by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
Will the GPU ever become the metric that we use to measure PCs with, replacing the GHz-centric and core-centric CPU? Why might this happen? Well, because increasingly software developers are looking to the GPU to take the load off the CPU. And with good reason, as the GPU absolutely excels at certain tasks, leaving even the most cutting-edge CPUs in their smoke. For example, just look at what NVIDIA is doing with CUDA.
It’s interesting to see the GPU gain increasing relevance all of a sudden. Over the past couple of years we’ve seen the importance of high-end GPUs diminished greatly as games (which are increasingly developed for consoles) no longer suck at the GPU anywhere near as hard as they once did. When once you could spend $500 on a graphics card and still feel like getting another in order to hook them together in a Crossfire/SLI setup, now a $100 is really all that 95% of gamers need. Problem is, GPU makers don’t make much of a profit off of $100 graphics cards.
