Graphics processor with memory management unit and cache coherent link

摘要

In contrast to a conventional computing system in which the graphics processor (graphics processing unit or GPU) is treated as a slave to one or several CPUs, systems and methods are provided that allow the GPU to be treated as a central processing unit (CPU) from the perspective of the operating system. The GPU can access a memory space shared by other CPUs in the computing system. Caches utilized by the GPU may be coherent with caches utilized by other CPUs in the computing system. The GPU may share execution of general-purpose computations with other CPUs in the computing system.