How to track GPU usage in Windows Task Manager. GPU - what is it What GPU

What do we look at first when choosing a smartphone? Cost aside for a moment, the first thing we choose, of course, is the screen size. Then we are interested in the camera, the amount of RAM, the number of cores and the frequency of the processor. And here everything is simple: the more, the better, and the less, the worse, respectively. However, in modern devices It also uses a graphics processor, also known as a GPU. What it is, how it works and why it is important to know about it, we will describe below.

GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a processor designed exclusively for graphics processing operations and floating point calculations. It primarily exists to ease the work of the main processor when it comes to resource-intensive games or applications with 3D graphics. When you play a game, the GPU is responsible for creating graphics, colors, and textures, while the CPU can handle artificial intelligence or game mechanics.

The architecture of the GPU is not much different from that of the CPU, however, it is more optimized for efficient graphics work. If you force the GPU to do any other calculations, it will show itself from the worst side.

Video cards that are connected separately and operate at high powers exist only in laptops and desktop computers. If we are talking about Android devices, then we are talking about integrated graphics and what we call SoC (System-on-a-Chip). For example, the Snapdragon 810 processor integrates the Adreno 430 GPU. The memory that it uses for its work is system memory, while graphics cards in desktop PCs are allocated memory available only to them. True, there are hybrid chips.

While a processor with multiple cores runs at high speeds, a GPU has many processor cores running at low speeds and only doing vertex and pixel calculations. Vertex processing mostly revolves around the coordinate system. The GPU handles geometric tasks by creating a three-dimensional space on the screen and allowing objects to move around in it.

Pixel processing is a more complex process that requires a lot of computing power. At this point, the GPU overlays various layers, applies effects, does everything to create complex textures and realistic graphics. After both processes are processed, the result is transferred to the screen of your smartphone or tablet. All this happens millions of times a second while you are playing a game.

Of course, this story about the operation of the GPU is very superficial, but it is enough to get the right general idea and be able to keep up a conversation with comrades or an electronics seller, or understand why your device got so hot during the game. Later, we will definitely discuss the advantages of certain GPUs in working with specific games and tasks.

According to AndroidPit

What is a GPU and how does it work Ernest Vasilevsky

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What is a GPU in your computer?

Good day to all, my dear friends and guests of my blog. Today I would like to talk a little about the hardware of our computers. Please tell me, have you heard about such a thing as a GPU? It turns out that many people just hear such an abbreviation for the first time.

No matter how trite it may sound, but today we live in the era of computer technology, and sometimes it is difficult to find a person who has no idea how a computer works. So, for example, it is enough for someone to realize that the computer works thanks to the central processing unit (CPU).

Someone will go further and find out that there is also a certain GPU. Such an intricate abbreviation, but similar to the previous one. So let's figure out what a GPU is in a computer, what they are and what differences it has with a CPU.

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Not a big difference

In simple words, a GPU is a graphics processing unit, sometimes it is called a video card, which is partly a mistake. A video card is a ready-made component device, which includes the processor we are describing. It is capable of processing commands to form 3D graphics. It is worth noting that it is a key element for this, the speed and various capabilities of the video system as a whole depend on its power.

The GPU has its own distinctive features compared to its fellow CPU. The main difference lies in the architecture on which it is built. The architecture of the GPU is built in such a way that it allows you to process large amounts of data more efficiently. The CPU, in turn, processes data and tasks sequentially. Naturally, this feature should not be taken as a minus.

Types of GPUs

There are not many types of GPUs, one of them is referred to as discrete, and is used on separate modules. Such a chip is quite powerful, so it requires a cooling system of radiators, coolers, liquid cooling can be used in especially loaded systems.

Today we can observe a significant step in the development of graphic components, this is due to the emergence of a large number of types of GPUs. If earlier any computer had to be equipped with discrete graphics in order to have access to games or other graphical applications, now such a task can be performed by IGP - an integrated graphics processor.

Integrated graphics are now supplied with almost every computer (with the exception of servers), whether it be a laptop or desktop computer. The video processor itself is built into the CPU, which can significantly reduce power consumption and the price of the device itself. In addition, such graphics can be in other subspecies, for example: discrete or hybrid-discrete.

The first option implies the most expensive solution, wiring on the motherboard or a separate mobile module. The second option is called hybrid for a reason, in fact, it uses a small video memory that is soldered on the board, but at the same time it is able to expand it using RAM.

