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The first question is why is there a divide between CPUs and GPUs in the first place. Yes, the gap is closing and both categories are adding features of one ano
by Lichtso 2y ago
The first question is why is there a divide between CPUs and GPUs in the first place. Yes, the gap is closing and both categories are adding features of one another but there still is a significant divide. IMO it has to do with Amdahl's law [0]. In that sense CPUs should be called Latency-Optimizing-Processors (LOPs) and GPUs should be called Throughput-Optimizing-Processors (TOPs).
More specifically [1] we could also call CPUs long / deep data dependency processors (LDDPs) and GPUs wide / flat data dependency processors (WDDPs).
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl%27s_law
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_dependency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_dependency
- gpderetta 2y agoThe observation that graphic hardware and general purpose CPUs converge and diverge is not new: http://cva.stanford.edu/classes/cs99s/papers/myer-sutherland-design-of-display-processors.pdf http://cva.stanford.edu/classes/cs99s/papers/myer-sutherland... . But as you observe, we are stuck in a local optimum where GPUs are optimized for throughput and CPUs for latency sensitive work.