GPU, short for Graphics Processing Unit, is a dedicated processor for rendering graphics. Traditionally, graphics are rendered by the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Therefore, theoretically speaking, the more powerful the CPU, the better the graphics. Unfortunately, having the CPU render graphics creates a few problems.

First, the load on the CPU is increased whenever there is graphic intensive software of applications in use. For example, it is almost impossible to run applications such as Adobe Photoshop (for photo editing) or Adobe Premiere (for video editing) if the system solely relies on the CPU. This gives rise to the second problem.

As technology continues to evolve, image and video software applications start to demand more processing power. Today, you can play 3D games on the personal computer, run sophisticated video encoding or decoding software, or use image manipulation software to edit images. Such activities usually involve lots of graphic rendering on the screen.

For instance, an image manipulation process may appear to be non resource intensive. However, on closer examination, you will discover that the act of manipulating an image involves zooming in/out of huge images, cropping, copying and pasting of pictures, and so on. These seemingly simple operations mean that the system has to constantly process large amount of graphic data.

Obviously, the faster the processor completes computing of such operations, the quicker these operations can be completed.

In a similar manner, video editing software also requires huge amount of processing power. Special effects such as blurring effects, lighting effects and so on add additional stress to the processing unit. For this reason, relying solely or even partially on the CPU for graphics processing can put undue stress on the system and the work flow soon slows to a crawl. This leads to a bad experience for the user.

Recognizing these problems, hardware developers started to look at ways to unload graphics processing to a dedicated processor. The dedicated GPU is born. In addition to freeing up CPU processing resources, having a dedicated GPU solely for graphics also mean that more powerful technology can be developed.

nVidia is one of the leading developers in the GPU acceleration industry. Its GPU acceleration technology is widely integrated into hardware and software applications. For instance, the newest generation of MacBooks uses GPU accelerated video encoding. Also, the latest Adobe suite of image and video editing software (Adobe CS4) also boasts of taking advantage of GPU capabilities.

For consumers, perhaps the question that matters most is, "How will GPU technology affect me?"

How GPU accelerated computing will affect you depends largely on the activities that you conduct using your computer. Obviously, if you mainly use your computer for typing text documents, perhaps GPU doesn't matter that much to you.

However, given the range of applications available on the personal computer these days, it's hard to imagine anyone solely using the PC for typing texts. Today, you can play online games, watch online videos, stream movies online and do lots of fun stuff on the Internet. These activities all involve the use of graphics.

The fact is, this is a rising trend that cannot be ignored. Over time, whether we like it or not, GPU acceleration technology will soon be a part of everyone's daily lives.