Could the CPU be facing extinction in gaming PCs?

Who would dare make such an outrageous claim? Why, Atomic of course, in the fabulous issue 69 on sale next week!

We're all used to the current mainstays of any PC build. Motherboard. RAM. Video card. CPU.

Okay, maybe not a CPU. Who really needs one anyway?

Before you shout blasphemy or start sending old socks or letter bombs, just think about it - how far has the CPU come compared to, say, the Graphics Processing Unit?

Already GPUs eclipse CPUs as far a transistor counts go - most Athlon 64 X2 boast 230 million transistors while ATI’s flagship X1000 series of chips range from 300 to 350 million. The parallel nature of the GPU means it can do more work, and do it faster, than your average CPU. We're talking orders of magnitude faster.

We haven't realised the potential of the GPU because we're stuck with the preconception that it's, well, a GPU. It does graphics, and it does them good.

That's where General Purpose GPU, or GPGPU, steps in.

Programming libraries exist to utilise the GPU for all sorts of non-traditional tasks. Just take a look at the GPGPU developer examples here where the GPU is used to simulate fluid dynamics and particle systems - tasks usually left for the CPU to sort out.

And what about processes completely unrelated to graphics? GPUs can do that also, as the information on this page shows. According to the data there, the GPU can perform database operations some 20-40 times faster than a CPU.

And this is just the beginning. GPGPU has plenty of potential - it's up to us to figure out how best to use it.

Alternatively you can check out Atomic 69, onsale 13/9/06 (otherwise known as next Wednesday)! Along with all the ins and outs of GPGPU, you'll find juicy tips on keeping your PC silent, insider info on Free Radical's shooter HAZE, the grand Uber Linux Box finale and the Australian exclusive review of the extremely sweet RTS, Joint Task Force.