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I thought GPU stood for Graphics Processing Unit. Is this not the case?

Dalewyn 2y ago
It used to. Some time in the mid 2010s it changed to General Processing Unit, driven by things like PhysX, crowdsourced protein crunching efforts like Folding@Home, and particularly the cryptocurrency mining boom. Now we're in the 2020s and GPUs are all about being Generative Processing Units thanks to the "AI" craze.
- tolerantgravity 2y ago
  I don't think that is the prevailing sentiment. GPU still means Graphics Processing Unit to me and most tech people I know. I think it's more just in the folding and crypto communities that people have repurposed the initialism.
- MeImCounting 2y ago
  But I have still used GPUs as graphics processing units for game and little else this entire time as has everyone I know. Who decided on this nonclemature change? Because it certainly doesnt represent the primary use case...
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    > Who decided on this nonclemature change? No one; it's just something Dalewyn is making up.
- darkwater 2y ago
  First time I hear this. Given how you are being down voted, I'm probably not the only one.
  - Dalewyn 2y ago
    Downvotes mean little, arguably even moreso than Reddit. I've noticed I've garnered a dedicated downvote squad who tend to make the rounds once or twice a day. But that aside: Surely you've heard of GPGPU (General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit), a term I again call bloody stupid. Just call it a General Processing Unit in that case. More recently, the amount of money changing hands in furious bids for more Generative Processing Units to fuel the "AI" craze absolutely dwarves actual graphical applications and even the general use cases. I'm merely calling the bird that quacks like a duck a duck, not a swan duck bird.
    - jeltz 2y ago
      This was a correct use of downvotes. You posted something as truth that you seemingly just made up.
      - Dalewyn 2y ago
        The "truth", for what that's worth, is that GPUs haven't been about graphics as a primary concern for quite a while now and the terminology hasn't kept pace. Besides, we're apparently here talking about GPUs that can't do graphics.
        piva00 2y ago
        I think the confusion is between the nature of the acronyms, GPUs are Graphic Processing Units as a hardware concept, GPGPU is a software concept to use GPUs for general processing.
        Dalewyn 2y ago
        If the primary use case of Graphics Processing Units no longer concern graphics per se, would it not be prudent to rename them to something more appropriate? Personally, if we could use a new acronym all together I would prefer to just call them PPUs: Parallel Processing Units. That way we won't ever have to rename them ever again as the sands of time shift onwards.
      - 2y ago

It used to. Some time in the mid 2010s it changed to General Processing Unit, driven by things like PhysX, crowdsourced protein crunching efforts like Folding@Home, and particularly the cryptocurrency mining boom. Now we're in the 2020s and GPUs are all about being Generative Processing Units thanks to the "AI" craze.

tolerantgravity 2y ago
I don't think that is the prevailing sentiment. GPU still means Graphics Processing Unit to me and most tech people I know. I think it's more just in the folding and crypto communities that people have repurposed the initialism.
MeImCounting 2y ago
But I have still used GPUs as graphics processing units for game and little else this entire time as has everyone I know. Who decided on this nonclemature change? Because it certainly doesnt represent the primary use case...
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  > Who decided on this nonclemature change? No one; it's just something Dalewyn is making up.
darkwater 2y ago
First time I hear this. Given how you are being down voted, I'm probably not the only one.
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  Downvotes mean little, arguably even moreso than Reddit. I've noticed I've garnered a dedicated downvote squad who tend to make the rounds once or twice a day. But that aside: Surely you've heard of GPGPU (General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit), a term I again call bloody stupid. Just call it a General Processing Unit in that case. More recently, the amount of money changing hands in furious bids for more Generative Processing Units to fuel the "AI" craze absolutely dwarves actual graphical applications and even the general use cases. I'm merely calling the bird that quacks like a duck a duck, not a swan duck bird.
  - jeltz 2y ago
    This was a correct use of downvotes. You posted something as truth that you seemingly just made up.
    - Dalewyn 2y ago
      The "truth", for what that's worth, is that GPUs haven't been about graphics as a primary concern for quite a while now and the terminology hasn't kept pace. Besides, we're apparently here talking about GPUs that can't do graphics.
      - piva00 2y ago
        I think the confusion is between the nature of the acronyms, GPUs are Graphic Processing Units as a hardware concept, GPGPU is a software concept to use GPUs for general processing.
        Dalewyn 2y ago
        If the primary use case of Graphics Processing Units no longer concern graphics per se, would it not be prudent to rename them to something more appropriate? Personally, if we could use a new acronym all together I would prefer to just call them PPUs: Parallel Processing Units. That way we won't ever have to rename them ever again as the sands of time shift onwards.
    - 2y ago