I'm confused about GPU vs. Graphics Card

Is a GPU or Graphics Card better?


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Is a GPU a kind of super advanced graphics card? Do you still need a CPU in order for your computer to run if you have a GPU? What is the difference between a GPU and Graphics Card?
 
Don't know if this is a troll thread or not, but:

GPU = Graphics Processing Unit.

Graphics card is just an informal way of referring to one of the ways a GPU can exist - as a standalone/separate/discrete card you slot into your motherboard.

Another way a GPU exists - on smaller things like consoles, laptops, phone, etc - is integrated into the system itself.
 
Is a GPU a kind of super advanced graphics card? Do you still need a CPU in order for your computer to run if you have a GPU? What is the difference between a GPU and Graphics Card?
GPU is the chip Nvidia makes that goes in the graphics card. The graphics card itself has several other components like heat sinks, fans etc.
 
Two different things but roped into one category today. GPU can sit inside a CPU or on the same motherboard. Graphics card is a separate object.
 
Don't know if this is a troll thread or not, but:

GPU = Graphics Processing Unit.

Graphics card is just an informal way of referring to one of the ways a GPU can exist - as a standalone/separate/discrete card you slot into your motherboard.

Another way a GPU exists - on smaller things like consoles, laptops, phone, etc - is integrated into the system itself.
A GPU is essentially an advanced microcontroller of a system?
 
a GPU is a microchip that is designed to calculate graphics rendering related tasks.

a graphics card is an expansion card for a computer that has a GPU on it and can be installed by the user (these days typically) through a PCIe slot

edit: for completion's sake:

an APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) or SoC (System on a Chip) is a chip that has both CPU and GPU hardware inside a single package.
modern consoles all use APUs.
the Xbox 360 originally had a separate CPU and GPU, but later revisions replaced those with a single unified SoC, as that's cheaper.

APU is AMD's name for them, SoC is the general term.

many PC CPUs you can buy are in reality APUs/SoCs, as they have integrated graphics (iGPU) hardware. on intel it was basically the default for a while now that their chips are SoCs, only certain models with and F at the end of their product name had no iGPU.
 
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The GPU is the chip. The graphics card is the whole thing including fans, PCB, VRAM, cooler, etc. We use them interchangeably because 99% of GPUs now are also graphics card. However, onboard GPUs are not graphics cards. They're just GPUs as they usually lack the "card" part.
 
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Can I convert a CPU to a GPU or vice versa?
No, they're designed completely different which is why CPU based rendering is a called software based and GPU based rendering is considered hardware based. They use memory in vastly different ways which is why CPUs use DDR and GPUs use GDDR.
 
Maybe this will help:


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GPU is just a marketing term created by Nvidia, for the launch of the Geforce 256.
But it became ubiquitous and now everything is a GPU.
 
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