Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
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Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
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Re: Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
#2Isn't a GPU with no rasterization or texture hardware a DSP?
Re: Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
#3Isn't a GPU with no rasterization or texture hardware a DSP?
Yeah, this is a "GPU" in the sense that it resembles modern GPUs with the graphics parts sliced off. So it's an understandable shorthand to use, but it is a bit misleading.
Terminology on this is confusing - NVIDIA calls their A100 a "GPU" for example but I can't tell if any of the graphics bits like samplers and ROPs are even in that thing - though I did learn it has a hardware JPEG decoder.
Re: Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
#4Isn't a GPU with no rasterization or texture hardware a DSP?
Yeah, this is a "GPU" in the sense that it resembles modern GPUs with the graphics parts sliced off. So it's an understandable shorthand to use, but it is a bit misleading. Terminology on this is confusing - NVIDIA calls their A100 a "GPU" for example but I can't tell if any of the graphics bits like samplers and ROPs are even in that thing - though I did learn it has a hardware JPEG decoder.
I know it (the A100) at least has the texture pipeline too, so it's certainly got more "Graphics" optimized parts than this.
Really nomenclature is a mess, everyone hops on the next big term until you're not sure what it means anymore.
Re: Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
#5This reminds me of the software engineer who built his own GPU: https://www.furygpu.com/about
Re: Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, this is a "GPU" in the sense that it resembles modern GPUs with the graphics parts sliced off. So it's an understandable shorthand to use, but it is a bit misleading. Terminology on this is confusing - NVIDIA calls their A100 a "GPU" for example but I can't tell if any of the graphics bits like samplers and ROPs are even in that thing - though I did learn it has a hardware JPEG decoder.
I know it (the A100) at least has the texture pipeline too, so it's certainly got more "Graphics" optimized parts than this. Really nomenclature is a mess, everyone hops on the next big term until you're not sure what it means anymore.
GPU as a term lost meaning when it changed to Generative Processing Unit from General Processing Unit some time in the last couple years.
And no, GPGPU is a bloody stupid term.
Re: Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know it (the A100) at least has the texture pipeline too, so it's certainly got more "Graphics" optimized parts than this. Really nomenclature is a mess, everyone hops on the next big term until you're not sure what it means anymore.
GPU as a term lost meaning when it changed to Generative Processing Unit from General Processing Unit some time in the last couple years. And no, GPGPU is a bloody stupid term.
I thought GPU stood for Graphics Processing Unit. Is this not the case?
Re: Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
GPU as a term lost meaning when it changed to Generative Processing Unit from General Processing Unit some time in the last couple years. And no, GPGPU is a bloody stupid term.
I thought GPU stood for Graphics Processing Unit. Is this not the case?
It used to. Some time in the mid 2010s it changed to General Processing Unit, driven by things like PhysX, crowdsourced protein crunching efforts like Folding@Home, and particularly the cryptocurrency mining boom.
Now we're in the 2020s and GPUs are all about being Generative Processing Units thanks to the "AI" craze.
Re: Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought GPU stood for Graphics Processing Unit. Is this not the case?
It used to. Some time in the mid 2010s it changed to General Processing Unit, driven by things like PhysX, crowdsourced protein crunching efforts like Folding@Home, and particularly the cryptocurrency mining boom. Now we're in the 2020s and GPUs are all about being Generative Processing Units thanks to the "AI" craze.
I don't think that is the prevailing sentiment. GPU still means Graphics Processing Unit to me and most tech people I know. I think it's more just in the folding and crypto communities that people have repurposed the initialism.
Re: Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought GPU stood for Graphics Processing Unit. Is this not the case?
It used to. Some time in the mid 2010s it changed to General Processing Unit, driven by things like PhysX, crowdsourced protein crunching efforts like Folding@Home, and particularly the cryptocurrency mining boom. Now we're in the 2020s and GPUs are all about being Generative Processing Units thanks to the "AI" craze.
But I have still used GPUs as graphics processing units for game and little else this entire time as has everyone I know. Who decided on this nonclemature change? Because it certainly doesnt represent the primary use case...