Engineer 'builds a GPU from scratch' in two weeks

71 points by blcArmadillo 1 year ago | 25 comments
  • kimixa 1 year ago
    Isn't a GPU with no rasterization or texture hardware a DSP?
    • weebull 1 year ago
      Not a GPU for sure. Not really a DSP either.

      I would call it an array processor.

      • kevingadd 1 year ago
        Yeah, this is a "GPU" in the sense that it resembles modern GPUs with the graphics parts sliced off. So it's an understandable shorthand to use, but it is a bit misleading.

        Terminology on this is confusing - NVIDIA calls their A100 a "GPU" for example but I can't tell if any of the graphics bits like samplers and ROPs are even in that thing - though I did learn it has a hardware JPEG decoder.

        • kimixa 1 year ago
          I know it (the A100) at least has the texture pipeline too, so it's certainly got more "Graphics" optimized parts than this.

          Really nomenclature is a mess, everyone hops on the next big term until you're not sure what it means anymore.

          • Dalewyn 1 year ago
            GPU as a term lost meaning when it changed to Generative Processing Unit from General Processing Unit some time in the last couple years.

            And no, GPGPU is a bloody stupid term.

      • DeathArrow 1 year ago
        This reminds me of the software engineer who built his own GPU: https://www.furygpu.com/about
        • anandvc 1 year ago
          I have met this guy, Adam, in person at Founders Inc. He's super smart!
          • jjtheblunt 1 year ago
            tangentially, TIL that VS Code has Verilog extensions:

            https://kagi.com/search?q=verilog+vs+code

            • KeplerBoy 1 year ago
              Is this a plug for kagi? People who don't use kagi can't see the results. Just link to the extensions.
              • jjtheblunt 1 year ago
                Oh, nope, didn’t realize it was like that. Thanks for catching that.

                Just the search terms suffice, too late to edit though so response here

            • orangesite 1 year ago
              Super useful work. Thank you!
              • 1 year ago