated directly into CPUs.)
Eventually, GPUs outpaced CPUs so that a graphics processor actually had more transistors, ran faster (and hotter), and such. Graphics card manufacturers realized that the GPU was now a really powerful piece of hardware that is often sitting idle (for example when browsing the Internet, editing documents, etc.) So, starting with the X1300, ATI’s cards included AVIVO, which would allow the user to run video conversion software on the video card’s processor instead of doing it just on the slower CPU. Nvidia responded with CUDA, the first true GPGPU which basically, is a way to use the GPU(s) on a video card as general-use supplemental processors that can be used for any purpose, not just graphics or video related purposes.
Because a GPU is highly optimized to perform advanced calculations such as floating-point arithmetic, matrix arithmetic, and the like, they can perform functions like video conversion, post-processing, as well as tasks like BOINC or Folding@Home much better than with a CPU alone.
A modern computer can be quite the powerhouse, with a multi-core CPU and multi-GPU video card(s) that can act as super CPUs, the processing power of today’s computers is truly quite incredible. Even better, manufacturers are making the chips more power efficient, so that they are really powerful, but can also draw as little power and generate as little heat as possible when they are not necessary, thus giving us the best of both worlds!