What's the Difference Between a CPU and a GPU?

CPUs and GPUs are core components for a wide variety of computer systems. But what’s the difference between them? Let’s take a look!

The CPU, central processing unit, is the most important component of a computer. It executes many instructions coming from your operating system and programs. For certain tasks, the CPU will offload processing to other devices you may have, such as your GPU.

A GPU, graphics processing unit, is a type of processor that is traditionally used for rendering graphics on a screen, while that primary function remains, they are also suited for other specialized tasks such as high-performance computing and deep learning.

A CPU, being the main functional component of a modern computer, needs to be able to quickly handle a wide variety of general tasks. Traditionally, these tasks are handled one at a time by a CPU core, however as more cores/threads have been added, CPUs have become more equipped to handle multiple tasks at once. With how vital a CPU is to a functioning computer, their placement on a typical desktop motherboard puts the CPU as close as possible to your system's RAM.

GPUs may possess hundreds or thousands of specialized cores, allowing for instructions to be executed in real-time. This is great for rendering lifelike 3D graphics, but also useful for chewing through massive amounts of data very quickly. While a larger number of CPUs have their own integrated GPUs, desktop graphics cards featuring much more capable GPUs are often installed via an expansion slot on a desktop motherboard in close proximity to the CPU socket.

Modern desktop systems both require a CPU and a GPU to function. In fact, many desktop CPUs feature an integrated GPU that shares resources such as RAM with the CPU and handles the essential needs for a modern desktop when it comes to graphics and video processing.

But for larger workloads such as AAA gaming at 4K or running AI tools/features locally on your machine, a dedicated graphics card which provides its own VRAM for its GPU will be needed.