Accelerated processing unit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_processing_unit

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 improvingdata 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, andNVIDIA'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[edit]

CPU design

Computer bus

Computer engineering

Computer graphics

Computer hardware

Microprocessor

AMD Accelerated Processing Unit