Learning Data Mining with Python - Second Edition

When to use GPUs for computation

GPUs were originally designed to render graphics for display. These graphics are represented using matrices and mathematical equations on those matrices, which are then converted into the pixels that we see on our screen. This process involves lots of computation in parallel. While modern CPUs may have a number of cores (your computer may have 2, 4, or even 16—or more!), GPUs have thousands of small cores designed specifically for graphics.

A CPU is better for sequential tasks, as the cores tend to be individually faster and tasks such as accessing the computer's memory are more efficient. It is also, honestly, easier to just let the CPU do the heavy lifting. Almost every machine learning library defaults ...