how a graphics processing unit gpu works
the graphics in videos and g1s consist of polygonal coordinates that are converted into bitmap2s a process2 called rendering and then into signals that are shown on a screen this conversion requires the graphics processing unit gpu to have a lot of processing power which also makes gpus useful in machine learning artificial intelligence and other tasks that require a large number of complex and sophisticated computation2s history of the graphics processing unit gpu in 1999 nvidia introduced the geforce 256 the first widely available gpu nvidia defined a gpu as a single chip processor with integrated transform lighting triangle setup clipping and rendering engines that is capable of processing a minimum of 10 million polygons per second the geforce 256 improved on the technology by other processors by optimizing 3d gaming performance while nvidia still reigns supreme in the gpu market the technology has greatly improved in the 2000s nvidia released its geforce 8800 gtx which has a texture fill rate of a whopping 36 8 billion per second 2today gpus have seen a resurgence in popularity their use has been extended into new industries thanks to the advent of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies gpus have also played a role in establishing wider access to higher quality virtual reality gaming gpus vs cpusbefore the arrival of gpus in the late 1990s graphic rendering was handled by the central processing unit cpu when used in conjunction with a cpu a gpu can increase computer performance by taking on some computationally intensive functions such as rendering from the cpu this accelerates how quickly applications can process since the gpu can perform many calculations simultaneously this shift also allowed for the development of more advanced and resource intensive software processing data in a gpu or a cpu is handled by cores the more cores a processing unit has the faster and potentially more efficiently a computer can complete tasks gpus use thousands of cores to process tasks in parallel the parallel structure of the gpu is different than that of the cpu which uses fewer cores to process tasks sequentially a cpu can perform calculations faster than a gpu which makes it better at basic tasks special considerationsthe term gpu is often used interchangeably with graphics card though the two are different a graphics card is a piece of hardware that contains one or more gpus a daughterboard and other electronic components that allow the graphics card to function a gpu can however be integrated into the motherboard or be found in the daughterboard of a graphics card initially high end computers were the only ones to feature graphics cards today most desktop computers typically use a separate graphics card with a gpu for increased performance rather than rely on a gpu built into a motherboard gpus and cryptocurrency miningwhile gpus were initially popular with video editing and computer gaming enthusiasts the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies created a new market this is because cryptocurrency mining requires thousands of calculations in order to add transactions to a blockchain which is something that could be profitable with access to a gpu and an inexpensive supply of electricity in recent years two prominent graphics card manufacturers nvidia corp nvda and advanced micro devices inc amd have experienced a rapid increase in sales and revenue as a result of cryptocurrency mining this had the side effect of frustrating non mining customers who saw prices increase and supply dry up as a result retailers occasionally limited the number of graphics cards that an individual could purchase while miners of the more popular cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have shifted to using specialized and more cost effective chipsets called application specific integrated circuits asics graphics processing units are still used to mine lesser known currencies the rise in the popularity of cryptocurrencies has caused a massive shortage of gpus reporting from the verge calculated that gpus are being sold for two to three times their street price on sites like ebay 3examples of gpu companiesadvanced micro devices amd and nvidia nvda are two of the biggest names in the gpu market let s take a look at both companies below amd is one of the most trusted producers of graphic cards the manufacturer began as a startup in silicon valley in 1969 and develops high performance computing and visualization products 2 amd entered the gpu market in 2006 when it acquired leading video card maker ati since then amd and nvidia have been the dominant players in the gpu market as of may 2021 amd has a market cap of 97 3 billion amd has shipped over 500 million gpus since 2013 and controls 17 of the gpu market share 4amd places its focus in the gpu market on pc gaming and is a favorite among gamers worldwide nvidia was the very first company to bring gpus into the world in 1999 the first gpu in history was known as the geforce 256 1999 was also the year nvidia launched its initial public offering ipo at 12 per share 5 as of may 2021 the stock is trading around 645 per share nvidia has a market cap of 404 8 billion and controls 13 of the gpu market share 67nvidia has considerable reach in the advanced gpu market according to nvidia s website eight of the world s top 10 supercomputers now use nvidia gpus infiniband networking or both nvidia powers 346 of the overall top500 systems on the latest list nvidia s own supercomputer named selene is ranked fifth in the world and is the world s fastest industrial supercomputer 8graphics processing unit gpu faqswhereas gpu is a chip or electronic circuit capable used to render graphics for display on an electronic device a vga or video graphics array connector is a physical device used to transfer video signals and computer video output before overclocking make sure you thoroughly clean your device and install any updates and bug fixes to your software thanks to updates in technology overclocking is fairly simple simply install software such as afterburner and let the system go to work after the installation is complete run a gaming benchmark to test out the new software gpu scaling is a feature that enables users to adjust the aspect ratio of a game based on their monitor s resolution some users believe this adjusting the aspect ratio will further enhance the image quality of the display 