Open-source project renders the Windows 11 desktop on the NPU, not the GPU

[Midnight Wolf]

Someone is trying to give the AI chip in new laptops a very different job. Tom's Hardware reports on npu-driver, an open source project that renders the Windows 11 desktop using the neural processing unit rather than the graphics card

The project, by labscommunity, is released under the Apache 2.0 licence on GitHub. It has been tested on Intel's Panther Lake processors, whose NPU 5 delivers around 45 to 50 TOPS of AI performance

At the moment it only manages two to three frames per second, against a target of 30. It can render the desktop, Notepad and Edge windows, and it falls back to the GPU when asked or if something goes wrong

A Reddit post reported that 3D GPU usage dropped from 3.4 percent to 0.6 percent while it was running. The developer describes it as a research prototype, not a product

NPUs spend most of their time idle in today's laptops, so experiments that find new uses for them are interesting. Rendering a desktop at three frames per second is not practical yet, but the idea could help save power one day. It is a fun piece of hardware hacking

Do you use the NPU in your laptop for anything? And what other jobs could NPUs take on?

Open source project renders your Windows 11 desktop using the NPU rather than the GPU - 'npu-driver' can only run at 2 to 3 Hz, targets 30 Hz performancewww.tomshardware.com

[FairDos96]

Most NPUs sit idle most of the time. Finding other uses for them makes sense

Laptops are full of underused silicon. Creative uses of hardware are fun

[TaxSeason]

Power saving could be the real benefit. If the NPU uses less power than the GPU for simple tasks, battery life improves. That would be worth the effort

Thirty frames per second would make it usable. NPUs have plenty of untapped power

[EdgeRatedR]

Panther Lake NPUs are powerful. Fifty TOPS is a lot of compute. Developers will find creative uses. Prototypes inspire products