Accelerated processing unit
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An Accelerated Processing Unit (APU, also Advanced Processing Unit) is a computer's main processing unit that includes additional processing capability designed to accelerate one or more types of computations outside of a central processing unit (CPU). This may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) used for general-purpose computing (GPGPU), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or similar specialized processing system. Variations on the usage of this term include a variation in which the APU is described as a processing device which integrates a CPU and an OpenCL compatible GPU on the same die, thus improving data transfer rates between these components while reducing power consumption by upwards of 50% with current technology over traditional architecture.[1] APUs can also include video processing and other application-specific accelerators. Examples include AMD Accelerated Processing Unit, Cell, Intel HD Graphics, and NVIDIA's Project Denver.
The term accelerated processing unit was first used in a public context with respect to accelerated computing in 2006,[2] and prior to that in various presentations and business plans written by Joe Landman[3] of Scalable Informatics.[4] Other uses include Xilinx using the term for an auxiliary processor unit.
See also
- CPU design
- Computer bus
- Computer engineering
- Computer graphics
- Computer hardware
- Microprocessor
- AMD Accelerated Processing Unit
References
- ^ "What is an APU?", Net flow developments (World Wide Web log entry), 2012-05-03
- ^ "Accelerator Processor Units (APUs) for non-scientific applications". Scalability. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "About me". scalability.org. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- ^ http://scalableinformatics.com/
External links
- APU Fusion, AMD
- Accelerated processing unit (news), UK: New electronics
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