Will the GPU become the new CPU?

November 27th, 2009

Will the GPU become the new CPU?

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 11:21 am

Will the GPU ever become the metric that we use to measure PCs with, replacing the GHz-centric and core-centric CPU?

Why might this happen? Well, because increasingly software developers are looking to the GPU to take the load off the CPU. And with good reason, as the GPU absolutely excels at certain tasks, leaving even the most cutting-edge CPUs in their smoke. For example, just look at what NVIDIA is doing with CUDA.

It’s interesting to see the GPU gain increasing relevance all of a sudden. Over the past couple of years we’ve seen the importance of high-end GPUs diminished greatly as games (which are increasingly developed for consoles) no longer suck at the GPU anywhere near as hard as they once did. When once you could spend $500 on a graphics card and still feel like getting another in order to hook them together in a Crossfire/SLI setup, now a $100 is really all that 95% of gamers need. Problem is, GPU makers don’t make much of a profit off of $100 graphics cards.

Using a GPU as a secondary CPU (also known as GPGPU - General-purpose computing on graphics processing units) is seen by GPU vendors as a way of making the GPU relevant once again, and given the amount of computing power locked away in that tiny bit of silicon, it has a lot of potential. However, one thing that it does need is developer support, ad that seems to be coming.

More at: Will the GPU become the new CPU? | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com

torrentg said:

In my opinion, the gpu will gain more ground as for things it can be useful for. Like adding 2d modeling in Firefox.

It will never replace what the cpu does. A well working system will always need both performing solidly to create a great computing environment.

Thanks for posting.

I also hope that the surge in development of the GPU's abilities pass drawing graphics takes a foothold...

The GPU has so much un-tapped power...CUDA, Direct Compute (apart of Windows 7), etc. are great examples of what that power can do for you

One of the things now seen with 7 is the hand in hand co op between the cpu and the graphics chip. This is one thing that helps the older or lower end models card perform better on 7.

What MS saw there was the unlocked potential even for the lesser vpus and went to work on tapping it further. With a tight economy many can't simply dump some $400, $500, or more on just one item to get a new build upto par for gaming purposes. For Cad and other graphics work this will become an asset as well.

LOL....I HOPE SO


its certainly true as time rolls on more & more calculations are being passed to the GPU, rather than CPU.

with the introduction of DX11 & ''Direct compute'' the GPU is now starting to be used for far more than rendering alone, & why not..... these new GPUs have massive computational power, the release of Nvidia's ''fermi'' will be a giant leap in this direction IMO, Nvidia are focusing on workstation application rather than gaming with the new architecture..

personally, i'd like to throw everything over to my GPU & let the CPU take care of all the mundane background services...... we'd certainly see a boost in performance then :)

skunksmash said:

LOL....I HOPE SO


its certainly true as time rolls on more & more calculations are being passed to the GPU, rather than CPU.

with the introduction of DX11 & ''Direct compute'' the GPU is now starting to be used for far more than rendering alone, & why not..... these new GPUs have massive computational power, the release of Nvidia's ''fermi'' will be a giant leap in this direction IMO, Nvidia are focusing on workstation application rather than gaming with the new architecture..

personally, i'd like to throw everything over to my GPU & let the CPU take care of all the mundane background services...... we'd certainly see a boost in performance then :)

Yeah...I was reading some endnotes PDFs on Fermi and I have been blown away...

Fermi will be available in GDDR5 6GB (!!!!! 6 Gigabyte VRAM????) with over 3 billion transistors

One note for those curious...the next Intel offering which will be the enhanced Nehalem will not even have this many transistors... For those that have a GTX280 series card (or one in that family)...the Fermi chip will have over 30% performance gain (ignoring all the other gains from the Fermi chip)

Fermi is a badass...I can't wait until they are released...

Also forgot to mention that Fermi will be 64-bit

Zidane24 said:

skunksmash said:

LOL....I HOPE SO


its certainly true as time rolls on more & more calculations are being passed to the GPU, rather than CPU.

with the introduction of DX11 & ''Direct compute'' the GPU is now starting to be used for far more than rendering alone, & why not..... these new GPUs have massive computational power, the release of Nvidia's ''fermi'' will be a giant leap in this direction IMO, Nvidia are focusing on workstation application rather than gaming with the new architecture..

personally, i'd like to throw everything over to my GPU & let the CPU take care of all the mundane background services...... we'd certainly see a boost in performance then :)

Yeah...I was reading some endnotes PDFs on Fermi and I have been blown away...

Fermi will be available in GDDR5 6GB (!!!!! 6 Gigabyte VRAM????) with over 3 billion transistors

One note for those curious...the next Intel offering which will be the enhanced Nehalem will not even have this many transistors... For those that have a GTX280 series card (or one in that family)...the Fermi chip will have over 30% performance gain (ignoring all the other gains from the Fermi chip)

Fermi is a badass...I can't wait until they are released...

yes....it will be a moster, but ATI will hold onto the number crunching title far after ''fermi'' is released, the HD5970 is without doubt a wolf in wolfs clothing

this card is capable of over 4 Tflops of computing power @ (725/4000), OC this to (1000/6000) & this card is pulling over 6 Tflops @ about 400w MEGA POWER.

but ATI are all about the raw power, we predict ''fermi'' (GT360) will fall in between the HD5870 & HD5970, bear in mind though ''fermi'' will pack more of a punch per GPU core than ATI can, so expect to see a dual ''fermi'' card by the end of next year which will DESTROY the competition..

but we live in a great time for H/W acceleration, the progression rate has gone up ten fold in the last few years, the DEVS better get their rear ends in gear to utilize the power this new tech can deliver.

or it'll be like having a mclaren F1 with tires only rated for 100mph..

On a more interesting note...a commenter on newegg was displaying his results of using 4 ATI HD5970s in QuadCrossFire...he said he could run Crysis at max settings well over 110FPS...

Had to have his system watercooled though...