- This is what a
computer that contains
a graphics card computer look like:
- There are actually
2 computer systems inside
a computer that contains
a graphics card:
- An "ordinary" computer consisting
of the CPU that
executes instructions stored
in the RAM (memory)
- An SIMD (vector) computer consisting of the GPU that executes instructions stored in the device memory
- An "ordinary" computer consisting
of the CPU that
executes instructions stored
in the RAM (memory)
- Diagram of the
CPU inter-connection
by NVidia (graphics card producer):
- Difference between
a CPU (= CPU computer) and a
GPU (= GPU computer):
Explanation:
- The CPU fetches
1 instruction and
executes
the instruction on
1 (pair) of input data
- The CPU can execute the instruction very fast
- The GPU fetches
1 instruction and make
multiple ALU units
executes the same instruction
(on different input data)
- The execution time for
1 instruction is
not as fast as
the CPU instruction execution time
- GPU makes up the difference by using multiple simultaneous executions
- The execution time for
1 instruction is
not as fast as
the CPU instruction execution time
- The CPU fetches
1 instruction and
executes
the instruction on
1 (pair) of input data
- The user
interacts with
a computer that
contains a
graphics card (computer)
as follows:
Explanation:
- The user
interacts only with
the CPU computer (= the "traditional" computer)
through the keyboard and
terminal
- The user controls the GPU computer through an Application Programming Interface (API) (= library functions)
- The user
interacts only with
the CPU computer (= the "traditional" computer)
through the keyboard and
terminal