Why are GPUs so big, while CPUs are so small?

Question

Why are GPUs so big, while CPUs are so small?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Because the dies used in GPUs are actually much closer to the kind of top end dies used in datacenter. The 3090 uses a 628 sqmm die while the corresponding Tesla A100 only uses a 628 sqmm die.

For comparison a 14900k uses a 257 sqmm die while a Xeon 8570 uses two 763 sqmm dies.

The reason that is is because gpu workloads get much more parallel than cpu workloads where there is often only so much you can do in parallel.

That said: The gap is really not that large. Ultimately it is the same silicon base.

Unless you mean the full product: Then the answer is simply that the whole graphics card has many more components including the gpu die than a cpu.