Research

CPU [Central Processing Unit]

A central processor, or CPU, is arguably the most important component of any computing device. It handles basic instructions and allocates the more complicated tasks to other specific chips to get them to do what they do best. It’s the core of your PC, smartphone, or tablet. and it’s what makes the whole device run as it should. 

Intel Core i9 CPU chip

The CPU itself is a core component of what makes a computer a computer, but it isn’t the computer itself — it’s just the brains of the operation. It’s a small computer chip that sits atop the main circuit board (motherboard) of a computer, whether that’s a desktop PC, laptop, or tablet. It’s distinctly separate from the memory, which is where information is stored, and the graphics card or graphics chip, which handles all rendering of video and 3D graphics to your monitor or screen.

At its core, a CPU takes instructions from a program or application and performs a calculation. This process can be broken down into three key stages: Fetch, decode, and execute. A CPU fetches the instruction from a system’s RAM, then it decodes what the instruction actually is, before it is executed by the relevant parts of the CPU. (Martindale, 2018)

GPU [Graphics Processing Unit]

The CPU (central processing unit) has often been called the brains of the PC. But increasingly, that brain is being enhanced by another part of the PC – the GPU (graphics processing unit), which is its soul. (Krewell, 2009)

A GPU is a single-chip processor primarily used to manage and boost the performance of video and graphics. GPU features include:

CPU & GPU difference

• 2-D or 3-D graphics
• Digital output to flat panel display monitors
• Texture mapping
• Application support for high-intensity graphics software such as AutoCAD
• Rendering polygons
• Support for YUV color space
• Hardware overlays
• MPEG decoding

These features are designed to lessen the work of the CPU and produce faster video and graphics.
A GPU is not only used in a PC on a video card or motherboard; it is also used in mobile phones, display adapters, workstations and game consoles.

NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX GPU

This term is also known as a visual processing unit (VPU). (Techopedia, 2019)

A GPU is able to render images more quickly than a CPU because of its parallel processing architecture, which allows it to perform multiple calculations at the same time.

A single CPU does not have this capability, although multicore processors can perform calculations in parallel by combining more than one CPU onto the same chip. A CPU also has a higher clock speed, meaning it can perform an individual calculation faster than a GPU. Therefore, a CPU is often better equipped to handle basic computing tasks. (Rouse, 2017)

RAM [Random Access Memory]

Random access memory, or RAM, is one of the most important components of not only desktop PCs, but laptops, tablets, smartphones, and gaming consoles. Without it, doing just about anything on any system would be much, much slower. Even not having enough for the application or game you’re trying to run can bring things to a crawl, or make it so they can’t even run at all.

Patriot Viper 4 RAM

In a nutshell, it’s an extremely fast type of computer memory which temporarily stores all the information your PC needs right now and in the near future. It’s where your computer loads up all the things it thinks it will need to find out soon, so that when it does need something, it can read it super fast. It’s quite different from your system’s storage, like its hard drive, where information is stored long term. (Martindale, 2019)

When people talk about RAM in a PC, they are most likely referring to DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic RAM), which is usually found on DIMM slots on the motherboard. On the other hand, GPUs (aka graphics cards aka video cards) use GDDR SDRAM (Graphics Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic RAM). Modern RAM offerings all use SDRAM, but sometimes you'll see people and retailers refer to it as "DRAM" anyway.

In addition to SDRAM, computers use SRAM (static RAM) for the CPU's on-board cache. (Harding, 2019)

HD [High Definition]

HD stands for high definition display resolution. Resolution explains how many pixels a display has in length x width format . HD displays have a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, also referred to as 720p. A display can also be called HD if it has a resolution of 1920 x 1080, commonly referred to as 1080p. However, a 1920 x 1080 resolution is more officially referred to as Full HD (FHD).

Screen Resolutions

Neither HD nor FHD is particularly sharp, but both compare favorably to the old Standard Definition (SD), which is usually around 640 x 480. (Harding, 2018)

HD refers to the detail level of a screen; the number of pixels that are packed into a display. A pixel is the smallest visible element on a display, the ‘dots’ that combine to make up the overall picture.

HD follows from standard definition (the level of detail in analogue colour TV), cramming in even more pixels in order to produce sharper, cleaner images when playing video. (Newton, 2012)

HDRP [High Definition Render Pipeline]

The High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) is a high-fidelity Scriptable Render Pipeline built by Unity to target modern (Compute Shader compatible) platforms.

The HDRP utilizes Physically-Based Lighting techniques, linear lighting, HDR lighting and a configurable hybrid Tile/Cluster deferred/Forward lighting architecture and gives you the tools you need to create games, technical demos, animations and more to a high graphical standard. (Jordan, 2019)

HDRP in Unity

Its design follows three principles:

• Physically based rendering
• Unified and coherent lighting
• Features independent of the rendering path

Physically based rendering relies on three pillars: Lighting, Material, and Camera. Lighting and material rely on physical interaction and there should be a clear decoupling between them to get a coherent result under various lighting conditions. The camera interprets how the resulting lighting will be displayed on the screen. The goal is to make it easier for the artists to achieve a plausible result.

Unified lighting means that all objects and participating media in the scene should receive the same lighting. There shouldn’t be any distinction between opaque, transparent or volumetric materials. Coherent lighting means that a material must interact correctly with the lighting produced by any light sources (reflection probe, area lights…), even when modified by a Decal for example. This results in a more coherent look. (Lagarde, 2018)

PBR [Physically Based Rendering]

Material Layering

Physically based rendering (PBR) is an approach in computer graphics that seeks to render graphics in a way that more accurately models the flow of light in the real world. Many PBR pipelines have the accurate simulation of photorealism as their goal. Feasible and quick approximations of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function and rendering equation are of mathematical importance in this field. Photogrammetry may be used to help discover and encode accurate optical properties of materials. Shaders may be used to implement PBR principles. (Wilson, 2015)

PBR lighting/shading

Sources

Jon Martindale, 2018, Wat is a CPU?, Digital Trends:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-a-cpu/
Kevin Krewell, 2009, What’s the Difference Between a CPU and a GPU?, NVIDIA:
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2009/12/16/whats-the-difference-between-a-cpu-and-a-gpu/
Techopedia, 2019, Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), Techopedia:
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24862/graphics-processing-unit-gpu
Margaret Rouse, 2017, GPU vs. CPU, SearchVirtualDesktop:
https://searchvirtualdesktop.techtarget.com/definition/GPU-graphics-processing-unit
Jon Martindale, 2019, What is RAM? Digital Trends:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-ram/
Scharon Harding, 2019, What Is RAM? A Basic Definition, tom's Hardware:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-random-access-memory-definition,5757.html
Scharon Harding, 2018, What Is HD Resolution? High Definition Explained, tom's Hardware:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/what-is-hd,5745.html
Thomas Newton, 2012, What is HD? The difference between 720p, 1080i and 1080p, recombu:
https://recombu.com/digital/article/what-is-hd-the-difference-720p-1080i-and-1080p_m10888-html
Jordan, 2019, High Definition Render Pipeline overview, GitHub:
https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/ScriptableRenderPipeline/wiki/High-Definition-Render-Pipeline-overview
Sebastien Lagarde, 2018, The High Definition Render Pipeline: Focused on visual quality, Unity:
https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/03/16/the-high-definition-render-pipeline-focused-on-visual-quality/
Joe Wilson, 2015, Physically-Based Rendering, And You Can Too!, Marmoset:
https://marmoset.co/posts/physically-based-rendering-and-you-can-too/