Naturally, such graphic solutions cannot be equal to full-fledged discrete video cards, but even now it shows quite good performance. In any case, the developers have something to strive for, perhaps the future lies with such a decision.

Well, that's about all I have. Hope you enjoyed the article! Looking forward to seeing you again on my blog. Good luck to you. Bye Bye!

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Integrated GPU - why is it needed?

What is integrated graphics?

The integrated graphics processor plays an important role for both gamers and undemanding users.

The quality of games, movies, watching videos on the Internet and images depends on it.

GPU integrated in motherboard

The graphics processor is integrated into the computer's motherboard - this is what an integrated graphics processor looks like.

As a rule, they use it to remove the need to install a graphics adapter - a video card.

This technology helps to reduce the cost of the finished product. In addition, due to the compactness and low power consumption of such processors, they are often installed in laptops and low-power desktop computers.

Thus, integrated graphics processors have filled this niche so much that 90% of laptops on US store shelves have just such a processor.

Instead of a conventional video card in integrated graphics, the computer's RAM itself often serves as an auxiliary tool.

True, this solution somewhat limits the performance of the device. Yet the computer itself and the GPU use the same bus for memory.

So such a “neighborhood” affects the performance of tasks, especially when working with complex graphics and during gameplay.

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Types of GPUs

Integrated graphics have three groups:

1. Shared memory graphics - a device based on shared control with the main processor RAM. This greatly reduces the cost, improves the energy saving system, but degrades performance. Accordingly, for those who work with complex programs, integrated GPUs of this kind are more likely to not work.
2. Discrete graphics - the video chip and one or two video memory modules are soldered to system board. Thanks to this technology, image quality is significantly improved, and it also becomes possible to work with three-dimensional graphics with the best results. True, you will have to pay a lot for this, and if you are looking for a high-performance processor in all respects, then the cost can be incredibly high. In addition, the electricity bill will rise slightly - the power consumption of discrete GPUs is higher than usual.
3. Hybrid discrete graphics - a combination of the two previous types, which ensured the creation of a bus PCI Express. Thus, access to the memory is carried out both through the soldered video memory and through the operational one. With this solution, the manufacturers wanted to create a compromise solution, but it still does not eliminate the shortcomings.

As a rule, large companies - Intel, AMD and Nvidia - are engaged in the manufacture and development of integrated graphics processors, but many small enterprises are also connected to this area.

Video cards from AMD are considered by users to be more powerful than those from Intel. However, what didn't please Intel? If you believe the statistics, then they are the leaders in sales of microcircuits.

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GPUs from Intel

This company started using integrated video cards with the release of Westmere.

After it, HD Graphics was installed only in Pentium and Celeron. Since the Haswell generation, a new classification of chips has been developed: 4 - Haswell, 5 - Broadwell. But since the Skylake generation, the markings have changed again.

Marking is divided into four types:

• P - disabled video core;
• C - specially designed for LGA;
• R - for BGA;
• H - designed for mobile devices (Iris Pro).

One of Intel's latest developments in the field of integrated video cards is the Intel HD Graphics 530.

Its manufacturers position it as optimal solution even for the most powerful games, however, the reality is not so optimistic.

A new video card is based on the Skylake graphics core. It, in turn, is built on the basis of one or more modules, each of which consists of three sections.

They connect 8 executors that process graphic data, and, in addition to everything, contain special modules that work with memory and texture samplers.

In addition, the graphics core has an out-of-module part, which improves and adds some features.

Now Intel is working directly to increase the power of its products, as well as adding new features.

For example, a new Lossless Render Target Compression technology has been launched in the GPU, which allows rendering video without significant loss in quality.

In addition, the company worked on increasing the speed of integrated processors in games by 3-11%.

The developers have also worked on the quality of video playback - its integrated graphics card also supports 4K resolution.

As far as games are concerned, most will work fine, but for hardcore gamers, the AMD 10 is still worth checking out.

Their graphics performance is much higher than that of HD Graphics 530. So the HD Graphics 530 video core is more suitable for undemanding online games and, of course, will also run ordinary mini-games.

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GPUs from AMD

AMD processors with an integrated graphics core are almost direct competitors to Intel.

The competition, of course, lies in providing the best price/quality ratio. Oddly enough, AMD still lags behind its rival, which has a higher share of sales.

