“Previously, GPUs were almost exclusively limited to rendering and accelerating graphics and video,” Chris Daniel, product manager for software at NVIDIA, wrote in a Microsoft Partner blog. “With the introduction of Windows 7, the GPU and CPU will exist in a co-processing environment where each can handle the computing task they are best suited for. The CPU is exceptionally good at performing sequential calculations, I/O, and program flow, whereas the GPU is perfectly suited for performing massive parallel calculations.”
Daniel also said that by introducing the DirectX Compute in Windows 7, Microsoft enables developers to make better use of the GPU for some tasks other than graphics acceleration including high-quality video playback, transcoding, enabling new media scenarios, and offering extended control over media libraries.
NVIDIA: Windows 7 to propel GPGPU computing into the mainstream
Posted on Thursday, July 30 2009 @ 1:27 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck