Physics Processing Unit

[9mmCensor]

This looks pretty cool.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03/08/news_6119895.html
http://www.gamers-depot.com/interviews/agiea/001.htm

If its cheap and well supported, I can see this becoming quite popular.

And can they be overclocked?


"
"Yes we're supporting it and its going to be cool."

Mark Rein
Epic Games Inc.
"

Can you say Unreal 3 engine?

[Gnufsh]

Very interesting. It can probably be overclcoked, but may require hardware modification (ie use of a soldering iron).

[9mmCensor]

Very interesting. It can probably be overclcoked, but may require hardware modification (ie use of a soldering iron).
Hmm. If they put overclocking ability in this, they open it up that market.

Would 3DMark benifit from this?

[9mmCensor]

Ok, so Epic has signed up as a partner for Unreal 3. So the question is, will Carmack use this for his next engine.

[Counda]

Wow that sounds awsome, I can't wait to see what happens with this.

/me subscribes

[I.M.O.G.]

Interesting, we'll have to see it develop. Thanks for posting this 9mm.

[Aslan]

Wow, this does sound very nice. Hopefully it will be put into production soon and not cost too much. This potentially could be an extremely good upgrade for gaming.

[Dylruss]

I have been thinking of this since I read it on slashdot, and came to the conclusion that it would be actually quite nice.

But what would it go on, the video cards or what?

EDIT: Looked a little harder (the links presented) and it looks like a stand alone card.

[9mmCensor]

could be stand alone, or on mobos or graphics cards.

[Dinzy]

It will be a stand alone card at first like the old VooDoos. I am betting ATI or nVidia are going to either try to purchase the company that makes it, develop their own, or just purchase chips and put them on Video cards. I wonder how long it will take for physics to be a standard part of DirectX. If they are reasonably priced and enough games use it I am there. I might just buy one for the one or two bundled games that showcase the technology. I hope this helps PC games blow away the next gen consoles.

Being a physicicst I also wonder how well these things can do simple Newtonian physcis and how the actually compute. I am just curious to see if the technology could be put to use in MD simulations or other types of real world simulations.

[Ec]-[oMaN]

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=140&type=expert&pid=3


"What, that's not enough of a hassle for you? Well then think about this: say by some miracle it only takes a year to get the current gen PhysX processor in every gaming PC. Game developers can then create games that allow for a great level of interaction: now you can destroy every item in the game, down to a fist sized object and still maintain good performance. But then AGEIA or some other technology company releases a newer PPU that has the power to calculate that same destruction level but down to a coin sized piece. Great right? Well, then we have to go through this same transition time again, as a developer can not fully utilize the power of the new PPU until the majority of users has upgraded.

From my perspective, it just doesn't seem that the upgrade/life cycle of a physics processor is going to be ANYWHERE NEAR as easy to handle as the current upgrade cycle of video cards in relation to PC games.

A PPU Belongs in a Console

Another thought that occurred to me during my meeting with AGEIA at E3 was the fact that the perfect place to have a dedicated physics processor was in a console system. In that case, developers have a static platform to write games for and they no longer have to worry about what percentage of the market actually has a PPU in their system. This would allow console gamers to see the benefits of physics processing almost immediately. This may also have the effect of tweaking PC user's interests in the technology and accelerate PPU card purchases in that market.

Final Thoughts

This article really is only the tip of the iceberg on the subject of the AGEIA PhysX processor. There is a lot more of the technology that we know nothing about, including how fast the chip runs, what kind of pipeline it has and in reality how it functions at all.
________________________________________________
We could have spent a lot of time looking at how the current move to dual core processors can handle physics processing and if the AGEIA chip is going to be able to out pace the idea of developers using a second core for all physics calculations." ________________________________________________



I Agree with what he says here. It will probably come to market@ a price and attract a very small amount of buyers. Why can't game developers focus on dual core cpu's, since they will become the norm and be more permanent.

[1cem4n]

nice thread revival buddy lol. i doubt there will be a use for this any time soon so i'm just going to keep using my cpu.

-1cem4n

[RAMMAN]

Would 3DMark benifit from this?

i seriously doubt it.but im expecting massive performance boosts in games.

/subscribed.

[Gnufsh]

From my perspective, it just doesn't seem that the upgrade/life cycle of a physics processor is going to be ANYWHERE NEAR as easy to handle as the current upgrade cycle of video cards in relation to PC games.

A PPU Belongs in a Console

I think this is a good point, but I would like to see them is PCs as well.

Personally, I don't mind people reviving threads if they have something interesting to add. And 1cem4n, it's not like you would stop using your CPU if you had one of these. While Physics calculations would be off loaded to this, there is still plenty for the cpu to do during games (AI code, etc).

[tae_moh]

Would 3DMark benifit from this?

Recent news months after your question say that the next ones will for sure. :thup:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050929/sfth046.html?.v=29

Check out ageia's news section for recent developments...
http://ageia.vnewscenter.com/
It seems BFG will be manufacturing some of these babies :attn:

[Free_Loader]

I was watching G4, its a gaming channel for those of you who dont know, and they should be a separate card for PC's that will run about $200.00 per.

[z0n3]

What slots will they use? PCI or PCI-Express?

[corruption]

What slots will they use? PCI or PCI-Express?


According to the article they have both PCI-E and PCI, but the PCI-E will be more "scalable."