Graphics Processing Units

This book discusses the topic of Graphics Processing Units, which are specialized units found in most modern computer architectures. Although we can do operations on graphics data in regular arithmetic logic units (ALU's) via software, the hardware approach is much faster. Just like for floating point arithmetic, specialized units speed up the process. We will discuss the applications for GPU's, the data format, and the operations they perform. These specialized units are the backbone to video, and to a large extent, audio processing in modern computer architectures.

The assumption is made that your understand basically the difference between integers, floating point, and graphics objects, and you have an understanding of how a computer executes instructions. A basic knowledge of memory and caching will be useful.

The GPU is a specialized computer architecture, focused on image data manipulation for graphics displays and picture processing. It has specific applications for that. The normal ALU, Arithmetic-Logic Unit, in a computer does the four basic math operations, and logical operations on integers. These integers are usually 32 or 64 bits at this time. The GPU greatly enhances the speed of 3D graphics.

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