29-03-2010, 09:15 PM
Graphics Processing Unit
What is a GPU???
A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a microprocessor that has been designed specifically for the processing of 3D graphics.
Main purpose of gpu is to simulate the 3D images as realistic as possible on the computer screen
GPU is mainly needed to relieve the CPU from graphical computations so that CPU can be used for other processes
History & Standards
The first GPU, introduced in 1981 by IBM, were monochrome cards designated as Monochrome Display Adapters (MDAs).
Then came Colour Graphics Adapter(CGA) & then the Enhanced Graphics Adapter(EGA).
IBM introduced the Video Graphics Array (VGA) in 1987. It could support up to 256 colors at resolutions up to 720x400
Then came the Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA) that supports upto 16.8 million colors and 1280x1024 resolution
Graphics Hardware Interface
Peripheral Component Interconnect(PCI)
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)
PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNNECT- EXPRESS(PCI-E)
Graphics Processor
The processor is designed specifically to perform floating point calculations, which are fundamental to 3D graphics processing.
Graphics Accelerator
A graphics accelerator assists graphics processing by executing instructions concurrently.
Frame Buffer
A frame buffer is a video output device that drives a video display from a memory buffer containing a complete frame of data.
Memory
Video memory may be used for storing screen image as well as Z-Buffer which manages the depth coordinates in 3D graphics.
Graphics BIOS
This contains the basic program, which is usually hidden, that governs the video card's operations and provides the instructions that allow the computer and software to interact with the card.
Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC)
The RAMDAC or Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter, converts digital signals to analog signals for use by a computer display that uses analog inputs such as CRT displays.
Display Connector
This include connection system b/w the video card and the display devices such as monitor or a television.
Need for 3DAcceleration
Everything that is displayed on the computer screen is 2D
The push for more realism, more finely-detailed graphics and faster speeds in such programs as means that more 3D work must be done in a shorter period of time has resulted in need for 3D acceleration
How is 3d acceleration done???
Geometry -CPU has the job of determining were the object or image have to be placed to make an fig on the screen.
Transform -This involves rotation ,scaling and translating an object or image.
Rendering -After taking information out of memory it is sent to the GPU & process those Bit Map images thus making an image in 3D.
Filtering -This is done by smoothing over the block bitmaps. Textures will seem more streamline and realistic.
Double Buffering -This uses two buffers to speed up the computation process. Data in one buffer is being processed while the next set of data is read into the other one.
Flat Shading -It shades each polygon of an object based on the angle between the polygon's surface normal and the direction of the light source, their respective colors and the intensity of the light source.
Mipmapping - The image becomes bigger as we move towards it & small as we move away from it, as we perceive it in the real world
Atmosphere - An effect used in outdoor scenes by blurring objects that are in the distance.
Lighting - This cause color shading, light reflection, shadows and other effects to be added to objects based on their position & the position of light sources.
Z-Buffering - To determine which objects, or parts of objects, are visible and which are hidden behind other objects.
Performance Factors of GPU
Fillrate
The fillrate usually refers to the number of pixels a video card can render and write to video memory in a second.
Memory Bandwidth
Memory bandwidth is the rate at which data can be read from or stored into a memory by a processor.
Memory Clock
This tells us the amount of memory bandwidth a graphics card has.
Memory Interface (Memory Bus)
The larger the Memory Interface width, faster the speed of data traveling in it.
Core Clock
The actual speed at which the graphics processor on a video card operates.
Some Terms Associated On GPU
ANTI ALIASING -Anti-Aliasing is a method of fooling the eye that a jagged edge is really smooth.
ROP (Raster Operators) -It is the task of taking an image (shapes) and converting it into a pixels or dots for output on a screen.
Alpha-blending -It is a technique to do transparency.
FPS -This is the main a unit of measure that is used to describe graphics and video performance.
Stream Processing
A stream is simply a set of records that require similar computation.
A technique used to accelerate the processing of many types of video and image computations is called stream processing.
Streams provide data parallelism
GPUs are stream processors “ processors that can operate in parallel by running a single kernel on many records in a stream at once.
Kernels are the functions that are applied to each element in the stream.
API (Application Program Interface)
It is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications
GLide by 3dfx
OpenGL by Silicon Graphics
Direct3D by Microsoft
TYPES OF GPU
DEDICATED GPU
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS SOLUTIONS
HYBRID SOLUTIONS
Some Examples of GPU
NVIDIAâ„¢S GFORCE
GFORCE 2series, GFORCE 3series, GFORCE 4series, GFORCE 5series, GFORCE 6series, GFORCE 7series, GFORCE 8series, GFORCE 9series, GFORCE 100series, GFORCE 200series,GFORCE 300series
Latest being GFORCE 400series
AMDâ„¢S RADEON
MACHseries,RAGEseries,RADEON R100series, RADEON R200series, RADEON R300series, RADEON R400series, RADEON R500series, RADEON R600series, RADEON R700series.
Latest being EVERGREEN5series
CUDA
CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a parallel computing architecture developed by NVIDIA
CUDA exploits the parallel computational power of the GPU where hundreds of on-chip processor cores simultaneously communicate and cooperate to solve complex computing problems, transforming the GPU into a massively parallel processor.
The programming interface of the CUDA technology uses the familiar programming language (such as NVIDIAâ„¢s C-like syntax) to code algorithms that send all calculations to the GPU
Conclusion
From the introduction of the first GPUâ„¢s in the 1970â„¢s to the most recent ones manufactured today, the present world of graphics has changed enormously and would have never been the same without it.
Today lot of applications have become faster and efficient by using GPU technology thus saving lot of time in many scenarios.
