Ageia PHYSX PPU

aznpinktuv · 03-22-2006, 04:18 PM

basically if you guys havent heard, its a new chip that works as a physics proccesor chip to make everyhting more realistic. it fits in a PCI slot and is looking very promising again after its pause in development last year.
http://physx.ageia.com/
and heres some side by side comparison of high end GPU and GPU+PHYSX
http://physx.ageia.com/footage.html

Also, Vanguard is supported by this new tech

Luthair · 03-23-2006, 06:38 AM

I had wondered what had happened to this, particularly since nVidia is now promising some kind of GPU physics processing.

makist · 03-23-2006, 07:26 AM

you should download the beta for this game Switchball (they call it a demo) at http://www.atomicelbow.com/ to get an idea for what to expect from a ppu. They actually plan on releasing 4 levels that will be exclusive to ppu users only. They don't think cpu's will be able to handle them or something.

sarinrathe · 03-23-2006, 09:19 AM

Theres no point in buying this unless games actually make use of the hardware. I bet it would take off if they started bundling graphics + physics in one chip.

Vanguard uses this? I'd love to see an MMO with ragdoll physics.

sarinrathe · 03-23-2006, 09:26 AM

On a side note - anyone ever played that Cellfactor game? The video is about halfway down, looks cool as hell. UT2k4 (vehicles, zone) + Halflife (grav gun) anyone?

makist · 03-23-2006, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarinrathe

Theres no point in buying this unless games actually make use of the hardware. I bet it would take off if they started bundling graphics + physics in one chip.

Vanguard uses this? I'd love to see an MMO with ragdoll physics.

Have you looked into the upcomming Nvidia video cards?

Eomer · 03-23-2006, 01:04 PM

I doubt that a separate physics chip will ever become mainstream. There's enough components in a system as it is, and even now it's stupidly difficult to buy a name brand computer with anything other than an Intel integrated graphics chip when you walk into Best Buy or any other major chain. It took years for 3d cards to become commonplace, and that's for something as fundamental as the game's graphics. There will never be wide-spread adoption of this physics chip as a separate part, because developers have no incentive or reason to develop games assuming that it will use a physics chip.

Not to mention that GPU's are already very good at doing the kind of math that physics simulation requires, with enough horsepower on the GPU a PPU becomes pretty redundant.

makist · 03-23-2006, 01:26 PM

My Artifical Intelligence instructor is convinced we need AI chips to alleviate some of the load off the CPU. I am sure there is an extremist or 2 out there that are convinced they need this.

Benito Fireslinger · 03-24-2006, 04:43 AM

a physics processor would alleviate alot of the clock cycles used on a GPU chip to compute physics within the game.

And seperating chips off other components is not a bad thing if the industry accepts the changes and implements the technology within their products.

makist · 03-24-2006, 05:02 AM

So bascially we would start seeing all kinds of processing units going solo and then after a year or 2, companies will start integrating them and it will suddenly be the new thing, again.

Dintorr · 03-25-2006, 07:15 PM

That's my take on it too. Buy the ppu for Vanguard, and in a few years when you upgrade your system again it will more than likely come with the ppu integrated into the gpu.

Eomer · 03-26-2006, 02:23 PM

Hell, there's even talk of going into a time warp and CPU's coming complete with separate math co-processors again, although probably not in desktop computers.

Benito Fireslinger · 03-26-2006, 04:31 PM

Computer chips are becoming extremely specialized which is not a bad thing. I mean we really dont need a video card because a CPU can do all the calculations needed for rendering video etc... But we have video cards. Why? Because they are specialized and can complete tasks faster and more efficiently.

CPUs could process all the sound we need. But we have sound cards. Why? Because they are more specialized and it reduces the amount of work done by the processor.

Eventually we will have language chips which run a particular programming language very efficiently. Take for example Java, right now when its compiled to bytecode it is run on a software virtual machine. Its clunky and slow and languages such as C and C++ definately out perform it. However, with a bytecode chip, the program would run "natively" on the computer, just like C/C++ programs do. Which will greatly enhance performance.

I think having a physics processor is definately a step in the right direction. But it will take the software industry using this technology in full force for it to stick around.

