Graphics processor units

Yasuda, K. Two-electron integral evaluation on the graphics processor unit. J. Comput. Chem. 2007, 29(3), 334-42. 

Interestingly, the power of graphical processing units " (GPU", the processor on the video card (or graphics accelerator card" ) in the system) has increased even faster than CPU power, mainly due to the fact that GPUs form the core of the computer game industry. The millions of systems needed for this lucrative market and the high competition between the market leaders NVIDIA and ATI have created a... 

E Series Central Processor 85 Mbyte Fixed Disc 320 Kwords Memory Magnetic Tape Unit 4 Graphics Terminals 3 Non-Graphics Terminals Plotter... 

The mid-range workstations offer 10 to 15 MIPS performance, with numeric processing at 1 to 2 MFLOPS, drawing rates of 200,000 to 400,0(X) v/s and 20,000 p/s. Their higher performance arises from so-call RISC architecture (Reduced Instruction Set CPU), which allow the computer to perform fewer tasks per CPU instruction. They also utilize faster, proprietary graphics display processors and larger display memory, which allows more colors and multiple windows. These units cost between 30,000 and 70,000, and they probably make up the bulk of recent CAMD woikstation purchases. They are suitable for solid model display and manipulation of small molecules, and wireframe and dot-surface display of macromolecules. Molecular mechanics and dynamics calcinations on small molecules and ensembles can be run in batch mode on these machines, and the results can be displayed and manipulated interactively. 

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