GPU Powered Macs and iPhones
Those GPU cores are the piranhas of processing. Because there are so many of them, they can chomp through tens of gigabytes of data in a second. But it has to be the right kind of data - something that can be parcelled up and delivered in bite-sized chunks to each core. In many cases, almost as soon as they have started working, the GPU piranhas will be waiting for the next chunk of meat. Managing that is hard and often it is just easier for a developer to have all the software run on a regular CPU.
Due to their specialized function, some tasks are better suited for GPU use. So far, research has focused on scientific tasks such as weather predictions, but there are efforts to standardize this programming.Most industry support is focused around Apple's OpenCL specification which they announced will be coming in the next major version of Mac OS X ("Snow Leopard"). Of course, not everyone is behind the initiative. As usual, Microsoft seems to have their own plans, and been involved in their own research on GPU computing.
Michael Dimelow, director of marketing for media processing at ARM, said: "I don't think Microsoft will be sitting and watching. I would never underestimate Microsoft's ability to come up with alternative positions."
Also relevant to Apple's recent mobile phone push is the fact that GPUs may provide handheld devices with extra computing power with less power consumption. According to the president of Khronos, GPUs can be 10 times more power-efficient than using a CPU. This can improve both video and audio performance on mobile devices.Since the iPhone shares the underlying OS X codebase, these upcoming improvements in Mac OS X should trickle down to benefit the iPhone.
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(View all)Also, the GPU is a great place to look for hardware acceleration in video decoding. QuickTime X would be the perfect place for this, and such improvements would benefit iChat.
If the way the Folding app has been optimized for GPU's is any indication of the speed increases possible, this is pretty exciting stuff, particularly for the mobile market.
could this mean the end of integrated graphics?
could this mean the end of integrated graphics?
It could also mean the beginning of newer,better integrated graphics.
could this mean the end of integrated graphics?
I doubt it. Or at least not for a while. Integrated graphics are cheap and work decently. There may be a time when this new technology is filtered down into lower end computers, but of course, time will tell how soon that is.
could this mean the end of integrated graphics?
I'm hoping it will be the beginning of replacable integrated graphics.
I'm hoping it will be the beginning of replacable integrated graphics.
That... doesn't make sense. One of the defining points of integrated graphics is that it's built in to the motherboard. If it's replaceable, it's just really wimpy dedicated graphics.
Computer are going down two routes. Either CPUs will become good at GPU functions (Intel Larrabee) or GPUs will become more general-purpose (GPGPU). GPGPUs have been more available in recent times, but Larrabee looks promising.
It could also mean the beginning of newer,better integrated graphics.
This is exactly what I was thinking. Once you have an OpenCL spec then the people who make GPUs can build them to run OpenCL well. I'm sure Intel is looking at this.
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