03-22-2006, 04:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
aznpinktuv Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 367 -1 Internets	Ageia PHYSX PPU basically if you guys havent heard, its a new chip that works as a physics proccesor chip to make everyhting more realistic. it fits in a PCI slot and is looking very promising again after its pause in development last year. http://physx.ageia.com/ and heres some side by side comparison of high end GPU and GPU+PHYSX http://physx.ageia.com/footage.html Also, Vanguard is supported by this new tech

03-24-2006, 04:43 AM	#9 (permalink)
Benito Fireslinger Registered User Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Georgia Posts: 333 +0 Internets	a physics processor would alleviate alot of the clock cycles used on a GPU chip to compute physics within the game. And seperating chips off other components is not a bad thing if the industry accepts the changes and implements the technology within their products. __________________ Archimonde

03-26-2006, 04:31 PM	#13 (permalink)
Benito Fireslinger Registered User Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Georgia Posts: 333 +0 Internets	Computer chips are becoming extremely specialized which is not a bad thing. I mean we really dont need a video card because a CPU can do all the calculations needed for rendering video etc... But we have video cards. Why? Because they are specialized and can complete tasks faster and more efficiently. CPUs could process all the sound we need. But we have sound cards. Why? Because they are more specialized and it reduces the amount of work done by the processor. Eventually we will have language chips which run a particular programming language very efficiently. Take for example Java, right now when its compiled to bytecode it is run on a software virtual machine. Its clunky and slow and languages such as C and C++ definately out perform it. However, with a bytecode chip, the program would run "natively" on the computer, just like C/C++ programs do. Which will greatly enhance performance. I think having a physics processor is definately a step in the right direction. But it will take the software industry using this technology in full force for it to stick around. __________________ Archimonde

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03-23-2006, 06:38 AM	#2 (permalink)
Luthair Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 914 -4 Internets	I had wondered what had happened to this, particularly since nVidia is now promising some kind of GPU physics processing.

03-23-2006, 07:26 AM	#3 (permalink)
makist Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Rodcet Nife Posts: 769 -2 Internets	you should download the beta for this game Switchball (they call it a demo) at http://www.atomicelbow.com/ to get an idea for what to expect from a ppu. They actually plan on releasing 4 levels that will be exclusive to ppu users only. They don't think cpu's will be able to handle them or something.

03-23-2006, 09:19 AM	#4 (permalink)
sarinrathe Banned Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 202 +0 Internets	Theres no point in buying this unless games actually make use of the hardware. I bet it would take off if they started bundling graphics + physics in one chip. Vanguard uses this? I'd love to see an MMO with ragdoll physics.

03-23-2006, 09:26 AM	#5 (permalink)
sarinrathe Banned Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 202 +0 Internets	On a side note - anyone ever played that Cellfactor game? The video is about halfway down, looks cool as hell. UT2k4 (vehicles, zone) + Halflife (grav gun) anyone?

03-23-2006, 01:04 PM	#7 (permalink)
Eomer You mean I can change this? Neat! Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 9,810 +29 Internets	I doubt that a separate physics chip will ever become mainstream. There's enough components in a system as it is, and even now it's stupidly difficult to buy a name brand computer with anything other than an Intel integrated graphics chip when you walk into Best Buy or any other major chain. It took years for 3d cards to become commonplace, and that's for something as fundamental as the game's graphics. There will never be wide-spread adoption of this physics chip as a separate part, because developers have no incentive or reason to develop games assuming that it will use a physics chip. Not to mention that GPU's are already very good at doing the kind of math that physics simulation requires, with enough horsepower on the GPU a PPU becomes pretty redundant.

03-23-2006, 01:26 PM	#8 (permalink)
makist Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Rodcet Nife Posts: 769 -2 Internets	My Artifical Intelligence instructor is convinced we need AI chips to alleviate some of the load off the CPU. I am sure there is an extremist or 2 out there that are convinced they need this.

03-24-2006, 05:02 AM	#10 (permalink)
makist Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Rodcet Nife Posts: 769 -2 Internets	So bascially we would start seeing all kinds of processing units going solo and then after a year or 2, companies will start integrating them and it will suddenly be the new thing, again.

03-25-2006, 07:15 PM	#11 (permalink)
Dintorr space accountant Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Atlanta, Chocolate City, USA Posts: 771 -2 Internets	That's my take on it too. Buy the ppu for Vanguard, and in a few years when you upgrade your system again it will more than likely come with the ppu integrated into the gpu.

03-26-2006, 02:23 PM	#12 (permalink)
Eomer You mean I can change this? Neat! Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 9,810 +29 Internets	Hell, there's even talk of going into a time warp and CPU's coming complete with separate math co-processors again, although probably not in desktop computers.