A closer look at GPGPU

Abstract

The lack of detailed white box illustration leaves a gap in the field of GPGPU (General-Purpose Computing on the Graphic Processing Unit), thus hindering users and researchers from exploring hardware potential while improving application performance. This article bridges the gap by demystifying the micro-architecture and operating mechanism of GPGPU. We propose a descriptive model that addresses key issues of most concerns, including task organization, hardware structure, scheduling mechanism, execution mechanism, and memory access. We also validate the effectiveness of our model by interpreting the software/hardware cooperation of CUDA.