Thread: Gpgpu

General Purpose GPUs refer to those GPUs that can also be used to perform non-graphics work. GPUs have increased in computational prowess to such an extent that they are capable of overtaking most CPUs in their ability to manage numerical- specifically decimaldata, which forms the bulk of graphics data that they are specially designed for.



The GPGPU concept seeks to utilise this power of the GPU to perform general tasks that are heavy on number crunching, like weather simulations and space data manipulation. The fact that newer cards are increasingly programmable, allowing the. developer to use them for custom purposes, helps the cause.