However, work AMD processors sometimes much better.

True, the situation is quite different when it comes to discrete processors. About 51% is just the share of AMD. So if you are interested in discrete graphics, you should pay attention to this company.

One of the latest developments from AMD, which is a good competitor to the Intel HD Graphics 530, is the AMD A10-7850K.

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This type of integrated graphics belongs to the hybrid type. The Kaveri core contains 8 asynchronous compute engines. Moreover, they have equal access to system memory with x86-cores.

In particular, with the help of HSA, computing clusters perform their own processes independently of other cores.

Thus, the A10-7850K has 4 cores and 8 graphics clusters.

AMD on this occasion calls this development a 12-core processor. True, not everything is so smooth: 12 cores are not equivalent, they need specialized program codes.

The OS itself will not notice any additional eight cores, but will see the same 4 x86 cores.

In general, the x86 component somewhat spoils the whole impression.

For instance, clock frequency pretty badly hurt. And so much so that even the previous model will be stronger. Maybe in the future the manufacturer will refine this parameter. Still, an indicator of at least 4 GHz improved performance and performance.

At the moment, the average frequency of this integrated graphics during heavy workload is 3.8 GHz. In the normal position, it reaches 1.7 GHz.

In this way, this model discrete graphics is moderately powerful, but also somewhat cheaper than its analogue from Intel. Games such a device will pull, work with a three-dimensional image, too.

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Integrated graphics outputs

Enabling integrated graphics is not difficult. Most often, the monitor itself displays an image from a video card connected to it.

True, this automatic mode does not always work. Then you need to tackle the problem yourself - change the settings in the BIOS.

It's easy to do. Look for Primary Display or Init Display First. If you do not see something like this, look for Onboard, PCI, AGP or PCI-E (it all depends on the installed buses on the motherboard).

By selecting PCI-E, for example, you enable the PCI-Express video card, and disable the built-in integrated one.

Thus, to enable the integrated video card, you need to find the appropriate parameters in the BIOS. Often the activation process is automatic.

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How to enable the built-in processor

Disabling is best done in BIOS. This is the simplest and most unpretentious option, suitable for almost all PCs. The only exceptions are some laptops.

Again, find Peripherals or Integrated Peripherals in BIOS if you are working on a desktop.

For laptops, the name of the function is different, and not the same everywhere. So just look for something related to graphics. For example, the desired options can be placed in the Advanced and Config sections.

Shutdown is also carried out in different ways. Sometimes it is enough just to click “Disabled” and set the PCI-E video card to the first in the list.

If you are a laptop user, don't be alarmed if you cannot find a suitable option, you may not have such a function a priori. For all other devices, the same rules are simple - no matter how the BIOS itself looks, the filling is the same.

If you have two video cards and they are both shown in the device manager, then the matter is quite simple: right-click on one of them and select “disable”. However, keep in mind that the display may go out. Laptops are more likely to do so.

However, this is also a solvable problem. It is enough to restart the computer or connect a second monitor via HDMI or VGA.

Perform all subsequent settings on it. If not working this method, rollback your actions using safe mode. You can also resort to the previous method - through the BIOS.

Two programs - NVIDIA Control Center and Catalyst Control Center - configure the use of a specific video adapter.

They are the most unpretentious in comparison with the other two methods - the screen is unlikely to turn off, you will not accidentally knock down the settings through the BIOS either.

For NVIDIA, all settings are in the 3D section.

You can select your preferred video adapter for all operating system, and for certain programs and games.

In the Catalyst software, an identical function is located in the "Power" option under the "Switchable Graphics" sub-item.

Thus, switching between GPUs is not difficult.

There are different methods, in particular, both through programs and through BIOS. Turning on or off one or another integrated graphics may be accompanied by some failures, mainly related to the image.

The screen may go blank or distortion may simply appear. Nothing should affect the files themselves in the computer, unless you clicked something in the BIOS.

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Do you need integrated graphics?

As a result, integrated graphics processors are in demand due to their cheapness and compactness.

For this, you will have to pay the level of performance of the computer itself.

In some cases, integrated graphics are simply necessary - discrete processors are ideal for working with three-dimensional images.

In addition, the industry leaders are Intel, AMD and Nvidia. Each of them offers its own graphics accelerators, processors and other components.

