Could a gpu replace CPU and memory?

[qwertymatrix]

these forums dont seems to have a hacking segment so in any case being about using a gou here i am..

So i was thinking, gpus have both memory and processing units on them; could you theoretically run a computer off just a gpu without installing a dedicated CPU and RAM like you normally do?
(Not that I am trying to do this on my system to save money lol but i though it may be an interesting concept to try on a testbed-protoyping rig)

 

[ahnilated]

not that I know of being there isn't an operating system out there for a GPU.

 

[willard]

So i was thinking, gpus have both memory and processing units on them; could you theoretically run a computer off just a gpu without installing a dedicated CPU and RAM like you normally do?

No. You still need a CPU to load things onto the GPU. It's a companion to the CPU, and cannot replace all its features.

 

[Sunius]

GPU is having way narrower instruction set than CPUs. That's the reason they are faster, but they aren't fit for all the tasks. Plus, they rely on multitasking, a single core operations of modern GPUs I'd say you could compare to Pentium 2-3.

 

[daysyang]

im no expert but
cpu memory built in this is cache - small high speed sram... with limited capacity therefore you need ram.
gpu have memory built on to the graphics card notice all the ram chips on your card.
anyways the algorithm for gpu is different from cpu...
no... i don't think you would be able to run a computer off a gpu...