• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Today I learned that Sony coined the term "GPU"

A

alphachino

Member
For the PS1's 32-bit graphics processor. [https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/chasing-pixels/is-it-time-to-rename-the-gpu]

Just thought it was interesting seeing as how other companies took the term and ran with it, and in the case of Nvidia, well on their way to becoming the most valuable company on the planet.

I recently went to buy a M2 memory stick/card for my PSP Go and got reminded of the halcyon days of Sony. They could have been the leader in so many industries had it not been for all their proprietary bullshit throughout the years.

Still my favourite tech company though. Lately I've been playing on my PS3 Phat (CECHA01, SSD Modded) a lot with Dualsense (via Mayflash adapter) and outputting audio to WH-1000XM4's over optical+LDAC and what an experience! I miss those glory days of Sony.
 
Last edited:
Solidus_T

Solidus_T

Banned
I thought it was Sega, since they had what could be technically considered the first dedicated GPU in their 92 Daytona USA cabs. That game blew people away since it was one of the first 60fps games.
 
winjer

winjer

Member
alphachino said:
For the PS1's 32-bit graphics processor. [https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/chasing-pixels/is-it-time-to-rename-the-gpu]

Just thought it was interesting seeing as how other companies took the term and ran with it, and in the case of Nvidia, well on their way to becoming the most valuable company on the planet.

I recently went to buy a M2 memory stick/card for my PSP Go and got reminded of the halcyon days of Sony. They could have been the leader in so many industries had it not been for all their proprietary bullshit throughout the years.

Still my favourite tech company though. Lately I've been playing on my PS3 Phat (CECHA01, SSD Modded) a lot with Dualsense (via Mayflash adapter) and outputting audio to WH-1000XM4's over optical+LDAC and what an experience! I miss those glory days of Sony.
Click to expand...

The term that Sony used was Geometry Processing Unit, to describe one of the dedicated units on the PS1.
Was was never used as a term to describe the whole Graphics Processing Unit. And it was never meant to be used as an acronym.
You are just conflating terminology.
 
A

alphachino

Member
Sleepwalker said:
Hopefully youre taking good care of that fat boy since they are so frail. Mine is mostly for show nowadays, I should repaste it and install a ssd on it.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I delidded it back in 2021 and repasted, replaced the PSU with an APS-226 and put in a 1TB SSD. It's my baby and she hums along nicely. There is an incredible number of games I'm interested in locked on the platform or having the best versions still like the whole God of War Greek Saga (Still need to play Ghost of Sparta and Ascension), Ridge Racer 7, Sly Trilogy, Infamous 2, Resistance 3, 3D dot game heroes, MGS: Snake Eater, and Yakuza: Dead Souls. Plenty of life left in the system for me.
Having the SSD is a real game changer.
 
Last edited:
Laptop1991

Laptop1991

Member
All the companies do this at times, about 5 years ago Nvidia claimed they were the first GPU creator's in a video and didn't mention 3DFX once who made and sold the Voodoo cards before Nvidia released the TNT ones, and Nvidia bought and own 3DFX!, they bought them the early 2000's.
 
LordOfChaos

LordOfChaos

Member
I always wonder how much of a graphics house they have in-house. It's interesting that they still have things to add to the GPU of the second main player out there in AMD, even setting some directions for the future at times.
 
Last edited:
winjer

winjer

Member
Laptop1991 said:
All the companies do this at times, about 5 years ago Nvidia claimed they were the first GPU creator's in a video and didn't mention 3DFX once who made and sold the Voodoo cards before Nvidia released the TNT ones, and Nvidia bought and own 3DFX!, they bought them the early 2000's.
Click to expand...

The reason why Nvidia coined the term was basically for marketing. And because they were the first to release a graphics card with T&L, they decided that was the cutoff point.
ATI even tried to create a similar term, the Visual processing Unit. (VPU)

But Sony didn't coin the term GPU. They were just describing the geometry processing unit.
So let's not mix things up.
 
