TDB 1123 COMPUTER ORGANISATION

JAN 2016 SEMESTER

ASSIGNMENT 2
(DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN THE TERMS CPU &
GPU)

TEAM MEMBERS
No
1
2

Name
NURUL SYAHIRA BT MD
RAIS
NADIA ASYIQIN BT ROSDI
ANUAR

ID

Program/Year

2416
7
2415
6

IS400D: Information
Systems / 1st year 1st
IS400D:Information
Systems / 1st year 1st

LECTURER NAME : DR. SUZIAH BT SULAIMAN

SUBMISSION DATE : 21th MARCH 2016

COMPUTER ORGANISATION
TDB1123

1.0 WHAT IS CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU)?

The CPU is the brains of the computer where most calculations take place. In terms
of computing power, the CPU is the most important element of a computer system. On large
machines, the CPU requires one or more printed circuit boards. On personal computers and
small workstations, the CPU is housed in a single chip called a microprocessor. Since the
1970's the microprocessor class of CPUs has almost completely overtaken all other CPU
implementations.
The CPU itself is an internal component of the computer. Modern CPUs are small
and square and contain multiple metallic connectors or pins on the underside. The CPU is
inserted directly into a CPU socket, pin side down, on the motherboard.
Each motherboard will support only a specific type (or range) of CPU, need to check
the motherboard manufacturer's specifications before attempting to replace or upgrade a
CPU in computer. Modern CPUs also have an attached heat sink and small fan that go
directly on top of the CPU to help dissipate heat.

1.1 COMPONENTS OF A CPU

Two typical components of a CPU are the following:

The arithmetic logic unit (ALU), which performs arithmetic and logical operations.

The control unit (CU), which extracts instructions from memory and decodes
and executes them, calling on the ALU when necessary.

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TDB1123

2.0 WHAT IS GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT (GPU)?

A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), also occasionally called Visual Processing

Unit (VPU), is a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter
memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a
display.
GPUs

are

used

in embedded

systems, mobile

phones, personal

computers, workstations, and game consoles. Modern GPUs are very efficient at
manipulating computer graphics and image processing, and their highly parallel structure
makes them more effective than general-purpose CPUs for algorithms where the processing
of large blocks of visual data is done in parallel. In a personal computer, a GPU can be
present on a video card, or it can be embedded on the motherboard or in certain CPUs on
the CPU die.
Graphics Processing Unit was presented as a "single-chip processor with
integrated transform, lighting, triangle setup/clipping, and rendering engines that are capable
of processing a minimum of 10 million polygons per second".
A dedicated GPU is not necessarily removable, nor does it necessarily interface with
the motherboard in a standard fashion. The term "dedicated" refers to the fact that dedicated
graphics cards have RAM that is dedicated to the card's use, not to the fact
that most dedicated GPUs are removable. Dedicated GPUs for portable computers are most
commonly interfaced through a non-standard and often proprietary slot due to size and
weight constraints.

FIGURE 2.0: GeForce 6600GT (NV43) GPU

3

COMPUTER ORGANISATION
TDB1123

3.0 WHAT IS DIFFERENTIATES BETWEEN THE TERMS OF CPU AND GPU?

NO.

1.

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT

A CPU is the general purpose "brain" of

The GPU is a specialized "brain" just

the computer.

performing the tasks needed to display

images on the screen(s).

2.

The CPU is where all the program

A Graphics Processing Unit or GPU is

instructions are executed in order to

meant to alleviate the load of the CPU by

derive

the

necessary

data.

The handling all the advanced computations

advancement in modern day CPUs necessary to project the final display on the
have allowed it to crunch more numbers

monitor.

than ever before, but the advancement

in software technology meant that
CPUs are still trying to catch up.

3.

CPU is a general purpose processor it GPU

is

a special

purpose processor,

can in principle do any computation, but

optimized for calculations commonly (and

not necessarily in an optimal fashion for

repeatedly)

any given computation. One can do

Graphics, particularly SIMD operations.

required

for Computer

graphics processing on a CPU but it

likely

will

not

produce

the

result

anywhere nearly as fast as a properly

programmed GPU.
4.

The CPU is composed of just few cores

A GPU is composed of hundreds of cores

with lots of cache memory that can that can handle thousands of threads
handle a few software threads at a time.

simultaneously. The ability of a GPU with

100+ cores to process thousands of
threads can accelerate some software by
100x over a CPU alone.

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TDB1123

NO.

5.

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

CPU can be doing other non-graphics

GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT

GPU is doing calculations for graphics.

calculations at the same time.

Small number of computation threads Large number of simple computation

6.

being

undertaken

at

high

speed threads undertaken at a lower speed

(typically 3+GHz).

(typically ~1GHz).

CPU Devotes less Transistors to Data

GPU Devotes More Transistors to Data

Processing.

Processing.

CPU can perform the function of a GPU

GPU very fast speed than the CPU.

7.

8.

but at a much slower speed.

9.

CPU are much simpler and do not have

GPUs are basically massively parallel

optimizations like long pipelines, out-of-

computers. They work well on problems

order execution and instruction-level- that

parallelizaiton.

can

use

large

scale

data

decomposition and they offer orders of

magnitude speedups on those problems.

COMPUTER ORGANISATION
TDB1123

4.0 REFERENCES

1. Ben Joan. May 19,2011. "Difference Between CPU and GPU." Retrieved from
http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-cpu-and-gpu/.

2. Kevin Krewell. December 16,2009. Whats the difference between a CPU and a
GPU. Retrieved from https://blogs.nividia.com/blog/2009/12/16/whats-the-differencebetween-a-cpu-and-a-gpu/

3. Jun. May 6, 2013. What is the difference between GPU and CPU. Retrieved from
http://allegroviva.com/gpu-computing/difference-between-gpu-and-cpu/

4. Danny Stieben. February 14,2013. What is the difference between an APU, CPU
and GPU?. Retrieved form http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-the-differencebetween-apu-cpu-a-gpu-makeuseof-explains/
Denny Atkin. "Computer Shopper: The Right GPU for You". Retrieved 2007-05-15.

1.Jump up^ Hague, James (September 10, 2013). "Why Do Dedicated Game Consoles
Exist?".Programming in the 21st Century.}