General-purpose graphics processor architectures /

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aamodt, Tor M. (Author), Fung, Wilson Wai Lun (Author), Rogers, Timothy G. (Author)
Corporate Author: Morgan & Claypool Publishers
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: [San Rafael, California] : Morgan & Claypool, 2018.
Series:Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.
Synthesis lectures in computer architecture ; # 44.
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book (PDF)
Description
Abstract:Originally developed to support video games, graphics processor units (GPUs) are now increasingly used for general-purpose (non-graphics) applications ranging from machine learning to mining of cryptographic currencies. GPUs can achieve improved performance and efficiency versus central processing units (CPUs) by dedicating a larger fraction of hardware resources to computation. In addition, their general-purpose programmability makes contemporary GPUs appealing to software developers in comparison to domain-specific accelerators. This book provides an introduction to those interested in studying the architecture of GPUs that support general-purpose computing. It collects together information currently only found among a wide range of disparate sources. The authors led development of the GPGPU-Sim simulator widely used in academic research on GPU architectures. The first chapter of this book describes the basic hardware structure of GPUs and provides a brief overview of their history. Chapter 2 provides a summary of GPU programming models relevant to the rest of the book. Chapter 3 explores the architecture of GPU compute cores. Chapter 4 explores the architecture of the GPU memory system. After describing the architecture of existing systems, Chapters 3 and 4 provide an overview of related research. Chapter 5 summarizes cross-cutting research impacting both the compute core and memory system. This book should provide a valuable resource for those wishing to understand the architecture of graphics processor units (GPUs) used for acceleration of general-purpose applications and to those who want to obtain an introduction to the rapidly growing body of research exploring how to improve the architecture of these GPUs.
Item Description:Part of: Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.
Physical Description:1 online resource (xvii, 122 pages) : illustrations.
Also available in print.
Format:Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 103-119).
ISBN:9781627056182
ISSN:1935-3243 ;
DOI:10.2200/S00848ED1V01Y201804CAC044
Access:Abstract freely available; full-text restricted to subscribers or individual document purchasers.