The latest popular models are Intel HD Graphics 530 and AMD A10-7850K. They are quite functional, but have some flaws. In particular, this applies to the power, performance and cost of the finished product.

You can enable or disable a graphics processor with a built-in kernel, or you can do it yourself through BIOS, utilities and various programs, but the computer itself may well do it for you. It all depends on which video card is connected to the monitor itself.

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Graphic processor (features of functioning and structure)

Modern video cards, due to the huge computational power required from them when working with graphics, are equipped with their own command center, in other words, a graphics processor.

This was done in order to "unload" CPU, which, due to its wide "scope", is simply not able to cope with the requirements that the modern gaming industry puts forward.

Graphics processing units (GPUs) are absolutely not inferior in complexity to central processors, but due to their narrow specialization, they are able to more effectively cope with the task of processing graphics, building an image, and then displaying it on a monitor.

If we talk about the parameters, then they are very similar for graphics processors with central processors. These are parameters already known to everyone, such as the microarchitecture of the processor, the clock frequency of the core, the manufacturing process. But they also have quite specific characteristics. For example, an important characteristic of the GPU is the number of pixel pipelines (Pixel Pipelines). This characteristic determines the number of processed pixels per cycle of the GPU robots. The number of data pipelines can vary, for example, in graphics chips radeon series HD 6000, their number can reach 96.

The pixel pipeline is engaged in the fact that it calculates each subsequent pixel of the next image, taking into account its features. To speed up the rendering process, several parallel pipelines are used that calculate different pixels of the same image.

Also, the number of pixel pipelines affects an important parameter - the speed of filling the video card. The fill rate of a video card can be calculated by multiplying the core frequency by the number of pipelines.

Let's calculate the fill rate, for example, for a video card AMD Radeon HD 6990 (Fig. 2) The GPU core frequency of this chip is 830 MHz, and the number of pixel pipelines is 96. By simple mathematical calculations (830x96), we come to the conclusion that the fill rate will be 57.2 Gpixel/s.

In addition to pixel pipelines, there are also so-called texture units in each pipeline. The more texture units, the more textures can be applied in one pass of the pipeline, which also affects the overall performance of the entire video system. In the aforementioned AMD Radeon HD 6990 chip, the number of texture fetch units is 32x2.

In GPUs, another type of pipelines can be distinguished - vertex pipelines, they are responsible for calculating the geometric parameters of a three-dimensional image.

Now, let's look at a step-by-step, somewhat simplified, pipeline calculation process, followed by image formation:

1st stage. Texture vertex data is fed into vertex pipelines, which calculate geometry parameters. At this stage, the T&L (Transform & Lightning) block is connected. This block is responsible for lighting and image transformation in 3D scenes. Data processing in the vertex pipeline takes place at the expense of the vertex shader program (Vertex Shader).

The graphics processing unit (GPU) is no less important component of the SoC of a mobile device than (CPU). Over the past five years, the rapid development of Android and iOS mobile platforms has spurred mobile GPU developers, and today no one is surprised by mobile games with PlayStation 2 or even higher 3D graphics. I devoted the second article of the series “Likbez on mobile hardware” to graphic processors.

Currently, most of the graphics chips are produced using cores: PowerVR (Imagination Technologies), Mali (ARM), Adreno (Qualcomm, formerly ATI Imageon) and GeForce ULP (nVIDIA).

PowerVR is a division of Imagination Technologies, which in the recent past developed graphics for desktop systems, but was forced to leave this market under pressure from ATI and nVIDIA. Today, PowerVR develops perhaps the most powerful GPUs for mobile devices. PowerVR chips are used in the production of processors by companies such as Samsung, Apple, Texas Instruments, etc. For example, different revisions of PowerVR GPUs are installed in all generations of the Apple iPhone. Chip series 5 and 5XT remain relevant. The fifth series includes single-core chips: SGX520, SGX530, SGX531, SGX535, SGX540 and SGX545. 5XT series chips can have from 1 to 16 cores: SGX543, SGX544, SGX554. The specifications of the 6 series (Rogue) are still being specified, but the performance range of the series chips is already known - 100-1000GFLOPS.

Mali are GPUs developed and licensed by the British ARM. Mali chips are part of various SoCs manufactured by Samsung, ST-Ericsson, Rockchip and others. For example, Mali-400 MP is part of Samsung Exynos 421x SoCs used in smartphones such as samsung galaxy SII and SIII, in two generations of “smartphone-tabletmash?” Samsung note. Relevant today is the Mali-400 MP in dual and quad-core versions. The Mali-T604 and Mali-T658 chips are on the way, the performance of which is up to 5 times higher than that of the Mali-400.

