Hardware Acceleration

[CarlotaN]

Hello!!!
For you it will be a silly question, but I would like to know if it is better to use Hardware Acceleration or not to use it. The truth is that my Rainmeter without using Acceleration gives me very high values ​​and if I use it, they drop to normal limits.

[RicardoTM]

Hey Carlota, I see nobody answered this so..

Hardware acceleration helps mitigate the tasks that the processor has to do by assigning some to the graphics card. This way, CPU and GPU work together instead of leaving all the work to the CPU. Teamwork makes the dream work. It will always be recommended to have this option enabled, specially on older machines.

La aceleración por Hardware ayuda a mitigar las tareas que el procesador tiene que hacer, asignando algunas de las tareas a la tarjeta gráfica. De esta manera, el CPU y la GPU trabajan en equipo en lugar de dejarle todo el trabajo al CPU. La unión hace la fuerza. Siempre será recomendable tener ésta opción activada, sobre todo en equipos mas viejos.

[CarlotaN]

Thanks for answering! My PC is a bit old (2013) but it works quite well and I don't feel like changing it! I hope it lasts another 11 years

[RicardoTM]

Thanks for answering! My PC is a bit old (2013) but it works quite well and I don't feel like changing it! I hope it lasts another 11 years

I'm pretty sure it will last, forever if it's well cared. What I mean is that Hardware gets old not only because of time, but because the minimum requirements to run software increase as technology advances, that's what makes things obsolete. For example, I have an i7 6700 (2015) and is no where close to an i7 11700 (2021) in terms of performance and capabilities, it's practically the same range but 5 generations and 6 years older. It performs well today, that's because it sits on the high-end range of intel processors, but not close to how the 11700 performs. Lower end hardware have a worst time trying to keep up. My oldest computer that still works today is from 2005, I used to run Photoshop and edit videos in that thing, now it can only be used for office stuff like word, excel and internet. Same happens to smartphones for example, they seem to get slower because hardware requirements to run newer software increase, not because there's something wrong with them. So, hardware acceleration comes really handy on older and lower-end hardware.

At the end, it all comes down to what we expect our pc to be capable of doing. I could pretty much go and install Photoshop CS3 to my 2005 pc and it should be fine, but I wouldn't have access to all the tools I can use today.

To me, 12 years is a good time to renew pc.

[Yincognito]

Besides RicardoTM's take on this, HA mainly has to do with:
- the quality of the CPU vs the GPU
- the type of operations to perform
- the efficiency of the implementation

The 1st means that if the CPU is much more powerful than your GPU, things will work better with HA disabled, and if the other way around, with HA enabled.

The 2nd means that the CPU is better at serial computing (a single task is performed at a time), while the GPU is better at parallel computing (multiple tasks are performed simultaneously). The CPU is focused on low latency, aka running different tasks as fast as possible, while the GPU is focused on high throughput, aka running as many similar tasks as possible. This is why the type of operations to perform matters, because if the tasks are very different and more complex, the CPU will handle them better, and if they are very similar and less complex, the GPU will be more efficient. It's a consequence of the different purpose of a CPU compared to a GPU. The CPU having multiple cores / threads helps to a degree in making the CPU better at parallelism, but then the GPU has many more such cores, albeit much weaker and more suited for simpler parallel operations (like drawing a bunch of pixels with the same color, or computing 1 + 1 a million times, to give some rudimentar examples).

The 3rd means that the above will also depend on how well the software itself takes advantage of these things, from compatibility, driver quality, how much the operating system facilitates it, and obviously how well written such a software is in that regard.

All these and a few others are the main reason why disabling or enabling HA might produce inconsistent results at times, as both the hardware and the software parts vary from case to case, just like what HA is used for is.

P.S. Yep, my old laptop began to die after roughly 10 years, so I agree that a similar period is a reasonable time to improve things in that field.

[CarlotaN]

I'm pretty sure it will last, forever if it's well cared. What I mean is that Hardware gets old not only because of time, but because the minimum requirements to run software increase as technology advances, that's what makes things obsolete.

I hope it lasts a few more years... My husband has had a PC since 2007 and works with it every day. And it still stands... And the brand no longer exists!

Besides RicardoTM's take on this, HA mainly has to do with:
- the quality of the CPU vs the GPU
- the type of operations to perform
- the efficiency of the implementation

The 1st means that if the CPU is much more powerful than your GPU, things will work better with HA disabled, and if the other way around, with HA enabled.

The 2nd means that the CPU is better at serial computing (a single task is performed at a time), while the GPU is better at parallel computing (multiple tasks are performed simultaneously). The CPU is focused on low latency, aka running different tasks as fast as possible, while the GPU is focused on high throughput, aka running as many similar tasks as possible. This is why the type of operations to perform matters, because if the tasks are very different and more complex, the CPU will handle them better, and if they are very similar and less complex, the GPU will be more efficient. It's a consequence of the different purpose of a CPU compared to a GPU. The CPU having multiple cores / threads helps to a degree in making the CPU better at parallelism, but then the GPU has many more such cores, albeit much weaker and more suited for simpler parallel operations (like drawing a bunch of pixels with the same color, or computing 1 + 1 a million times, to give some rudimentar examples).

The 3rd means that the above will also depend on how well the software itself takes advantage of these things, from compatibility, driver quality, how much the operating system facilitates it, and obviously how well written such a software is in that regard.

All these and a few others are the main reason why disabling or enabling HA might produce inconsistent results at times, as both the hardware and the software parts vary from case to case, just like what HA is used for is.

Buahhhh! I only know that it is an iMac from late 2013 and I don't know which is better, the CPU or the GPU.

P.S. Yep, my old laptop began to die after roughly 10 years, so I agree that a similar period is a reasonable time to improve things in that field.

It's unfair that your PC is dying!
I don't want my PC to die! I've had several that didn't last long, but this one shouldn't die! I have grown very fond of him!

[Yincognito]

Buahhhh! I only know that it is an iMac from late 2013 and I don't know which is better, the CPU or the GPU.

It's unfair that your PC is dying!
I don't want my PC to die! I've had several that didn't last long, but this one shouldn't die! I have grown very fond of him!

If you don't know many details, then testing things with or without HA (which you already did) should give you an idea on whether using it pays off or not.

Yeah, well, everything and everyone dies eventually, it's just how stuff generally works, but I know what you mean. People should make products that last, the thing is, by making them last less they usually have more sales, and by overpricing those that last they get more money per product sold. Money and morality are not compatible.

That being said, sometimes changing an older product for a newer one has its benefits. Getting used to something is relative, and will happen with the new product as well, after the initial resistance to change is overcome.