> I know very little about computer architecture, so please feel free to
shoot
> me down if what follow is complete nonsense.
>
> GIMPS clients use the spare capacity of the primary processing resource
within
> any computer:- the CPU(s). But most modern PCs have another component
capable
> of performing rapid and sophisticated calculations:- the GPU on the
graphics
> accelerator. Is there any way that the GPU can be programmed to perform
GIMPS
> processing when otherwise not in use? If this could be done, then it
would
> have the effect of turning every client computer into an multi-processor
> system.
Virtually all GPU's in use today are fixed function hard wired graphics
accelerators. There's no way to use them for general purpose computational
use. Also, there's no APIs, and each chip vendor has a radically different
architecture.
-jrp
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