CUDA Cores vs Stream Processors

[MegaATVLover]

Will someone please explain to me what each of these are, the difference between them, and advantages and disadvantages of both. I've heard CUDA and Stream Processor thrown around quite a bit, but never understood what they were or how they worked/compared...

[Godlygamer23]

They do most of the computational work. You can't compare CUDA core for CUDA core nor stream processor for stream processor because it all comes down the architecture that's being used. CUDA cores and stream processors cannot be compared directly.

[niofalpha]

CUDA is Nvidia's form of cores, this is also one of the more popular languages/ API used in compute tasks.

Stream are AMD's form of cores, better at OpenGL iirc.

[MegaATVLover]

So, if a person is just gaming, will they see any performance difference on one vs the other? What about rendering videos?

[Godlygamer23]

So, if a person is just gaming, will they see any performance difference on one vs the other? What about rendering videos?

You can't compare them directly as I already stated. It comes down to the architecture - certain applications may favor NVIDIA cards or favor AMD cards. AMD cards tend to excel at OpenGL driven applications.

[Guest Kloaked]

CUDA is Nvidia's form of cores, this is also one of the more popular languages/ API used in compute tasks.

Stream are AMD's form of cores, better at OpenGL iirc.

 

To clarify though, all cores from both vendors are considered stream processors, they just both use different methods of computing.

 

It's probably more complicated than that, but that's how I understand it in my little mind.

[MegaATVLover]

Ok, so, what are ROPs?

[Godlygamer23]

Ok, so, what are ROPs?

ROP stands for Raster Operation Pipeline and its function is below

ROP aka render output unit is what produces the final pretty pixel for the frame buffer. All the shading and texture goop is blended, transformed and what not to the final pixel value displayed on your screen by such a thing.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1829459

[MegaATVLover]

ROP stands for Raster Operation Pipeline and its function is below

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1829459

Thanks! So, more ROPs are better, yes?

[Godlygamer23]

Thanks! So, more ROPs are better, yes?

Per the same architecture, yes.

[Deletive]

So, if a person is just gaming, will they see any performance difference on one vs the other? What about rendering videos?

I wouldn't say it's something you should look at for the performance. For rendering videos it depends on the editor. Vegas likes OpenCL a little more then cuda while Premiere pro like Cuda a little more then OpenCL

[MegaATVLover]

Per the same architecture, yes.

So, are ROPs basically what makes the FPS difference between something like the GTX960 and the GTX980Ti?

[Godlygamer23]

So, are ROPs basically what makes the FPS difference between something like the GTX960 and the GTX980Ti?

ROPs definitely play a part, but CUDA cores are also important. In the case of something like a 660 Ti vs 760, you will notice the 760 has less CUDA cores but more ROPs. Because of this, it generally beats the 660 Ti in most titles. However, in compute intensive applications, the 660 Ti may pull ahead due to the higher amount of CUDA cores.

 

Edit: Small corrections made.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Godlygamer23

[MegaATVLover]

ROPs definitely play a part, but CUDA cores are also important. In the case of something like a 660 Ti vs 760, you will notice the 760 has less CUDA cores but more ROPs. Because of this, it generally beats the 660 Ti in most titles. However, in compute intensive games, the 660 Ti will pull ahead due to the higher amount of CUDA cores.

Example of a compute intensive game?

[Godlygamer23]

Example of a compute intensive game?

Slight correction. It's compute intensive applications, not games. Even so, it appears to only be in CLBenchmark 1.1 in fluid simulation.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7103/nvidia-geforce-gtx-760-review/15

[MegaATVLover]

So, what about shaders and texture units?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm still kinda new to this whole desktop thing since I've had laptops my whole life... This thread has kinda turned into the "newbie question thread"...