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A Closer Look at GPUs.

The article discusses graphics processing units (GPUs), providing both an overview and a detailed analysis of GPUs as well as exploring the subtle differences between GPUs and central processing units (CPUs). A GPU built in 2008 is a versatile processor that plays an important role in multicore para...

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Published in:Communications of the ACM Vol. 51; no. 10; pp. 50 - 58
Main Authors: KAYVON FATAHALIAN, HOUSTON, MIKE
Format: Article
Published: Association for Computing Machinery Oct2008
Subjects:
Computer graphics software
Central processing units
Parallel computer software
Algorithm software
Parallel computers
Computer programming
Computer software
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:The article discusses graphics processing units (GPUs), providing both an overview and a detailed analysis of GPUs as well as exploring the subtle differences between GPUs and central processing units (CPUs). A GPU built in 2008 is a versatile processor that plays an important role in multicore parallel computing architectures, the article states. GPUs collect large amounts of fixed-function and software-programmable processing resources. Also discussed is the challenge of the efficient mapping of common rendering algorithms onto GPU resources.