How long before the CPU is no longer a significant part of performance?

[ArchAngel777]

It used to be that that the main processor of the computer would handle everything. This includes 3D gaming, environmental audio and pretty much everything else. Since that time we have been introduced to a GPU and an APU and pretty soon a PPU. It seems to be that we are developing a processor for anything that takes a significant load on the CPU. This is a good thing as we have seen some incredible advancements in PC gaming.

So what is next? We already have or are working towards the following:

CPU - Central Processing Unit
GPU - Graphics Processing Unit
APU - Audio Processing Unit
PPU - Physics Processing Unit

What is next on the list? How long before the CPU is no longer in control of anything taxing, but just manages all the other "sub" processors? It will be interesting to see what things will be like in 5 years... I personally think the CPU will start to take the back seat in CPU performance while all the sub processors are going to do the actual work.

What do you all think? Post opinions and speculate.

 

[thirdlegstump]

never

 

[dguy6789]

I do not think the cpu's current role will change significantly any time soon.

I am also fairly confident that the PPU will fall flat on it's face. This is because it is projected to launch at over $250 according to most preview websites, as well as have little to no support out of the box nor have any within any reasonable amount of time after it's launch. It has already been stated by many that the first generation PPUs will be out of date before there is even any real reason to have one. Many people(all?) want computer costs to go down. A PPU is just another thing to buy for your computer.

I would rather see CPU performance go way up, then to have various tasks that it may do be "ported" over to some other piece of hardware. I am thinking that with dual core, and multi core in the future, programmers will have all the processing power that they would need.