Laptop1991

Laptop1991

Member
winjer said:
The reason why Nvidia coined the term was basically for marketing. And because they were the first to release a graphics card with T&L, they decided that was the cutoff point.
ATI even tried to create a similar term, the Visual processing Unit. (VPU)

But Sony didn't coin the term GPU. They were just describing the geometry processing unit.
So let's not mix things up.
Click to expand...
Yeah i know i bought the Geforce 1 with T&L which was better than 3dfx's motion blur which wasn't as impressive and i switch that off today in games, but it was still misleading as far as 3D graphics card's were concerned, but yeah your right about Sony, when they say GPU they don't mean the old 2d chips and cards like Matrox made, they really mean the 3D ones and the Playstation 1 didn't have one.
 
Wildebeest

Wildebeest

Member
Technically, GPU is a term like "cloud" in that it doesn't really mean anything other than that all the things that make it work are all bundled in one package. When 3d was coming in, a component that shifted 3d calculations away from the CPU was called a 3d accelerator.
 
Shadowstar39

Shadowstar39

Member
Magic Carpet said:
So everything before the PS1 was just called "That thing that makes graphics"?
Click to expand...
As someone old enough to remember those days, it wasn't a separate thing for consoles. For pc, we had video graphics cards since the start.

We called them CGA, EGA and VGA, so like this "I got my new VGA card"

CGA -4 color 16k vram. Thing was over a foot long. - four colors at 320x200 resolution and two colors at 640x200.... Hooked up to a tv you had composite mode which had more blended colors and more "tricks".
EGA - 16 colors at once out of 64 pallette - 256k-512kb.
VGA - Video graphics Array 256 colors at once out of 262,144 for 320x240 or 16 colors at 640x480
SVGA - 16mil colors, but number at once done depending on amount or vram. (there was xga, uga, and others after that).

I don't remember gpu being used until the early 2000s with the first Geforce or Geforce 2. I know by Geforce 3 it was being used as it had programable shaders, but I am sure it was before that.
I don't think my Voodoo 3 and voodoo 5 were even called gpus. Just "Video Graphics Accelerators" or "graphics card".
Before voodoo3 you had to have a seperate video card for your VGA/SVGA and an 3d graphics card for 3d. Voodoo3 it was combined and nvidia had their riva then tnt line at that time, Ati had allin wonder and rage pro. They went to geforce and radeon after that.

Console side, was just bit wars. 8 bit system, 16 bit system, 64, I remember people calling the ps2 128bit (Which I am not even sure that was the case).
The graphics were just referred by the cpu , Mos 6502, motorola 68000 etc..

Oh and BLAST PROCESSING vs Mode 7... Those were fun debates back in the day.
 
Last edited:
winjer

winjer

Member
Laptop1991 said:
Yeah i know i bought the Geforce 1 with T&L which was better than 3dfx's motion blur which wasn't as impressive and i switch that off today in games, but it was still misleading as far as 3D graphics card's were concerned, but yeah your right about Sony, when they say GPU they don't mean the old 2d chips and cards like Matrox made, they really mean the 3D ones and the Playstation 1 didn't have one.
Click to expand...

The geometry engine in the PS1 was meant for accelerating 3D graphics. Though in low precision.
 
winjer

winjer

Member
Shadowstar39 said:
As someone old enough to remember those days, it wasn't a separate thing for consoles. For pc, we had video graphics cards since the start.

We called them CGA, EGA and VGA, so like this "I got my new VGA card"

CGA -4 color 16k vram. Thing was over a foot long. - four colors at 320x200 resolution and two colors at 640x200.... Hooked up to a tv you had composite mode which had more blended colors and more "tricks".
EGA - 16 color at once 256k-512kb.
VGA - Video graphics Array 256 colors at once for 320x240
SVGA - 16mil colors, but number at once done depending on amount or vram. (there was xga, uga, and others after that).

I don't remember gpu being used until the early 2000s with the first Geforce or Geforce 2. I know by Geforce 3 it was being used as it had programable shaders, but I am sure it was before that.
I don't think my Voodoo 3 and voodoo 5 were even called gpus. Just "Video Graphics Accelerators" or "graphics card".
Before voodoo3 you had to have a seperate video card for your VGA/SVGA and an 3d graphics card for 3d. Voodoo3 it was combined and nvidia had their riva then tnt line at that time, Ati had allin wonder and rage pro. They went to geforce and radeon after that.
Click to expand...

The first GPU, was the GeForce 256.
 
