What is a GPU?

[Ruben]

I am wondering what a GPU is.

I think it's the thing that handles the graphics. Is this part of the processor? A bit confused

Thanks!

 

[vincentp]

Graphics Processing Unit

It's not part of the actual processor, but it works in tandem with the processor and both are parts of the chipset. It's basically a specialized processor to handle video and graphics. Some phones don't have a dedicated GPU, and have to use the normal processor for these things. Since a normal processor isn't specialized for graphics, and can't handle that workload along with it's other duties, those phones can't really do 3D applications and certain visual effects as well.

 

[Ruben]

Where can I find the info on it? Like which one does the Nexus One have, etc.

 

[vincentp]

Where can I find the info on it? Like which one does the Nexus One have, etc.

Don't know exactly what model it is, but it's powerful. The Snapdragon hardware in the Nexus One might be using an AMD GPU, though I can't remember the exact model. Regardless, it's pretty fast.

 

[Ruben]

Yet the homescreens lag...

 

[vincentp]

Yet the homescreens lag...

Do you have live wallpapers on?

This was a complaint of Droid owners when the phone came out too. We couldn't figure out why the transitions were so choppy when the phone was clearly more powerful than previous models which had nice smooth transitions.

Turns out it's most likely due to the operating system and not the hardware. 2.0/2.1 are seemingly not as smooth in transitions as their older cousins. Not really your phone's fault.

 

[Ruben]

It's not my device, but yes.

 

[vincentp]

Try it without the live wallpapers.

You can have the most powerful hardware in the world, but if the software isn't optimized like it should be, lag is still possible.

 

[Ruben]

I see. Is it that the wallpaper transitions are more reliant on the CPU than the GPU?

 

[vincentp]

I see. Is it that the wallpaper transitions are more reliant on the CPU than the GPU?

Maybe more than they should be. I don't know exactly why it's laggy or choppy, but that processor can certainly handle it.

 

[=KLRS=ZERO]

The snapdragon chipset is CPU, GPU, and baseband all in one. so all the rendering and stuff is done on the cpu

 

[Ruben]

So it's an optimization thing.

 

[=KLRS=ZERO]

yeah, id say its all in the OS