High-end video accelerator tools now make password recovery twentyfold faster than the current top of the line quad-core CPUs. Unlike current recovery tools, such as those offered by Intel, these new Fermi-based video boards exceed benchmark speeds of even previous NVIDIA Tesla solutions based on the previous-generation chipsets.
CPUs will still prevail, but GPUs found in modern video cards such as NVIDIA GTX 480 are becoming the new standard. Depending on applications, CUDA-based GPUs can contribute more to the total performance of the PC than the central processing unit. In some applications, their role is greater than the role of a modern CPU.
In the past, GPUs were used almost exclusively for gaming and the drawing of some elements of the graphical user interface. The invention of CUDA-based architecture allows GPUs to be used in other computational-heavy applications, such as password recovery tools.
The availability of hundreds of massively parallel processing units has enabled offloading of major computations onto GPU units, thereby increasing the performance of password recovery tools at least twentyfold when compared to top of the line quad-core CPUs manufactured by Intel and AMD.
According to Andy Malyshev, CTO of ElcomSoft Co. Ltd., a maker of the new Fermi-based recovery tools , "Our hardware-accelerated password recovery and security audit solutions deploy seamlessly on our customers’ existing hardware leading to significant time and cost savings at deployment and during operation." ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. provides support to businesses, law enforcement, military and intelligence agencies.
The popularity of CUDA-based video cards created the basis for GPU-accelerated applications. The new password recovery tools support PCs and workstations using a wide range of hardware, including ATI Radeon 4000 and 5000 series boards, consumer NVIDIA cards including all-new Fermi boards, enterprise-grade NVIDIA Tesla solutions, and Tableau TACC1441, the industry standard for password recovery hardware. This innovation will bring greater performance to home and office computers than ever before.
