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Any recent development with the PhysX PPU?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Any recent development with the PhysX PPU?

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jedynygucio   04-18-2008 at 10:02:34 PM

Hello everyone!

I just thought it may be interesting to revisit the question of the PhysX card (PPU).
The last such thread on this forum was back in November, so basically half a year ago, and the card was right and duly condemned.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] card-worth

I'm doing some research about this on the internet and I am quite confused with regards to finding up to date information on this enigma of a card, and I find most articles date back to 2006 when the card was still in its infancy.
Most notably, there was criticism that the card only used the PCI bus interface, and not PCI-express as, I understand, should be the case.
I don't suppose anyone knows of any recent developments with this piece of hardware, whether the PCI-e version is out yet and whether it is any better? In general, I must say, I am quite unimpressed by the list of games. My secret hope is that Eidos Montreal which are rumoured to be making a Thief 4 may, possibly, hopefully, incorporate the card into the engine for exquisite realism that Thief fans would certainly enjoy! Anyone familiar with this title?
AJS

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FrozenGpu   04-18-2008 at 10:11:07 PM
- 0 +

You should look into the company Havok, that was bought by Intel, most of the Physics calculation's are being done with better software implementation and integration, not much is going into to the hardware aspect of it at this point, while it was a great idea at the time, it was ultimately a flop like the Bigfoot network killer.


In fact it looks like they have already moved away from the idea of using PPU's and just allow software based Physics calculation's, since CPU's are getting more powerful.

Reply to FrozenGpu
Sailer   04-18-2008 at 10:14:36 PM
- 0 +

If I remember correctly, Nvidia bought out Ageia and is incorporating the coding and hardware in their newest cards, with drivers coming out soon to actually use it. At the same time, using it in the newest Nvidia cards will cost a few fps, going back to the old saying that you don't get anything for nothing. Also, I haven't read of any games that are supporting PhysX at this time, but that may change in the future.

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secolliyn   04-18-2008 at 10:19:08 PM
- 0 +

Unreal Tournament 3 Supports PhysX and there are alot of games that will use it's Engine so i exspect soon we will see more and more games and now that Nvidia bought them all 8 series Cards and above will be able to use PhysX

Reply to secolliyn
JeanLuc   04-18-2008 at 10:33:07 PM
- 0 +

jedynygucio wrote :

Hello everyone!

I just thought it may be interesting to revisit the question of the PhysX card (PPU).
The last such thread on this forum was back in November, so basically half a year ago, and the card was right and duly condemned.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] card-worth

I'm doing some research about this on the internet and I am quite confused with regards to finding up to date information on this enigma of a card, and I find most articles date back to 2006 when the card was still in its infancy.
Most notably, there was criticism that the card only used the PCI bus interface, and not PCI-express as, I understand, should be the case.
I don't suppose anyone knows of any recent developments with this piece of hardware, whether the PCI-e version is out yet and whether it is any better? In general, I must say, I am quite unimpressed by the list of games. My secret hope is that Eidos Montreal which are rumoured to be making a Thief 4 may, possibly, hopefully, incorporate the card into the engine for exquisite realism that Thief fans would certainly enjoy! Anyone familiar with this title?
AJS




If you have a GeForce 8xxxx card pretty soon Nvidia will be making use of the CUDA API is has incorporated into its video cards which is basically physics but on your video card. Nvidia have promised to continue support for the PhysX card but the future as far as Nvidia are concerned is doing the same work on the video card.

Reply to JeanLuc
jedynygucio   04-18-2008 at 10:45:18 PM
- 0 +

I have a GTX 8800 card, which I think is powerful enough. I don't personally think I need one, but I was curious about it. I don't think the titles that exist for it make it necessary.

Reply to jedynygucio
Shadow703793   04-18-2008 at 10:47:54 PM
- 0 +

Sailer wrote :

If I remember correctly, Nvidia bought out Ageia and is incorporating the coding and hardware in their newest cards, with drivers coming out soon to actually use it. At the same time, using it in the newest Nvidia cards will cost a few fps, going back to the old saying that you don't get anything for nothing. Also, I haven't read of any games that are supporting PhysX at this time, but that may change in the future.


Yup, NVidia bought them off.

------------------------------ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3815217176_0a5be7955d_o.gif
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3818083596_1a772f7162_o.gif
 Reply to Shadow703793
jedynygucio   04-18-2008 at 10:49:38 PM
- 0 +

With graphics cards getting so powerful, it seems then that the very need for the PPU has evaporated.

Reply to jedynygucio
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