Adreno are graphics chips developed by Qualcomm's eponymous division. The name Adreno is an anagram for Radeon. Prior to Qualcomm, the division was owned by ATI, and the chips were called Imageon. Over the past few years, Qualcomm has used 2xx series chips in the production of SoCs: Adreno 200, Adreno 205, Adreno 220, Adreno 225. The last one on the list is a very fresh chip - made using 28nm technology, the most powerful of the Adreno 2xx series. Its performance is 6 times higher than that of the “old man” Adreno 200. In 2013, more and more devices will receive Adreno 305 and Adreno 320 GPUs. 2 times more powerful than the 225th.

GeForce ULP (ultra-low power) - mobile version video chip from nVIDIA, is part of the Tegra system-on-a-chip of all generations. One of Tegra's most important competitive advantages is specialized content that is only for devices based on this SoC. nVIDIA has traditionally had a close relationship with game developers, and their Content Development team works with them to optimize games for GeForce graphics solutions. To access such games, nVIDIA has even launched the Tegra Zone Android app, a dedicated Android Market equivalent where you can download Tegra-optimized apps.

GPU performance is usually measured in three dimensions:

– number of triangles per second, usually in millions – Mega (MTriangles/s);

- the number of pixels per second, usually in millions - Mega (MPixel / s);

- the number of floating point operations per second, usually in billions - Giga (GFLOPS).

On "flops" a little explanation is required. FLOPS (FLoating-point Operations Per Second) is the number of computational operations or instructions performed on floating-point (point) operands per second. A floating point operand is a non-integer number (it would be more correct to say “floating point”, because the comma is the sign separating the integer part of the number from the fractional one in Russian). Understanding which graphics processor is installed in your smartphone will help ctrl+F and the table below. Please note that the GPUs of different smartphones operate at different frequencies. To calculate the performance in GFLOPS for a particular model, you need to divide the number indicated in the “performance in GFLOPS” column by 200 and multiply by the frequency of a single GPU (for example, in the Galaxy SIII, the GPU runs at 533 MHz, which means 7.2 / 200 * 533 = 19.188) :

* - data are approximate.

Here is another table with the absolute performance values ​​of the most popular smartphones in the upper price range:

* - unofficial data.

The power of mobile graphics is growing year by year. Already this year we can see PS3/X-Box360 level games in top smartphones. Simultaneously with the power, the power consumption of SoCs is growing strongly and the autonomy of mobile devices is indecently reduced. Well, let's wait for a breakthrough in the production of power supplies!

Another energy eater in modern mobile device It's definitely a display. Screens in mobile phones are getting prettier. The displays of smartphones released with a difference of only a year differ dramatically in picture quality. In the next article of the cycle, I will talk about displays: what types they are, what is PPI, what determines power consumption, and so on.

GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a processor designed exclusively for graphics processing operations and floating point calculations. It primarily exists to ease the work of the main processor when it comes to resource-intensive games or applications with 3D graphics. When you play a game, the GPU is responsible for creating graphics, colors, and textures, while the CPU can handle artificial intelligence or game mechanics.

What do we look at first when choosing a smartphone? Cost aside for a moment, the first thing we choose, of course, is the screen size. Then we are interested in the camera, the amount of RAM, the number of cores and the frequency of the processor. And here everything is simple: the more, the better, and the less, the worse, respectively. However, modern devices also use a graphics processor, also known as a GPU. What it is, how it works and why it is important to know about it, we will describe below.

The architecture of the GPU is not much different from that of the CPU, however, it is more optimized for efficient graphics work. If you force the GPU to do any other calculations, it will show itself from the worst side.

Video cards that are connected separately and operate at high powers exist only in laptops and desktop computers. If we are talking about devices, then we are talking about integrated graphics and what we call SoC (System-on-a-Chip). For example, the processor has an integrated Adreno 430 GPU. The memory that it uses for its work is system memory, while video cards in desktop PCs are allocated memory that is available only to them. True, there are hybrid chips.

While a processor with multiple cores runs at high speeds, a GPU has many processor cores running at low speeds and only doing vertex and pixel calculations. Vertex processing mostly revolves around the coordinate system. The GPU handles geometric tasks by creating a three-dimensional space on the screen and allowing objects to move around in it.

