5 ms·
Why are they still called GPU? PPU (Parallel Processing Unit) sounds like a better name.
by toppy 3y ago
Why are they still called GPU? PPU (Parallel Processing Unit) sounds like a better name.
- croes 3y agoCPUs are PPUs too
- rational_indian 3y agoA better name for GPUs would then be "Massively parallel processing units" or MPPUs.
- toppy 3y agoTouche!
- speed_spread 3y agoVector Processing Unit would be more appropriate.
- KeplerBoy 3y agoWhy stop there? Matrix Processing Unit or Tensor Processing Unit if you want to trigger the physicists or are a fan of the google cloud.
- nologic01 3y agoDifferential Geometric Processing Unit would do it for me.
- speed_spread 3y agoThose things actually exists and are called NPU (Neural Processing Unit). Many recent ARM CPU have them (Apple, Qualcomm, etc.) and even new RISC-V CPU. They're different from GPU in being even more constrained in programming requiring usage of a fixed function vendor-supplied library.
- dragonwriter 3y agoThose are a different thing (which may be part of a GPU, e.g., Nvidia's Tensor Cores, or separate, e.g., Apple Neural Engine.)
- duckmysick 3y agoGeneral Processing Unit
- dist-epoch 3y agoBecause everybody understands what you mean when you say GPU. Same with drone versus quad-copter, etc...
- palata 3y agoTo be pedantic, a quadcopter is a drone, but a drone is not necessarily a quadcopter.
- dragonwriter 3y agoTo be even more pedantic, "quadcopter" is a statement about airframe layout, and "drone" is a statement about control, and neither necessarily implies the other. You can have a non-drone quadcopter [0] or a non-quadcopter drone [1]. [0] e.g., https://www.jetsonaero.com/jetson-one https://www.jetsonaero.com/jetson-one [1] e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Shahed_136 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Shahed_136
- palata 3y agoHaha touché :-).
- croes 3y agoWe still call smartphones phones but hardly use the phone functionality.
- Salgat 3y agoBecause they're filled with graphics specific silicon in addition to the GPGPU stuff.