What is a GPU???
A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a microprocessor that has been designed specifically for the processing of 3D graphics.
Main purpose of gpu is to simulate the 3D images as realistic as possible on the computer screen
GPU is mainly needed to relieve the CPU from graphical computations so that CPU can be used for other processes
History & Standards
The first GPU, introduced in 1981 by IBM, were monochrome cards designated as Monochrome Display Adapters (MDAs).
Then came Colour Graphics Adapter(CGA) & then the Enhanced Graphics Adapter(EGA).
IBM introduced the Video Graphics Array (VGA) in 1987. It could support up to 256 colors at resolutions up to 720x400
Then came the Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA) that supports upto 16.8 million colors and 1280x1024 resolution
Graphics Hardware Interface
Peripheral Component Interconnect(PCI)
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)
PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNNECT- EXPRESS(PCI-E)
Graphics Processor
The processor is designed specifically to perform floating point calculations, which are fundamental to 3D graphics processing.
Graphics Accelerator
A graphics accelerator assists graphics processing by executing instructions concurrently.
Frame Buffer
A frame buffer is a video output device that drives a video display from a memory buffer containing a complete frame of data.
Memory
Video memory may be used for storing screen image as well as Z-Buffer which manages the depth coordinates in 3D graphics.
Graphics BIOS
This contains the basic program, which is usually hidden, that governs the video card's operations and provides the instructions that allow the computer and software to interact with the card.
Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC)
The RAMDAC or Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter, converts digital signals to analog signals for use by a computer display that uses analog inputs such as CRT displays.
Display Connector
This include connection system b/w the video card and the display devices such as monitor or a television.
Need for 3DAcceleration
Everything that is displayed on the computer screen is 2D
The push for more realism, more finely-detailed graphics and faster speeds in such programs as means that more 3D work must be done in a shorter period of time has resulted in need for 3D acceleration
How is 3d acceleration done???
Geometry -CPU has the job of determining were the object or image have to be placed to make an fig on the screen.
Transform -This involves rotation ,scaling and translating an object or image.
Rendering -After taking information out of memory it is sent to the GPU & process those Bit Map images thus making an image in 3D.
Filtering -This is done by smoothing over the block bitmaps. Textures will seem more streamline and realistic.
Double Buffering -This uses two buffers to speed up the computation process. Data in one buffer is being processed while the next set of data is read into the other one.
Flat Shading -It shades each polygon of an object based on the angle between the polygon's surface normal and the direction of the light source, their respective colors and the intensity of the light source.
Mipmapping - The image becomes bigger as we move towards it & small as we move away from it, as we perceive it in the real world
Atmosphere - An effect used in outdoor scenes by blurring objects that are in the distance.
Lighting - This cause color shading, light reflection, shadows and other effects to be added to objects based on their position & the position of light sources.
Z-Buffering - To determine which objects, or parts of objects, are visible and which are hidden behind other objects.
Performance Factors of GPU
Fillrate
The fillrate usually refers to the number of pixels a video card can render and write to video memory in a second.
Memory Bandwidth
Memory bandwidth is the rate at which data can be read from or stored into a memory by a processor.
Memory Clock
This tells us the amount of memory bandwidth a graphics card has.
Memory Interface (Memory Bus)
The larger the Memory Interface width, faster the speed of data traveling in it.
Core Clock
The actual speed at which the graphics processor on a video card operates.
Some Terms Associated On GPU
ANTI ALIASING -Anti-Aliasing is a method of fooling the eye that a jagged edge is really smooth.
ROP (Raster Operators) -It is the task of taking an image (shapes) and converting it into a pixels or dots for output on a screen.
Alpha-blending -It is a technique to do transparency.
FPS -This is the main a unit of measure that is used to describe graphics and video performance.
Stream Processing
A stream is simply a set of records that require similar computation.
A technique used to accelerate the processing of many types of video and image computations is called stream processing.
Streams provide data parallelism
GPUs are stream processors “ processors that can operate in parallel by running a single kernel on many records in a stream at once.
Kernels are the functions that are applied to each element in the stream.
API (Application Program Interface)
It is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications
GLide by 3dfx
OpenGL by Silicon Graphics
Direct3D by Microsoft
TYPES OF GPU
DEDICATED GPU
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS SOLUTIONS
HYBRID SOLUTIONS
Some Examples of GPU
NVIDIAâ„¢S GFORCE
GFORCE 2series, GFORCE 3series, GFORCE 4series, GFORCE 5series, GFORCE 6series, GFORCE 7series, GFORCE 8series, GFORCE 9series, GFORCE 100series, GFORCE 200series,GFORCE 300series
Latest being GFORCE 400series
AMDâ„¢S RADEON
MACHseries,RAGEseries,RADEON R100series, RADEON R200series, RADEON R300series, RADEON R400series, RADEON R500series, RADEON R600series, RADEON R700series.
Latest being EVERGREEN5series
CUDA
CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a parallel computing architecture developed by NVIDIA
CUDA exploits the parallel computational power of the GPU where hundreds of on-chip processor cores simultaneously communicate and cooperate to solve complex computing problems, transforming the GPU into a massively parallel processor.
The programming interface of the CUDA technology uses the familiar programming language (such as NVIDIAâ„¢s C-like syntax) to code algorithms that send all calculations to the GPU
Conclusion
From the introduction of the first GPUâ„¢s in the 1970â„¢s to the most recent ones manufactured today, the present world of graphics has changed enormously and would have never been the same without it.
Today lot of applications have become faster and efficient by using GPU technology thus saving lot of time in many scenarios.
