Similarly, a supercomputer like Tianhe-1A relies heavily on CPUs to get work done, Gupta explains.

FORBES: China's Contender For Title Of World's Most Powerful Supercomputer Looks A Little Like Your Mac

That was nearly four times faster than the Chinese Tianhe-1A, which took the number two slot.

FORBES: IBM Now Has The World's Fastest Supercomputer

The Tianhe-1A uses 7, 168 Nvidia Tesla M2050 GPUs and 14, 336 Intel Xeon CPUs.

FORBES: China's Contender For Title Of World's Most Powerful Supercomputer Looks A Little Like Your Mac

Tianhe-1A consumes 4.04 megawatts of power, making it three times more power efficient than a system relying on CPUs alone, the graphics chip vendor contends.

FORBES: China's Contender For Title Of World's Most Powerful Supercomputer Looks A Little Like Your Mac

In October the Nvidia chief executive got his proof when scientists at China's National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin unveiled the Tianhe-1A, the fastest computer on earth.

FORBES: Magazine Article