What is a GPU?

A GPU is the graphics processing unit used to display pictures, text and animation on a screen. GPUs are found in a number of locations inside a computing device, placed at times on plug-in graphics cards and as a set of chips on a motherboard or CPU.

Depending on construction, GPUs are capable of displaying a variety of colors and resolutions. Generally, the more advanced the GPU, the better the displayed image can be. Higher colors and resolutions result in greater image fidelity and faster animations. In addition to displaying graphics, GPUs are also used for some computing tasks that deal with repetitive computations.