The document is a project report on Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) written by Neelesh Vaish. It includes an introduction to APUs, which integrate a CPU and GPU on a single die. It then covers 5 chapters that detail APU capabilities, AMD's role in developing the first APU using its Fusion technology, the APU architecture, how software can help, and a conclusion. The document also includes an index and bibliography citing sources of information.

1. PROJECT ON
Accelerated
Processing
Unit
MADE BY : NEELESH VAISH
COURSE :BSc.IT
INDEX
1

2. 1. Introduction Pg ...3
2. Chapter -1 Pg ...4
3. Chapter -2 Pg ...9
4. Chapter -3 Pg
...12
5. Chapter -4 Pg ...16
6. Chapter -5 Pg ...19
7. Bibliography Pg ...20
2

3. A.P.U
Introduction
A.P.U. Stands for Accelerated Processing Unit, which is a new technology that consists
of a C.P.U(Central processing unit) and a G.P.U(graphical processing unit) on a single
die. It's a new ERA of processor performance.AMD, NVidia ,IBM are the few leading
firms that are developing the technology. However AMD was the first who introduced
A.P.U's in commercial market. FUSION is the technology developed by AMD and is
the only APU provider in the market till now. APUs first broke out in the year 2006.
Since then it has been in continuous discussion and has become a hot topic. AMD
grabbed the first spot in releasing before its competitors. APU provides some great
FEATURES that will be further discussed in full detail in my project , we will also be
catching on the ARCHIETECTURE of it as well as some COMPARISONS.
APU is another step taken in HETROGENOUS COMPUTING making it better than
ever.
CHAPTER-1
3

4. Detailing APU and its capabilities.....
The main reason that led to the development of APU was to put a G.P.U
and a C.P.U on a single chip or die, making the single chip so formed to
perform as a processor as well as to do the work of a graphics card. This
achievement made it no longer necessary to have a separate graphics card
that is needed for visual enhancement and to run applications that require
high graphics. AMD's FUSION technology is the first to be made
commercially available.
APU is more advanced than any of the other processing devices present and
those commercially available. APU combines scalar processing on C.P.U with
parallel processing on the G.P.U and high bandwidth access to memory which
is at the same time very complex and simple. These processors
use much less power
provide us with more accurate and fast calculations
are easier to program
generate less heat
are easier to optimize
assure high performance and reliability
4

5. The APUs also provide a support for great level of graphics and also runs
Microsoft's DIRECTX 11. These are also capable of playing videos (1080p
FULL HD) at high resolutions without any lag or delay in frame rate.
Most importantly they save the space of an external GPU (because they
have it inbuilt) that consumes much more energy and a somewhat delayed
response and also can cost from Rs.2000 to Rs. 50,000.APUsare less
expensive when compared to a separated costing of a C.P.U and a G.P.U as
on whole.
APUs are also compatible with the latest technologies available and will now
be mass produced for various platforms. Mobiles will be the primary target of
APUs as they will provide a faster, smoother experience as it will improve
processing capabilities of mobile phones.
5

6. The APUs have made it easier for the consumer to choose from, as it
delivers all in a single package such as -
i. Low power consumption
ii. No need for a separate G.P.U
iii. Long of battery life
iv. Ultraportable and thin due to less space occupied
v. Runs all applications without any loss in performance
vi. Comes in mobile, Laptops, Net books, Desktops, etc.
vii. Is Mainstream
viii. High quality visual experience
ix. "A two in one solution"
6

7. This technology still has more room for development which will come more
specifically into picture when the competitors of AMD will launch the APUs
with a new variation in the technique. These processors will be the future of
computing and will give a tough fight to those processing units without the
integrated G.P.Us.
Currently NVidia (the Graphics Card giant) and Intel are the main
competitors of AMD and are looking forward to go with the APU
technology and are working round the clock for the launch and trying to
make their product better than the existing one. Intel has initially used this
technology before which had a G.P.U of lesser capability but AMD came
with a better and advanced G.P.U embedded on the die.
AMD and Intel wouldn’t go to the trouble of integrating a GPU into their
CPU architectures if there weren’t some benefits to doing so, but sometimes
the benefit of a new technology seems to be focused more on the company
selling the product than the consumer. Fortunately, the benefits of the APU
are dramatic and will be noticed by end users.
7

