** GPU + CPU Question **

[ttechf]

Hi, this may be sort of a "noob" question but does having a dedicated GPU card take strain off the CPU? I would think it would and this is what I've heard but I just wanted to ask the tech community. : ]

I guess it would make sense for example if you have HD 4600 Intel graphics with no GPU card, then the processor has to work for graphics to view everything and process as well as the processor side of it too. But if you have an onboard GPU on your laptop or dedicated card for your desktop, it wouldn't tax the CPU so hard and much?


So perhaps you could get away with a slightly less powerful CPU if you had a GPU card?


Thanks. : ]

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

It depends entirely on how the specific application was written. Some are more Cpu limited while others are more gpu dependent.

 

[lyssword]

No, not really, if you are talking about something like web browser 2d graphics, the computing power required for that is almost nothing in terms of what modern integrated like hd4600 can do. The only thing I can think of is special gpu-accelerated apps or video games, that pretty much increases the wattage for the chip, perhaps limiting its turbo clocks to stay within tdp and stealing memory capacity/bandwidth perhaps.

 

[Deders]

AMD have just released software that will make use of their APU's which combine low powered CPU's with cut down Radeon GPU's in a way that is more cohesive than CPU's, but it's still early days yet.

 

[ocre]

There are apps that do take the load of the CPU such as flash. It has GPU hardware acceleration which just happens.

But there are all sorts of apps that you can use the GPU for crunching heavy loads. They are great for task like video editing and photoshop, if you have that need.

Today, the modern igp handles everyday tasks just fine. But they are no match in the apps that have been developed to fully utilize GPUs for heavy crunching