3 ms·

I'd say over 70% of all computing is already been non-CPU for years. If you look at your typical phone or laptop SoC, the CPU is only a small part. The GPU take

I'd say over 70% of all computing is already been non-CPU for years. If you look at your typical phone or laptop SoC, the CPU is only a small part. The GPU takes the majority of area, with other accelerators also taking significant space. Manufacturers would not spend that money on silicon, if it was not already used.

goku12 10mo ago
> I'd say over 70% of all computing is already been non-CPU for years. > If you look at your typical phone or laptop SoC, the CPU is only a small part. Keep in mind that the die area doesn't always correspond to the throughput (average rate) of the computations done on it. That area may be allocated for a higher computational bandwidth (peak rate) and lower latency. Or in other words, get the results of a large number of computations faster, even if it means that the circuits idle for the rest of the cycles. I don't know the situation on mobile SoCs with regards to those quantities.
- deliciousturkey 10mo ago
  This is true, and my example was a very rough metric. But the computation density per area is actually way, way higher on GPU's compared to CPU's. CPU's only spend a tiny fraction of their area doing actual computation.
PunchyHamster 10mo ago
If going by raw operations done, if the given workload uses 3d rendering for UI that's probably true for computers/laptops. Watching YT video is essentially CPU pushing data between internet and GPU's video decoder, and to GPU-accelerated UI.
swiftcoder 10mo ago
> If you look at your typical phone or laptop SoC, the CPU is only a small part In mobile SoCs a good chunk of this is power efficiency. On a battery-powered device, there's always going to be a tradeoff to spend die area making something like 4K video playback more power efficient, versus general purpose compute Desktop-focussed SKUs are more liable to spend a metric ton of die area on bigger caches close to your compute.

goku12 10mo ago

> I'd say over 70% of all computing is already been non-CPU for years. > If you look at your typical phone or laptop SoC, the CPU is only a small part. Keep in mind that the die area doesn't always correspond to the throughput (average rate) of the computations done on it. That area may be allocated for a higher computational bandwidth (peak rate) and lower latency. Or in other words, get the results of a large number of computations faster, even if it means that the circuits idle for the rest of the cycles. I don't know the situation on mobile SoCs with regards to those quantities.

deliciousturkey 10mo ago
This is true, and my example was a very rough metric. But the computation density per area is actually way, way higher on GPU's compared to CPU's. CPU's only spend a tiny fraction of their area doing actual computation.

PunchyHamster 10mo ago

If going by raw operations done, if the given workload uses 3d rendering for UI that's probably true for computers/laptops. Watching YT video is essentially CPU pushing data between internet and GPU's video decoder, and to GPU-accelerated UI.

swiftcoder 10mo ago

> If you look at your typical phone or laptop SoC, the CPU is only a small part In mobile SoCs a good chunk of this is power efficiency. On a battery-powered device, there's always going to be a tradeoff to spend die area making something like 4K video playback more power efficient, versus general purpose compute Desktop-focussed SKUs are more liable to spend a metric ton of die area on bigger caches close to your compute.