Pixel processing is a more complex process that requires a lot of computing power. At this point, the GPU overlays various layers, applies effects, does everything to create complex textures and realistic graphics. After both processes are processed, the result is transferred to the screen of your smartphone or tablet. All this happens millions of times a second while you are playing a game.

Of course, this story about the work of the GPU is very superficial, but it is enough to form a correct general idea and be able to keep up a conversation with comrades or an electronics seller, or understand why your device got so hot during the game. Later, we will definitely discuss the advantages of certain GPUs in working with specific games and tasks.

According to AndroidPit

The integrated graphics processor plays an important role for both gamers and undemanding users.

The quality of games, movies, watching videos on the Internet and images depends on it.

Principle of operation

The graphics processor is integrated into the computer motherboard - this is what the built-in graphics looks like.

As a rule, they use it to remove the need to install a graphics adapter -.

This technology helps to reduce the cost of the finished product. In addition, due to the compactness and low power consumption of such processors, they are often installed in laptops and low-power desktop computers.

Thus, integrated graphics processors have filled this niche so much that 90% of laptops on US store shelves have just such a processor.

Instead of a conventional video card in integrated graphics, the computer's RAM itself often serves as an auxiliary tool.

True, this solution somewhat limits the performance of the device. Yet the computer itself and the GPU use the same bus for memory.

So such a “neighborhood” affects the performance of tasks, especially when working with complex graphics and during gameplay.

Kinds

Integrated graphics have three groups:

1. Shared-memory graphics is a device based on shared memory management with the main processor. This greatly reduces the cost, improves the energy saving system, but degrades performance. Accordingly, for those who work with complex programs, integrated GPUs of this kind are more likely to not work.
2. Discrete graphics - a video chip and one or two video memory modules are soldered on the motherboard. Thanks to this technology, image quality is significantly improved, and it also becomes possible to work with three-dimensional graphics with the best results. True, you will have to pay a lot for this, and if you are looking for a high-performance processor in all respects, then the cost can be incredibly high. In addition, the electricity bill will rise slightly - the power consumption of discrete GPUs is higher than usual.
3. Hybrid discrete graphics - a combination of the two previous types, which ensured the creation of the PCI Express bus. Thus, access to the memory is carried out both through the soldered video memory and through the operational one. With this solution, the manufacturers wanted to create a compromise solution, but it still does not eliminate the shortcomings.

Manufacturers

As a rule, large companies are engaged in the manufacture and development of embedded graphics processors -, and, but many small enterprises are also connected to this area.

It's easy to do. Look for Primary Display or Init Display First. If you do not see something like this, look for Onboard, PCI, AGP or PCI-E (it all depends on the installed buses on the motherboard).

By selecting PCI-E, for example, you enable the PCI-Express video card, and disable the built-in integrated one.

Thus, to enable the integrated video card, you need to find the appropriate parameters in the BIOS. Often the activation process is automatic.

Disable

Disabling is best done in BIOS. This is the simplest and most unpretentious option, suitable for almost all PCs. The only exceptions are some laptops.

Again, find Peripherals or Integrated Peripherals in BIOS if you are working on a desktop.

For laptops, the name of the function is different, and not the same everywhere. So just look for something related to graphics. For example, the desired options can be placed in the Advanced and Config sections.

Shutdown is also carried out in different ways. Sometimes it is enough just to click “Disabled” and set the PCI-E video card to the first in the list.

If you are a laptop user, don't be alarmed if you cannot find a suitable option, you may not have such a function a priori. For all other devices, the same rules are simple - no matter how the BIOS itself looks, the filling is the same.

If you have two video cards and they are both shown in the device manager, then the matter is quite simple: right-click on one of them and select “disable”. However, keep in mind that the display may go out. And, most likely, it will.

However, this is also a solvable problem. It is enough to restart the computer or by.

Perform all subsequent settings on it. If this method does not work, roll back your actions using safe mode. You can also resort to the previous method - through the BIOS.

Two programs - NVIDIA Control Center and Catalyst Control Center - configure the use of a specific video adapter.

They are the most unpretentious in comparison with the other two methods - the screen is unlikely to turn off, you will not accidentally knock down the settings through the BIOS either.

