In this video, I am going to specifically cover “What is a GPU” for creatives professionals such as video editors, graphic designers, photo editors, 3D animation, etc. There are a lot of explainer videos related to gaming, but not much on how GPUs apply to creators. GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) or sometimes referred to as a “Video Card” which I personally believe is a better classification, which you will see why in a minute. Two Types of GPUs? Integrated GPUs Built into the CPU of the laptop or desktop computer. Share the RAM with the CPU. Discrete GPUs Separate dedicated component within the computer. Has its own memory (VRAM) so it does not have to pull from the computer's memory bank (RAM). Dedicated GPU - Dedicated CPU - Dedicated RAM (VRAM) - Dedicated BIOS chip - Stream Processors (AMD) - CUDA Cores (NVIDIA) What does it do? Responsible for rendering graphics… What kind of graphics? What does a GPU do for Video Editing & 3D Animation? Supports the CPU by sending the GPU a message to help it render the footage so it can focus on other equally important but less graphical tasks. Playback in the Timeline - Rendering the video in the preview. Rendering - Final Rendering before the video is exported. - The GPU speeds up the processes of smoothing the 3-Dimensional edges of your footage or animation. NOT exporting Programs: Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Sony Vegas, Blender, CAD, etc... What does a GPU do for Graphic Design? Nothing... The CPU is able to handle the rendering of graphics in Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Affinity Photo, etc… The CPU MIGHT call on the GPU to help in some crazy animation created in Photoshop, but that is going to be minimal.