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[German Shocks]

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?

 

[Deficit]

GPU is when i'm too sorry type "graphics card". If you're over 40 you can say "video card"

 

[DaciaJC]

GPU = l33t grafix, "graphics card" iz 4 t3h po0rz

 

[The Fartist]

Yes

 

[Loomy]

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.

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

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.

 

[El Muerto]

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.

 

[German Shocks]

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?

 

[kevboard]

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.

 

[Gaiff]

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.

 

[delirium trigger]

You need a cpu regardless. Some cpu's come with integrated graphics built in but if you want to play anything demanding you need a gpu as well.

 

[bbeach123]

A GPU is essentially an advanced microcontroller of a system?

No , its like a CPU , just way simplier , weaker but had shit fuck ton of core . Upward 10000 core.

 

[German Shocks]

No , its like a CPU , just way simplier , weaker but had shit fuck ton of core . Upward 10000 core.

Can I convert a CPU to a GPU or vice versa?

 

[bbeach123]

Can I convert a CPU to a GPU or vice versa?

theoretical yes ,but require an entire new software for them , but im not sure anyone ever want to do that because its too inefficient for them to work as another.

 

[kruis]

Can I convert a CPU to a GPU or vice versa?

Only on systems where you can download additional ram.

 

[Knightime_X]

GPU = RX 9070 XT OC
Graphics card = GTX 550
Video card = GT 240
Intergrated graphics = ATI 3d rage pro 2

 

[ResilientBanana]

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.

 

[bender]

Maybe this will help:

 

[Viruz]

A GPU is essentially an advanced microcontroller of a system?

For example:

 

[Kataploom]

I'm pretty sure of what they both mean and still got confused by most responses here

 

[ahtlas7]

Is this a philosophical question?

 

[nkarafo]

I'm old enough to sometimes refer it as "VGA"

 

[spons]

Seems like apples and oranges to me. A GPU doesn't have to be on a card form factor-wise.

 

[Gaiff]

GPU = RX 9070 XT OC
Graphics card = GTX 550
Video card = GT 240
Intergrated graphics = ATI 3d rage pro 2

What nonsense is this?

 

[Mithos]

I'm old enough to sometimes refer it as "VGA"

CGA FTW.

 

[kevboard]

GPU = RX 9070 XT OC
Graphics card = GTX 550
Video card = GT 240
Intergrated graphics = ATI 3d rage pro 2

...you literally listed 4 graphics cards there
is that supposed to be a joke I don't get?

 

[spons]

...you literally listed 4 graphics cards there
is that supposed to be a joke I don't get?

Looks like he's sorting from good to worse using increasingly worsening terms?

 

[cormack12]

GPU = RX 9070 XT OC
Graphics card = GTX 550
Video card = GT 240
Intergrated graphics = ATI 3d rage pro 2

 

[Goalus]

CGA FTW.

MDA above all.

 

[winjer]

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.

 

[dreamstation]

Voted graphics card but they're video card to me.

 

[Knightime_X]

What nonsense is this?

so over the years when someone mentions they have video hardware, from my experience, when they mention the hardware by those names, that's approximately the strength to expect depending on how they say it.
When someone says "gpu" they have mid-high to high end
when they say graphics card, it's typically something current \ semi current mid to entry level.
so on and so forth.

 

[cormack12]

OP, these replies are over complicating things. Its really easy. You seem a fan of Disney right? Let's use Aladdin as an example:

Genie out the lamp = GPU
Genie in the lamp = graphics card.

I hope this clears it up.

 

[BlackTron]

You can refer to the entire card as the most important item on it (the GPU) or the just call it the GFX card.

If we attached the CPU to the motherboard with some sort of attachment board that they came pre-installed to like GPUs do. We would do the same thing there. And the whole board would be named after the chip of course. Are you buying a CPU or processor card? lol

 

[Wildebeest]

Card just means you can remove it while on board means it is on the motherboard and can't be swapped out like a console or laptop.

 

[PeteBull]

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?

Just to make OPs brain even bigger mess, consoles these days dont have GPU's, they got an APU

 

[cormack12]

Just to make OPs brain even bigger a mess, consoles these days dont have GPU's, they got an APU

Yeah, this is also good to remember OP

 

[spons]

Just to make OPs brain even bigger a mess, consoles these days dont have GPU's, they got an APU

They've got a GPU and CPU inside a single package.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

Retard

 

[Crayon]

Almost totally interchangeable for our purposes. The only line would be when it's not any kind of PC, it's sounds funny to say graphics card. Everyone is going to know what you are talking about about though.

"Card" is the snap-in board that is removable. But we're happy calling those gpu's, too.

 

[German Shocks]

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.

Ah, so the term "graphics card" is obsolete, like mp3 players.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

The GPU is the graphical processing unit on the graphics card (or builtin a CPU\system on a chip).

Calling the whole thing a "GPU" is like calling the whole computer a "CPU".... it makes no sense.

Like the AMD RX 580 is the GPU model, but the card is NITRO+ RX 580 8G G5.

A branch is not a tree, a motor is not a car, etc.

 

[newtypepilot]

did you forget you would stop making threads?


continuity!!!

 

[Redneckerz]

MDA above all.

Barrel Shifter once and for all.

Praise the arcades.

 

[simpatico]

In casual parlance, you can use them interchangeably.

 

[CitizenKratos]

The poll is pretty laughable and does not follow from any of the questions in the OP.

 

[Griffon]

 

[Mr Moose]

 

[LordOfChaos]

A graphics card by definition is a whole dedicated card, including the GPU itself, the VRAM, the power components, cooling etc. The GPU is literally graphics processor, and can be a chip alongside the CPU on a laptop, or can be integrated in a single chip with the CPU which would be called an integrated GPU or some use iGPU for short.

This is a card, on account of it being a card. Your poll also has no correct answer and every vote is wrong, there's no better, people largely use them interchangeably, but card typically specifies a dedicated graphics card like above, where GPU is the chip itself and can be on a card and used as shorthand, or on a motherboard directly etc.

This is the GPU itself on the left, which can just mean the chip itself

 

[Guilty_AI]

Graphics card -> the thing you put on your computer
GPU -> Green Party of Utah

learn the difference