(Graphics Processing Unit) A programmable logic chip that performs parallel operations on graphics data. Typically found on a plug-in graphics card (display adapter), it is used to encode and render 2D and 3D graphics as well as process video. The more sophisticated and faster the GPUs, combined with the graphics card's inherent architecture, the more realistically games and movies are displayed.
All Kinds of Parallel Processing
Since GPUs perform parallel operations on multiple sets of data, they are increasingly being used as vector processors for a variety of applications that require repetitive computations. For example, in 2010, a Chinese supercomputer achieved the record for top speed using more than seven thousand GPUs in addition to its CPUs. GPUs are also being used in desktop computers for improved voice, face and gesture recognition (see AMD Fusion). See vector processor, graphics pipeline and multi-GPU.
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