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I feel like CPUs and GPUS are converging anyways. They are both going multicore, and GPUs are becoming better suited to general-purpose processing. Sure GPUs ha

by dlevine 17y ago

I feel like CPUs and GPUS are converging anyways. They are both going multicore, and GPUs are becoming better suited to general-purpose processing. Sure GPUs have lots of simple dedicated cores, while CPUs have fewer more complex cores, but over time this will converge. In the long run, you won't need dedicated logic for graphics processing, at least on the low-end. Processors will just dedicate a few cores to graphics processing. If you doubt this, look at what people said a few years ago about graphics integrated into the chipset. Now you have respectable solutions like NVidia's 9400. Within a few years, I bet that some relatively high-end solutions will be integrated into the silicon, and the low-end processors will do everything on the CPU. Over the long-term (probably when we have 32-64 cores per CPU), the GPU will become irrelevant.

lutorm 17y ago
I don't think they are converging at all. The fundamental difference is that GPUs are using the vast amount of silicon real estate that in a CPU is used for cache for computational units. That gives it much higher computational peak performance, but it also means that your memory is uncached, which will kill you in applications that do unstructured memory access. I think of it as analogous to cars vs semitrucks. Trucks are efficient at hauling massive amounts of stuff to the same place, but not at transporting 100 commuters to their different workplaces. They are optimized for different problems and I don't think there's a better argument for saying that GPUS and CPUs will converge than to say that semitrucks and cars will converge.
- scott_s 17y ago
  But GPUs do have an internal memory hierarchy; there is a local cache with much faster access times than global memory. Personally, I agree with the parent. Aside from the obvious solution of integrating a GPU-like accelerator on the chip, the multicore trend in general purpose CPUs has more, simpler cores. I agree with your overall characterization of what CPUs are good at versus what GPUs are good at, but I still see some convergence.

by dlevine 17y ago

lutorm 17y ago

I don't think they are converging at all. The fundamental difference is that GPUs are using the vast amount of silicon real estate that in a CPU is used for cache for computational units. That gives it much higher computational peak performance, but it also means that your memory is uncached, which will kill you in applications that do unstructured memory access. I think of it as analogous to cars vs semitrucks. Trucks are efficient at hauling massive amounts of stuff to the same place, but not at transporting 100 commuters to their different workplaces. They are optimized for different problems and I don't think there's a better argument for saying that GPUS and CPUs will converge than to say that semitrucks and cars will converge.

scott_s 17y ago
But GPUs do have an internal memory hierarchy; there is a local cache with much faster access times than global memory. Personally, I agree with the parent. Aside from the obvious solution of integrating a GPU-like accelerator on the chip, the multicore trend in general purpose CPUs has more, simpler cores. I agree with your overall characterization of what CPUs are good at versus what GPUs are good at, but I still see some convergence.