There are many parts of the computer that we hear every day… Specifications, technical words, and you may have internalized some concepts , but you are not clear about what they are or what they are for or what they differ from. In this case, we explain what the GPU is and what it is for or what is different from the graphics card or what are the differences between a CPU and a GPU.
Basic concepts for a specialized or professional computer user but that not everyone can know and that we will explain in the next paragraphs.
What is a GPU and what is it for?
We usually talk about the graphics card and we do it in a general way, although we do not always refer to the card in general but to the GPU in particular. GPU is an acronym for Graphics Processing Unit. That is, graphics processing unit. It is the brain and heart of a graphics card, the core of the graphics card. What allows the games to appear on the screen but not the only thing that incorporates a graphics card, as we will see in the next paragraphs. The GPU is the graphics card chip.
A silicon chip whose characteristics vary depending on the model but which has millions of components inside and which vary depending on the model, the manufacturer. There are common elements among all GPUs such as Compute Units or SM Units, shading engines, rasterizing units (or ROPs), texturing units, RT cores, tensor cores, the memory bus… What are they for? Each one has a different mission. For example, the rasterizing unit is in charge of transforming three-dimensional space or the texturing unit is in charge of applying an image to a surface to simulate a texture or color that we would appreciate in real life. Also others such as the tessellation unit or the intersection unit that allow us to achieve higher quality and greater fidelity with reality.
Difference between a GPU and graphics card
What is the difference between GPU and graphics card? As we have said, the GPU is a part. GPU stands for Graphics Processing Unit, as we have explained in previous paragraphs. That is, this concept or word refers to the core of the graphics card and not to the entire card, in general. The GPU is a part of the graphics card but only a part of the whole. To the GPU you have to add a heatsink, memory modules, video outputs, PCB… to form a complete graphics card and not just the component called “GPU”.
GPU is the core where all the mathematical calculations are done for the computer to be able to present the image on the monitor or screen. But not the whole.
Differences with the CPU
You may be confused by the name but a CPU and a GPU are totally different things. The CPU of a computer means Central Processing Unit or Central Processing Unit. It is the “brain” of the device and is usually considered as the processor or microprocessor, the one in charge of processing the instructions.
Although his name is similar, his work is completely different. The CPU is the central processing unit and the GPU is in charge of graphic processing. That is, the CPU is responsible for the “general” processing compared to the specific work of graphic processing of the GPU mentioned here.