What can Physix can do in games?

[maverik-sg1]

Ageia released footage of the latest title to engage in physix hardware accelerated technology and BFG confirm release date for their solution is May06 as previously advised by yours truly

Check it out, mighty impressive.

http://physx.ageia.com/footage.html

 

[DaGuv]

W O W, movies take a while to download, but worth it

I WILL be gettin one of these... Another nice find Mav

http://physx.ageia.com/cellfactor_hd.mov 113mb

http://physx.ageia.com/bos_hd.mov 27mb

 

[boardy]

ooo me getin one of them pups

 

[stocky]

Nice one

In terms of hardware, where will the physics processor actually fit?

 

[scorchio]

AFAIK in one of the PCI slots

 

[DaGuv]

is it PCI or PCIx?

 

[stocky]

AFAIK in one of the PCI slots

So you just buy one of these PCI cards and it'll work with the CPU and GPU? Interrrresting....

Will this have an affect on benchmarks? Will one be brought out built onto the graphics card?

 

[maverik-sg1]

So you just buy one of these PCI cards and it'll work with the CPU and GPU? Interrrresting....

Will this have an affect on benchmarks? Will one be brought out built onto the graphics card?

AFAIK only 3dM06 has physix acceleration built into it, so it will (read as should) improve the scores

I makes sense to integrate it somewhere, I was thinking motherboard? It seems to last a bit longer than the GPU

Anyhow, PCI for first batch with PCI-E coming along later in the year.

The cell core technology used in PS3 and some IBM servers could also be a design that intergrates a physix style PPU.

Looking at my EXPERT mobo now using low profile watercooling on my 7900's I could use either (just) as well as my still using my audigy 2 soundcard.

However if you use SLI GPU's with double slot cooling (stock on 7900GTX) you could not use either (could use PCI if you use onboard sound), single card you could use PCI (and still use PCI souncard).

Mav

 

[Vrykyl]

will one of these really need to use pci-e? iv got pci and pci-x slots on my mobo...unless these things are going to be ultra powerfull surely they wont need tons of bandwidth? cetainly not more than pci-x offers?

 

[maverik-sg1]

Sorry confused of redditch - it will probs be PCI-X not PCI-E

Mav

 

[scorchio]

It is now in stock :O £200 though

 

[K404]

:O Wasnt expecting that!

Was ready to post yesterday and say it was out, then I saw "pre-order"..was expecting another 6 weeks to wait!

Well... who wants to be first?

It wont be me this time

 

[scorchio]

I really want one of these but may wait until the Asus 256mb version comes out

 

[Baldrick]

I wish I had more money.

Looks good but I think Nvidias physics system is going to be more successful and neater.

http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=303&pgno=0

 

[maverik-sg1]

I wish I had more money.

Looks good but I think Nvidias physics system is going to be more successful and neater.

http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=303&pgno=0

It will look nice but unlike Ageia, Nvidia Physix is not interactive, so the in game experience will feel less fulfilling than the true Ageia solution...... unfortunately.

Mav

 

[AstralWanderer]

I'd be sceptical about the long-term future of such standalone cards - this functionality seems more appropriate as part of a "game card" (graphics + physics) and I can understand both Nvidia and ATI making noises about adding it to their cards (an opportunity for Nvidia to plug Quad-SLI also) though using a full GPU for it isn't a great choice to push on gamers.

In addition, while previous add-in cards provided an upgrade path for gamers (e.g. the original Voodoo which allowed you to use older systems with the newest games), this seems to do the reverse - giving games the ability to place higher demands on the CPU/GPU. As such, I'd expect it to go with way of the ReelMagic (an add-in card that provided MPEG decompression for full motion video in games) - being incorporated into other products as a tickbox feature.

 

[maverik-sg1]

My posts earlier dont disagree with what you are saying (in fact in a differnt way you are repeating what I have already said).

As I said before:

Nvidia and ATI - the physix that we see now from them are (more likely) a pre-cursor to the next gen cards (G80 and R600) where we 'possibly' could see interactive physix built into these units.

The future (as in during 2007) will more likely see dual core GPU's, one (or half) of these cores will be more aligned to be a physix PPU, meaning more effects and alike - also perhaps having dedicated memory on card.

However, Ageia does fill a niche gap in the market (and my PCI slot ) right now, the big question will be:

Given Ageia have a head start in this arena and have already signed a number of titles to take advantage of it's hardware, will ATI or Nvidia buy this technology (as in buy Aegia) or attempt to run it into the ground with it's own solutions?

Even so look forward to seeing 768MB and 1024MB (read as more expensive) cards being the new standard during 2007

 

[jellybeard999]

Sorry confused of redditch - it will probs be PCI-X not PCI-E

Mav

sure bout that mav ????

not many PCI-X boards are used in mainstream :?

 

[maverik-sg1]

sure bout that mav ????

not many PCI-X boards are used in mainstream :?

Which is why it is being released after the PCI version

It is inevitable that in a year or two PCI will be like the other standard that bit the dust - so it will be a natural progression for and PCI card to be re-engineered to suit PCI-X.

 

[AstralWanderer]

Nvidia and ATI - the physix that we see now from them are (more likely) a pre-cursor to the next gen cards (G80 and R600) where we 'possibly' could see interactive physix built into these units.

Agreed, just hope that they don't try enforcing different standards.

The future (as in during 2007) will more likely see dual core GPU's, one (or half) of these cores will be more aligned to be a physix PPU, meaning more effects and alike - also perhaps having dedicated memory on card.

I thought current GPU architecture was already multi-core given the large number of pipelines they now have. However I suspect that physics calculations are better suited to a separate processor since it would seem harder to run them in parallel (calculations on model X can affect those of model Y - whereas individual shader/AA/AF/HDR calculations are more on a per-pixel basis with far less effect on the rest of the frame).

Given Ageia have a head start in this arena and have already signed a number of titles to take advantage of it's hardware, will ATI or Nvidia buy this technology (as in buy Aegia) or attempt to run it into the ground with it's own solutions?

I doubt either will buyout Aegia at this stage, but both companies have methods of "encouraging" developers to follow whatever standards they champion (Nvidia via its "The Way It's Meant To Be Programmed" subsidy and ATI with its ability to offer greater XBox360 compatibility). This could be good news in the long term (competition = innovation) but probably bad for early adopters - and games developers who may have to support multiple engines.

Another possibility is Creative - adding physics capability to their soundcard (and marketing it as a gamecard) seems to be one way for them to push their most upmarket models and makes more sense than just adding a Red Fatal1ty LED.

Even so look forward to seeing 768MB and 1024MB (read as more expensive) cards being the new standard during 2007

Is this sarcasm or genuine chequebook masochism?