8. Obviously, improved performance is one
advantage. The graphics placed on current APUs are not meant to be
competitive with high-end or even mid-range discrete graphics cards, but they
are better than previous integrated graphics processors. Intel HD Graphics
3000, the fastest graphics option available on the company’s newest
processor, is two to three times quicker than the previous Intel HD Graphics
solution, which was on the processor die but not integrated into the
architecture. This also makes it possible to include new features, like Intel’s
Quick Sync video trans coding technology.
Another advantage brought by APUs is improved power efficiency. Integrated
the GPU into the architecture makes it possible to share resources and
achieve the same results with less silicon. This means an APU can replicate
the performance of a system equipped with a low-end discrete graphics card
while using far less power. Early benchmarks of Intel Sandy Bridge and
AMD Fusion laptops make this advantage obvious; systems equipped with
these processors have better battery life than similar system saddled with a
CPU and a separate discrete or integrated graphics processor.
CHAPTER-2
8

9. AMD(THE MAJOR ROLE).....
AMD is so far the company which has provided the best level APU's. My
project revolves around it and considers AMD at the top excluding the other
because of the contribution put by AMD in developing the technology while
other's lack way behind or are in the developing stage. On the other hand
AMD has started commercial production of it. The technology developed and
used by AMD is named as FUSION.
The First APU......FROM AMD....
9

10. Its FUSION.........
What u get.........
10

11. For the hardware developer, ODM or PC manufacturer,
it’s time to start thinking about how to incorporate these
new APUs into product lines in order to enhance the
consumer experience. Software developers should look
to this new power to help their software run even better.
All developers are encouraged to upgrade their skills and
learn about OpenCL and DirectCompute, and to examine
current software projects to see how they can be
improved in a world where systems have dramatically
more power. Because pretty soon, they will.
11

12. CHAPTER-3
Architecture of A.P.U.....
This is the die of one of the AMD A.P.U’s available
in the market that has a C.P.U and G.P.U built on in.
Figure illustrates the arrangement of these first APUs. The
key aspect to note is that all the major system elements –
x86 cores, vector (SIMD) engines, and a Unified Video
12

13. Decoder (UVD) for HD decoding tasks – attach directly to
the same high speed bus, and thus to the main system
memory. This design concept eliminates one of the
fundamental constraints that limits the performance
of traditional integrated graphics controllers (IGPs).
The APU’s scalar x86 cores and SIMD engines
share a common path to system memory, The first
generation implementations divide that memory into
regions managed by the operating system running on
the x86 cores and other regions managed by software
running on the SIMD engines. It provides high speed
block transfer engines that move data between the x86
and SIMD memory partitions. Unlike transfers between
an external frame buffer and system memory, these
transfers never hit the system’s external bus. Clever
software developers can overlap the loading and
13

14. unloading of blocks in the SIMD memory with execution
involving data in other blocks. Insight 64 anticipates that
future APU architectures will evolve towards a more
seamless memory management model that allows even
higher levels of balanced performance scaling.
The figure demonstrates about the total system performance that can be
further enhanced through the addition of a discrete GPU.
The common
architectures of the APU and GPU allow for a multi-GPU
14

15. configuration where the system can scale to harness all
available resources for exceptional graphics and enable
truly breathtaking overall performance.
For over four decades, architects have pursued two
competing concepts to enhance system computational
performance. One group argues that designs that
emphasize a single machine instruction operating on
a single data item (“SISD”) work with the broadest array
of application and lead to the most cost-effective
solutions. The other group counters that vector designs
that emphasize single instructions operating on multiple
data items (“SIMD”) deliver relatively higher performance
for computationally intensive applications that need to
process large arrays of highly structured data, a model
that applies to many modern computing tasks.
After all those years of debate, it has now become clear
that both sides were correct; it is not a question of “either/
or,” but rather of “both/and.” Some numerically intensive
problems lend themselves to parallel algorithms, and
others don’t. When a machine optimized for parallel
computation encounters a problem that cannot be
computed in a parallel manner, the machine operates
as an inefficient scalar processor, and most of its parallel
computing resources sit idle. Conversely, a processor
optimized for scalar calculations cannot exploit the
parallelism in many algorithms, and thus is limited by
its scalar processing speed.
15

