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Περῐ́ τῆς μηχᾰνῆς

Logion doesn't require access to high-performance computing (HPC) resources. It's designed to run on personal computers with diverse hardware and operating systems.

Hardware doesn't affect the accuracy or quality of Logion's predictions. But hardware does affect the speed at which Logion generates predictions. As such, for perhaps the first time in history, philologists may want to be aware of their computer's hardware. This brief guide helps users navigate hardware questions in relation to Logion.

CPU versus GPU

Nearly every computer nowadays has both a central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU). Both are processors that use memory to store/access data, perform calculations, and execute instructions. CPUs handle general-purpose computing tasks (word processors, web browsing, etc.); GPUs handle computationally expensive, high-throughput tasks (video games, training AI models, etc.).

Supported GPUs

Logion uses both CPUs and GPUs. When a user runs Logion on a local device, the app detects which type of GPU is available. If the device has a compatible GPU, Logion uses that GPU to generate predictions. If a GPU is unavailable, Logion defaults to the device's CPU. Logion is compatible with the following GPUs:

  • Nvidia
  • Apple Silicon (M-chip)

Unfortunately, Logion doesn't support Intel graphics at this time.

Hardware processing speed

Our team's internal experiments suggest that, when executing Logion's error detection task on a sequence of 122 words in Byzantine Greek, CPUs on both Mac and Windows devices require about 20 minutes of processing time. By comparison, an Apple M-chip requires about 8 minutes of processing time.

How to find your computer's GPU

On MacOS

  1. Go to the top-left corner of the computer menu bar.
  2. Click the Apple Logo ().
  3. Select About This Mac from the drop-down menu.
  4. GPU information appears beside Graphics or Chip.

On Windows

  1. Right-click the taskbar.
  2. Select Task Manager.
  3. Click the Performance tab in the Task Manager.
  4. Scroll down and select GPU 0.
  5. GPU information appears in the top-right corner.