File:Generic_block_diagram_of_a_GPU.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
graphics processing unit
Also known as GPU, visual processing unit, VPU, graphics accelerator, graphic unit, video unit, graphical processing unit, video processing unit
specialized electronic circuit; graphics accelerator
AI overview
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to quickly process visual information and display images on screens. It matters because it handles the heavy computational work of rendering graphics, which frees up your computer's main processor to focus on other tasks, making your system faster and more efficient overall.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Image
- 6600GT GPU.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- Commons category
- Graphics processing units
- Commons gallery
- Graphics processing unit
- Stack Exchange tag
- stackoverflow.com/tags/gpu
- short name
- GPU
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~31 min read
Article
The components of a GPU. A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a component on a discrete graphics card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations, and game consoles. GPUs are increasingly being used for artificial intelligence (AI) processing due to linear algebra acceleration, which is also used extensively in graphics processing.
Although there is no single definition of the term, and it may be used to describe any video display system, in modern use a GPU includes the ability to internally perform the calculations needed for various graphics tasks, like rotating and scaling 3D images, and often the additional ability to run custom programs known as shaders. This contrasts with earlier graphics controllers known as video display controllers which had no internal calculation capabilities, or blitters, which performed only basic memory movement operations. The modern GPU emerged during the 1990s, adding the ability to perform operations like drawing lines and text without CPU help, and later adding 3D functionality.