Windows 7 and GPU Computing: Speeding Up Video and More

One of the most interesting changes just starting to happen in PC architecture is that software can now do some computing using the graphics processor, in addition to the using the traditional CPU. This offers the potential for certain applications to run noticeably faster. Windows 7 may not be driving this change, but it is providing the platform that most of the vendors looking at GPU computing seem to be focusing on.

I've written a lot about GPU computing in the past, but here's the basic background: Today's graphics processors contain dozens or perhaps hundreds, depending on the chip, of small "cores" designed for manipulating small chunks of data in parallel.

Nvidia, as the largest company that focuses on graphics processing, has been the most visible company promoting the concept of using the GPU for computing. It has created CUDA architecture, essentially a framework for developers to use to enable their programs for parallel processing on Nvidia's current and upcoming graphics cards, as well as on Tesla, special-purpose cards with high-end GPUs designed for using CUDA code in high-performance computing applications.
Some of the initial consumer applications include Badaboom video conversion software; Cyberlink's PowerDirector; Arcsoft's Total Media Theatre, for improving video playback; and MotionDSP's vReveal, for improving the quality of video. More recently it has found its way into most of the big suites for encoding and transcoding video, including those from Cyberlink, Nero, and most recently, Roxio.

More............Windows 7 and GPU Computing: Speeding Up Video and More - Opinions by ExtremeTech

Interesting I hope that now OpenCL is out and about programes like buddaboom will work on my ATI cards