16. CHAPTER-4
How Software's can help....
The recent emergence of two important development
tools – OpenCL and DirectCompute – enables developers
(especially those who have already mastered the art of
writing software for single-threaded scalar environments)
to more easily create highly dynamic multi-threaded
data-parallel software applications.
Over the past years AMD, Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, etc. have produced world
class software's that help in hardware acceleration and give it a boost as
compared to the stock version.
The tools needed to accelerate applications via GPU
computing have only been around for a few years,
but already a few innovative ISVs have used this
technology to enhance their applications. A few of
the more interesting examples include:
»»
Adobe’s ubiquitous Flash Player now uses GPU
hardware to decode video streams. This innovation
helps improve the quality of the video playback on
enabled GPUs, reducing the processing load on the
16

17. CPU, and thus uses less power, extending system
battery life. The release candidate of Flash Player 10.1
is available for download as of this publication date.
»»
ArcSoft has added a GPU-enabled SimHD™ plug-in
to its TotalMedia Theatre package. The new plug-in
enhances video quality by intelligently up-scaling
standard DVD video from 480 vertical lines to 720.
»»
Cyberlink has enhanced its line of media software
applications to use GPU acceleration whenever
possible. Its Power Director 8 package takes advantage
of enabled GPU resources to speed up video editing,
video encoding and video effects rendering. Its
MediaShow line uses enabled GPU hardware to
accelerate video format conversion (transcoding) and
encoding, as well as to implement an automated “face
tagging” feature that sorts the user’s photo collection
based on the faces in the photos. Its PowerDVD offering
takes advantage of GPU resources to enhance Blu-Ray
playback; the company demonstrated a future version
of PowerDVD for Blu-Ray 3D playback at the 2010 CES
show. Cyberlink started its GPU-acceleration efforts in
2008, and used the proprietary tools then available
from AMD and Nvidia to develop its software. Now it is
converting its software to use DirectCompute in order to
increase the range of supported platforms and get to
market with new features more quickly.
»»
17

18. One Silicon Valley startup uses GPU resources to clean
up video files, compensating for noise, pixilation, graininess,
poor focus, low contrast, and shaky images due to shaking
cameras. The package works just like the fictional ones you
might see in a film where the hero zooms in on a satellite
image and reads the villain’s license plate, but this package
relies on GPU hardware, rather than Hollywood gimmicks.
»»
Another startup has demonstrated facial recognition
software that finds individual faces in photos or videos
and matches them to faces in its database. This obviously
requires a tremendous amount of computational
horsepower, but with GPU assistance, it can accomplish
this task virtually in real time. It’s not hard to imagine that
GPU computing could be employed by civil protection
organizations to help make the world a safer place.
18

19. CHAPTER-5
Conclusion....
The AMD Fusion family of Accelerated Processing Units
is scheduled to arrive in 2011. The expectation is that their
compatibility with Windows 7 and DirectX 11 will ensure
that they will provide an outstanding experience for those
who purchase PCs based on these processors. Their
enhanced processing power and power efficiency will
enable sharp and clear videos, realistic and responsive
games, and notebooks that can run longer between
19

20. battery charges.
More importantly, compared to today’s mainstream
offerings, APU-based platforms will possess prodigious
amounts of computational horsepower. This processing
power will allow developers to tackle problems that lie
beyond the capabilities of today’s mainstream systems,
and will enable innovative developers to step up and
update existing applications or invent new ones that
take advantage of GPU acceleration.
20

21. Bibliography
Information has been taken from the AMD site and some other links listed
below.....
1. http://sites.amd.com/us/fusion/apu/Pages/apu.aspx
2. http://www.insidehw.com/Editorials/Interviews/AMD-Llano-The-First-Accelerated-Processing-
Unit/Page-2.html
3. http://techreport.com/discussions/11438
4. http://www.amd.com/us/products/Pages/products.aspx
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia
21