Shaders, texture mapping unites, render output processors, I don't get it

[xXCrossfireXx]

So I'm trying to compare GPUs but it's pretty hard. There are so many specs, like render output processors, VRAM, texture mapping units, CUDA cores, etc. Can someone just explain what each of the parts do, and which part of the GPU is best for gaming?

 

[Michael Hurtle]

So I'm trying to compare GPUs but it's pretty hard. There are so many specs, like render output processors, VRAM, texture mapping units, CUDA cores, etc. Can someone just explain what each of the parts do, and which part of the GPU is best for gaming?

Render Output Units
The render output unit, often abbreviated as "ROP", and sometimes called (perhaps more properly) raster operations pipeline, is one of the final steps in the rendering process of modern 3D accelerator boards.
This basically is what renders the 3D object in a Video Card


VRAM
Short for video RAM, and pronounced vee-ram. VRAM is special-purpose memory used by video adapters. Unlike conventional RAM, VRAM can be accessed by two different devices simultaneously. This enables the RAMDAC to access the VRAM for screen updates at the same time that the video processor provides new data. VRAM yields better graphics performance but is more expensive than normal RAM.
VRAM is basically important for resolutions, depending on what resolution you are going to be playing at, 2Gb is the sweet-spot for good budget cards playing 1080. Anything more than 1080p you should use cards with more than 3gb of VRAM.
I would also always focus on opting for GDDR5 as GDDR3 is slower and will still cause some hiccups in FPS as VRAM can be used for more than just resolutions.


Texture Mapping Unit
A texture mapping unit (TMU) is a component in modern graphics processing units (GPUs), historically it was a separate physical processor. A TMU is able to rotate and resize a bitmap to be placed onto an arbitrary plane of a given 3D object as a texture.
This basically is the unit that applies the texture to the 3D rendered object from the ROP


CUDA Cores
CUDA Cores are parallel processors inside an nVidia GPU, just like your CPU might be a dual- or quad-core device, nVidia GPUs host several hundred or thousand cores. The cores are responsible for processing all the data that is fed into and out of the GPU, performing game graphics calculations that are resolved visually to the end-user.
Basically Cuda Cores are the physical Processors inside of a GPU

All in all the what you should focus on when buying a graphics card is VRAM and Cuda Cores ( if buying an Nvidia Card) or on AMDs side they are known as stream processors.

If you need any help at all choosing any kind of computer hardware just tell me.
Ill have you answer a few questions that can help you decide on what computer parts you need and want to get.
Hope i helped

 

[xXCrossfireXx]

So I'm trying to compare GPUs but it's pretty hard. There are so many specs, like render output processors, VRAM, texture mapping units, CUDA cores, etc. Can someone just explain what each of the parts do, and which part of the GPU is best for gaming?

Render Output Units
The render output unit, often abbreviated as "ROP", and sometimes called (perhaps more properly) raster operations pipeline, is one of the final steps in the rendering process of modern 3D accelerator boards.
This basically is what renders the 3D object in a Video Card


VRAM
Short for video RAM, and pronounced vee-ram. VRAM is special-purpose memory used by video adapters. Unlike conventional RAM, VRAM can be accessed by two different devices simultaneously. This enables the RAMDAC to access the VRAM for screen updates at the same time that the video processor provides new data. VRAM yields better graphics performance but is more expensive than normal RAM.
VRAM is basically important for resolutions, depending on what resolution you are going to be playing at, 2Gb is the sweet-spot for good budget cards playing 1080. Anything more than 1080p you should use cards with more than 3gb of VRAM.
I would also always focus on opting for GDDR5 as GDDR3 is slower and will still cause some hiccups in FPS as VRAM can be used for more than just resolutions.


Texture Mapping Unit
A texture mapping unit (TMU) is a component in modern graphics processing units (GPUs), historically it was a separate physical processor. A TMU is able to rotate and resize a bitmap to be placed onto an arbitrary plane of a given 3D object as a texture.
This basically is the unit that applies the texture to the 3D rendered object from the ROP


CUDA Cores
CUDA Cores are parallel processors inside an nVidia GPU, just like your CPU might be a dual- or quad-core device, nVidia GPUs host several hundred or thousand cores. The cores are responsible for processing all the data that is fed into and out of the GPU, performing game graphics calculations that are resolved visually to the end-user.
Basically Cuda Cores are the physical Processors inside of a GPU

All in all the what you should focus on when buying a graphics card is VRAM and Cuda Cores ( if buying an Nvidia Card) or on AMDs side they are known as stream processors.

If you need any help at all choosing any kind of computer hardware just tell me.
Ill have you answer a few questions that can help you decide on what computer parts you need and want to get.
Hope i helped

That was extremely helpful, thanks