Warnen

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
Man and I thought Sony only uncovered the historically accurate giant crabs of Japan that you flip for massive damage.

You learn something every day.
 
D

docchicken

Member
winjer said:
What part don't you understand that GPU is just a marketing term, made up by Nvidia.
And because it was made up by Nvidia, they get to define what was the first.
Click to expand...
Then Sony coining the term is just as accurate, because they "said" it first. The first actual dedicated 'GPU' was made by Marie Martin, a weapons manufacturer.
 
winjer

winjer

Member
docchicken said:
Then Sony coining the term is just as accurate, because they "said" it first. The first actual dedicated 'GPU' was made by Marie Martin, a weapons manufacturer.
Click to expand...

Sony did not coin the term GPU.
The just used words with the same 3 word initials, to describe something different.
Sony didn't even use the acronym GPU.
 
D

docchicken

Member
winjer said:
Sony did not coin the term GPU.
The just used words with the same 3 word initials, to describe something different.
Sony didn't even use the acronym GPU.
Click to expand...
Taking the processor and the "coprocessor" into account, it is the same thing as a dedicated GPU, though. It's not "something different."

It also emerged around the same time as dedicated gpus for PCs, and looking into the dates, nvidia may have edged them out on the date slightly. Not interested in digging deeper right now as I'm working.

Truth remains that sega and Martin made it first
 
Last edited:
winjer

winjer

Member
docchicken said:
Taking the processor and the "coprocessor" into account, it is the same thing as a dedicated GPU, though. It's not "something different."

It also emerged around the same time as dedicated gpus for PCs, and looking into the dates, nvidia may have edged them out on the date slightly. Not interested in digging deeper right now as I'm working.
Click to expand...

The geometry engine is just one part of the rendering pipeline.
 
D

Drew1440

Member
Solidus_T said:
I thought it was Sega, since they had what could be technically considered the first dedicated GPU in their 92 Daytona USA cabs. That game blew people away since it was one of the first 60fps games.
Click to expand...

Model 2 did have a graphics chip but it's more of an accelerator that does the texturing, the polygons/geometry were done on the Fujitsu DSP's since 3D graphics chips were not mainstream. Very similar to how the GTE (Geometry Transformation Engine) functioned in the PS1 which would send display lists to it's GPU. All this was done independent of the CPU and in the case of the PS1, the GTE was sort of like a coprocessor in that it sat on-die with the main MIPS core.

Early PC 3D cards did the geometry on the CPU (Which is why MMX was a big deal when it came out) and then accelerated the texturing/effects rendering before the Nvidia GeForce came out that had it's own geometry engine, coining the term GPU since it wasn't reliant on the host CPU or an external processor.

Not sure about the N64, I think that might have been the first non-PC GPU implementation since the Reality Co-Processor has it's own signal processor that would do geometry, according to this. Sega Model 3 might also have a similar concept design using the Real3D cores entirely for rendering.
 
Last edited:
coffinbirth

coffinbirth

Member
winjer said:
The geometry engine is just one part of the rendering pipeline.
Click to expand...
Seems like you are pissing into the wind here.

You are 100%, indubitably correct on ALL points.

So much so, I'd say lock the thread and make this be a lesson that AI generated search engine results aren't always factual, and will likely be the fall of western civilization as we know it.
 
Last edited:
Lysandros

Lysandros

Member
The acronym for PS1's CPU embedded 3D accelerator was GTE (Geometry Transformation Engine) not GPU. The system also had a separate rasterizer GPU just like PS2.
 
Solidus_T

Solidus_T

Banned
docchicken said:
Taking the processor and the "coprocessor" into account, it is the same thing as a dedicated GPU, though. It's not "something different."

It also emerged around the same time as dedicated gpus for PCs, and looking into the dates, nvidia may have edged them out on the date slightly. Not interested in digging deeper right now as I'm working.

Truth remains that sega and Martin made it first
Click to expand...
This thread is about who used the term first, so a lot of the points you are making are kinda moot. There were a lot of similar approaches to hardware dedicated rendering. 3D accelerators, graphics chips, etc all technically count.
 
Geomancer86

Geomancer86

Neo Member
A 3d accelerator cards lacks the 2d portion of rendering, back then you had to use two cards.. nvidia GPU was the first one with both things on the same card, without using passthrough cables/etc.
 
StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Shadowstar39 said:
As someone old enough to remember those days, it wasn't a separate thing for consoles. For pc, we had video graphics cards since the start.

We called them CGA, EGA and VGA, so like this "I got my new VGA card"

CGA -4 color 16k vram. Thing was over a foot long. - four colors at 320x200 resolution and two colors at 640x200.... Hooked up to a tv you had composite mode which had more blended colors and more "tricks".
EGA - 16 colors at once out of 64 pallette - 256k-512kb.
VGA - Video graphics Array 256 colors at once out of 262,144 for 320x240 or 16 colors at 640x480
SVGA - 16mil colors, but number at once done depending on amount or vram. (there was xga, uga, and others after that).

I don't remember gpu being used until the early 2000s with the first Geforce or Geforce 2. I know by Geforce 3 it was being used as it had programable shaders, but I am sure it was before that.
I don't think my Voodoo 3 and voodoo 5 were even called gpus. Just "Video Graphics Accelerators" or "graphics card".
Before voodoo3 you had to have a seperate video card for your VGA/SVGA and an 3d graphics card for 3d. Voodoo3 it was combined and nvidia had their riva then tnt line at that time, Ati had allin wonder and rage pro. They went to geforce and radeon after that.

Console side, was just bit wars. 8 bit system, 16 bit system, 64, I remember people calling the ps2 128bit (Which I am not even sure that was the case).
The graphics were just referred by the cpu , Mos 6502, motorola 68000 etc..

Oh and BLAST PROCESSING vs Mode 7... Those were fun debates back in the day.
Click to expand...
Dont forget MCGA!

I'm no tech head and have no idea how widespread that mode was used in software, but I remember Sim City using it. I remember it as a colourful blockier version of VGA.
 
Davevil

Davevil

Member
200w.gif
 
C

Celine

Member
Shadowstar39 said:
Console side, was just bit wars. 8 bit system, 16 bit system, 64, I remember people calling the ps2 128bit (Which I am not even sure that was the case).
The graphics were just referred by the cpu , Mos 6502, motorola 68000 etc..

Oh and BLAST PROCESSING vs Mode 7... Those were fun debates back in the day.
Click to expand...
Console side there were terms like PPU and VDP.

Nintendoad12.JPG



Early japanese consoles (NES, Master System, PC Engine, SNES, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Gear) were hugely influenced by Colecovision's TMS9918 VDP.
 
Last edited:
Dr. Wilkinson

Dr. Wilkinson

Member
alphachino said:
For the PS1's 32-bit graphics processor. [https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/chasing-pixels/is-it-time-to-rename-the-gpu]

Just thought it was interesting seeing as how other companies took the term and ran with it, and in the case of Nvidia, well on their way to becoming the most valuable company on the planet.

I recently went to buy a M2 memory stick/card for my PSP Go and got reminded of the halcyon days of Sony. They could have been the leader in so many industries had it not been for all their proprietary bullshit throughout the years.

Still my favourite tech company though. Lately I've been playing on my PS3 Phat (CECHA01, SSD Modded) a lot with Dualsense (via Mayflash adapter) and outputting audio to WH-1000XM4's over optical+LDAC and what an experience! I miss those glory days of Sony.
Click to expand...
Huh?

GPU is an abbreviation. What are you talking about
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

[Digital Foundry] New PS5 Pro GPU details emerge - including a 2.35GHz max boost clock
News Hardware Platform 3 4 5 6 7
310
25K
Lysandros replied
AMD CEO Lisa Su reminisces about designing the PS3's infamous Cell processor during her time at IBM
Hardware 2
56
6K
GreatnessRD replied
  • Poll
SONY/SIE: The Balance Of Chasing Margins, Multiplat Expansion, And Maximizing The Console
Opinion Business Analysis 2 3
101
8K
vaibhavpisal replied
Ken Kutaragi is the Greatest 'emperor' Of All Time and remains SIE's only true visionary
Opinion 2 3
137
8K
ZoukGalaxy replied
As Microsoft and Sony target PC and mobile to grow their audiences, what does that mean for the future of the console? - GIBiz Opinion By Chris Dring
Opinion Astroturfing 2 3
139
8K
Topher replied
Top Bottom