GPU: The Showy Painter, CPU: The Smart Manager

Let's talk about the two main parts of your computer: the CPU and the GPU. You might have seen a video where a GPU paints a picture super fast, and a CPU takes forever to draw a simple smiley face. It looks like the GPU is way faster. But that's not the whole story.

Yes, GPUs are very powerful and can do many math problems quickly. They are measured in TFLOPS, which means how many trillions of math operations they can do each second. For example, a GPU can do 9.7 trillion operations per second, while a CPU can only do 0.33 trillion. It seems like the GPU is much faster. But your computer still needs both.

Think of it this way:

  • GPUs are like many cooks who are great at doing the same simple task over and over, like chopping vegetables or drawing pixels in a video game. They are good at tasks that can be done at the same time. For example, the calculations for different parts of a game screen can be done at the same time using the GPU's many cores.
  • CPUs are like the head chef in a restaurant. They can handle many different tasks, make quick decisions, and deal with unexpected problems. They are good at tasks that need to be done one after the other.

There are different kinds of computer tasks:

  • Sequential tasks are like recipes where you have to do the steps in order. You can't do step 3 before step 2. CPUs are better at these kinds of tasks. An example of a sequential task is calculating a Fibonacci sequence, where each number depends on the two numbers before it.
  • Parallel tasks are like dividing up work among friends. You can do different parts at the same time. GPUs are great at these kinds of tasks, because they can perform the same operation across many cores at the same time. For example, multiplying a list of numbers by two is a parallel task because the order doesn’t matter.

But most programs use both kinds of tasks. For example, a program might first calculate some numbers in order (CPU task) and then double each number independently (GPU task). So the CPU prepares the ingredients, and the GPU does the cooking.

So, even though GPUs are very fast at some things, CPUs are still needed for other things. They run the computer's main system, manage different programs, and handle random things like you clicking on the screen. They're like the conductor of an orchestra while the GPU is the lead guitar. A more accurate video would show the CPU downloading the image before the GPU renders it.

Newer computer chips, like the Apple M3, have both CPUs and GPUs together. They work together to make your computer work well.

So, CPUs might not be as flashy as GPUs, but they are important and keep our computers working smoothly.