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Today I learned that Sony coined the term "GPU"

LostDonkey

Member
So everything before the PS1 was just called "That thing that makes graphics"?
No. The term "Graphics processing unit" has been used in computing since the 1970s.

Sony just used it in reference to the PlayStation like the buzzwords they use every generation, Cell, Emotion Engine, SSD etc

I think PS4 was the first time they didn't use a buzzword to generate interest

Edit: On further research they used the term "Supercharged PC Architecture" for PS4.
 
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Three

Gold Member
Huh?

GPU is an abbreviation. What are you talking about
So everything before the PS1 was just called "That thing that makes graphics"?
The nvidia Geforce 256 was coined the "worlds first GPU" graphics card because GPU was an acronym for graphics processing unit when they started to use that term. Sony used it as Geometry Processing Unit. A bit like the more recent APU or SoC it doesn't mean it was the first to perform that function.
 
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The nvidia Geforce 256 was coined the "first GPU" graphics card because GPU wasn't an acronym for graphics processing unit.
I don’t think that the first occasion someone had the idea to abbreviate graphics processing unit rather than spell it out marks much of an occasion, if any at all. I abbreviate things all the time that I’ve never heard someone do before. I don’t think that it’s like, an accomplishment. it’s just an uninteresting thing that happens, to save time.
 
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Three

Gold Member
I don’t think that the first occasion someone had the idea to abbreviate graphics processing unit rather than spell it out marks much of an occasion, if any at all. I abbreviate things all the time that I’ve never heard someone do before. I don’t think that it’s like, an accomplishment. it’s just an uninteresting thing that happens, to save time.
Sure. I'm just saying coining the word doesn’t mean it was the first of its kind. AMD coined the term APU but it doesn't mean it was the first of its kind in its function.
 

Three

Gold Member
No. The term "Graphics processing unit" has been used in computing since the 1970s.
I don't think this is true. What 1970s source used the term GPU? Genuinely interested in its first use. We called them "3D accelerators" if you're referring to the graphic cards of the past.
 
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LostDonkey

Member
I don't think this is true. What 1970s source used the term GPU? Genuinely interested in its first use. We called them "3D accelerators" if you're referring to the graphic cards of the past.
As already discussed, the acronym GPU wasn't used until much later, but the IBMs and later machines of the 1970s and 80s had Graphics Processing Units.

I don't think it was until they were dedicated separate chips that the acronym GPU came around.
 

Three

Gold Member
As already discussed, the acronym GPU wasn't used until much later, but the IBMs and later machines of the 1970s and 80s had Graphics Processing Units.

I don't think it was until they were dedicated separate chips that the acronym GPU came around.
They weren't even called graphics processing units though as far as I know. They had things like Video Graphics Array, Extended Graphics Array but I don't think even Graphics Processing Unit was used until the 90s, I'm not talking about the acronym.
 
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Lysandros

Member
No. The term "Graphics processing unit" has been used in computing since the 1970s.

Sony just used it in reference to the PlayStation like the buzzwords they use every generation, Cell, Emotion Engine, SSD etc

I think PS4 was the first time they didn't use a buzzword to generate interest

Edit: On further research they used the term "Supercharged PC Architecture" for PS4.
Since when SSD is a 'buzzword'? Sony is hardly the sole company using technical sounding/intriguing names for their components.
 
Nvidia coined the modern term 'GPU' (Graphics Processing Unit) when they introduced the Geforce 256 back in 1999


GeForce 256 was marketed as "the world's first 'GPU', or Graphics Processing Unit", a term Nvidia defined at the time as "a single-chip processor with integrated transform, lighting, triangle setup/clipping, and rendering engines that is capable of processing a minimum of 10 million polygons per second".[7][8]
 
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