I think that this page does a better job with Mercury and CUDA details than does the document that you have for lesson 1:
http://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2011/02/cuda-mercury-playback-engine-and-adobe-premiere-pro.html
Here's an update for more goodness with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5
http://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2011/04/adobe-premiere-pro-cs5-5-improvements-in-cuda-processing-and-the-mercury-playback-engine.html
Here are a few gems from the pages
- A list of all accelerated effects
- A list of all supported graphics cards
- A discussion how mixed media is handled
Be sure to also check out this page on How to make Premiere Pro and After Effects faster.