[GTALUG] GPU in desktop

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Evan Leibovitch via talk <talk at gtalug.org>

|    - Desktops can upgrade their GPU to enable gaming, video editing or AI
|    assist; laptops can't.

Most off-the-shelf desktops have pitfalls that prevent installing a GPU 

- weak power supply with proprietary connectors, weak cooling.
  required specs are hard to find.

- card slot too short for GPU care (thi hi me)

These need not be problems if you designed your PC out of parts or it 
already came with a dGPU.

Getting a gaming notebook or gaming desktop seems to double the price.

You can add an external GPU is your computer supports ThunderBolt.  The 
bandwidth to the PCI buss will be constrained.

For AI, things are changing.

Most of the next generation of processor chips include an NPU.  I have no 
idea if the NPU is powerful enough to matter.  You may still want a GPU 
for AI; I'd assume that you'd want as powerful a GPU as you can afford 
since there is no "enough".

My desktop mini PC has a Ryzen 7 7840HS processor (designed for laptops). 
It includea an AMD Ryzen AI processor good for "up to 10 TOPS".  I have 
never consciously used it nor do I know how.