For NVIDIA, all settings are in the 3D section.

You can choose your preferred video adapter for the entire operating system, and for certain programs and games.

In the Catalyst software, an identical function is located in the "Power" option under the "Switchable Graphics" sub-item.

Thus, switching between GPUs is not difficult.

There are different methods, in particular, both through programs and through BIOS. Turning on or off one or another integrated graphics may be accompanied by some failures, mainly related to the image.

It may go out or just appear distorted. Nothing should affect the files themselves in the computer, unless you clicked something in the BIOS.

Conclusion

As a result, integrated graphics processors are in demand due to their cheapness and compactness.

For this, you will have to pay the level of performance of the computer itself.

In some cases, integrated graphics are simply necessary - discrete processors are ideal for working with three-dimensional images.

In addition, the industry leaders are Intel, AMD and Nvidia. Each of them offers its own graphics accelerators, processors and other components.

The latest popular models are Intel HD Graphics 530 and AMD A10-7850K. They are quite functional, but have some flaws. In particular, this applies to the power, performance and cost of the finished product.

You can enable or disable a graphics processor with a built-in kernel, or you can do it yourself through BIOS, utilities and various programs, but the computer itself may well do it for you. It all depends on which video card is connected to the monitor itself.

We all know that a graphics card and a processor have slightly different tasks, but do you know how they differ from each other in the internal structure? Like a CPU central processing unit), and GPU (English - graphics processing unit) are processors, and there are many similarities between them, but they were designed to perform different tasks. You will learn more about this from this article.

CPU

The main task of the CPU, speaking in simple words, is the execution of a chain of instructions in the shortest possible time. The CPU is designed in such a way that it can execute several of these chains at the same time, or split one stream of instructions into several and, after executing them separately, merge them back into one, in the correct order. Each instruction in a thread depends on those that follow it, which is why the CPU has so few execution units, and all the emphasis is on execution speed and reducing idle times, which is achieved using cache memory and a pipeline.

GPU

The main function of the GPU is rendering 3D graphics and visual effects, therefore, everything is a little simpler in it: it needs to get polygons at the input, and after performing the necessary mathematical and logical operations on them, output pixel coordinates at the output. In fact, the work of the GPU is reduced to operating on a huge number of independent tasks, therefore, it contains a large amount of memory, but not as fast as in the CPU, and a huge number of execution units: in modern GPUs there are 2048 or more of them, while like a CPU, their number can reach 48, but most often their number lies in the range of 2-8.

Main differences

The CPU differs from the GPU primarily in the way it accesses memory. In the GPU, it is connected and easily predictable - if a texture texel is read from memory, then after a while the turn of neighboring texels will come. With recording, the situation is similar - a pixel is written to the framebuffer, and after a few cycles, the one located next to it will be recorded. Also, the GPU, unlike general-purpose processors, simply does not need a large cache memory, and textures require only 128-256 kilobytes. In addition, faster memory is used on video cards, and as a result, the GPU has many times more bandwidth available, which is also very important for parallel calculations that operate with huge data streams.

There are many differences in multithreading support: the CPU executes 1 – 2 computation threads per processor core, and the GPU can support several thousand threads per multiprocessor, of which there are several in a chip! And if switching from one thread to another for the CPU costs hundreds of cycles, then the GPU switches several threads in one cycle.

In the CPU, most of the chip area is occupied by instruction buffers, hardware branch prediction, and huge amounts of cache memory, while in the GPU, most of the area is occupied by execution units. The above device is schematically shown below:

Computation speed difference

If the CPU is a kind of "boss" that makes decisions in accordance with the instructions of the program, then the GPU is a "worker" that performs a huge amount of the same type of calculations. It turns out that if you submit simple independent mathematical problems to the GPU, then it will cope much faster than the central processor. This difference is successfully used by bitcoin miners.

Bitcoin Mining

The essence of mining is that computers located in different parts of the Earth solve mathematical problems, as a result of which bitcoins are created. All bitcoin transfers along the chain are transferred to miners, whose job it is to choose from millions of combinations a single hash that matches all new transactions and a secret key, which will provide the miner with a reward of 25 bitcoins at a time. Since the calculation speed directly depends on the number of execution units, it turns out that GPUs are much better suited to execute of this type tasks than the CPU. The greater the number of calculations made, the higher the chance of getting bitcoins. It even came to the construction of entire farms from video cards.