Technology
How does a graphics card (GPU) work?
A graphics card, or GPU, works by doing many calculations at once instead of one at a time. This 'parallel' power lets it render images and video fast, and it's now also key to training AI, which needs huge amounts of similar math.
See it in motion.
Watch a 2-minute animated lesson that shows exactly how a graphics card works.
Step by step
- 1A GPU performs thousands of calculations in parallel.
- 2This makes it great at rendering graphics quickly.
- 3It offloads heavy visual work from the main processor (CPU).
- 4The same parallel power now drives AI and machine learning.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a graphics card do?
- It rapidly performs the many parallel calculations needed to render images, video, and 3D graphics.
- What's the difference between a CPU and a GPU?
- A CPU handles varied tasks one or a few at a time; a GPU does thousands of similar calculations at once.
- Why are GPUs used for AI?
- Training AI needs vast amounts of parallel math — exactly what GPUs are built to do fast.