Kynes on 15 September 2012
| drkohler said: A "normal" GPU is kind of a dumb CPU that is made for "drawing pictures". It is very dumb but very fast in doing so. Some time ago, somebody came up with the idea of adding a few CPU-like things so that a "dumb GPU" turns into a "not so dumb GPU" that can do some additional processing very fast. In doing other stuff, the GPGPU loses some on the graphics processing obviously. What does it mean for you? Basically, it means: If you are a gamer that looks for the "best picture" a GPGPU is a really dumb idea, since you lose in graphics performance when your GPU starts doing "other stuff". If you are not a gamer, then a GPGPU is a clever idea to increase the processing power of your CPU. If you are a (future) WiiU owner, all bets are open. Most likely, the GPGPU is a dumb idea because the GPU will be taxed out with 1080p 60Hz (and 1-2 tabled graphics). So your GPGPU turns into a simple marketing ploy, it promises something it will sinply not deliver (there is a reason NVIdia GPUs beat AMD GPUs handily, they are less GPGPU than their counterparts, so they can deliver more). Unfortunately marketing hype is fully in the GPGPU camp, and the next PS4 is rumoured to fall into the same trap. We seem to be heading towards some APU/GPGPU (crap) combination instead of a powerful cell+/powerful GPU combo. |
Up to this generation of graphics cards, untrue. This generation is debatable, but nVidia is the company that has pushed more the GPGPU camp. Cuda and Tesla have done much more to the GPGPU awareness than any initiative AMD has done. Now AMD wants to use the GPGPU capabilities of the integrated graphics on their APUs to try to recover from the disaster that Bulldozer cores have been, but nVidia is the company that still pushes more in this camp.
