Physics card to come

[Sourabh]

Physics card to come

PhysX is the world's first Physics Processing Unit (PPU), an entirely new category of processor that promises to revolutionize gaming in the same way that the graphics processing unit (GPU) did in the 1990s. By offloading software physics processing from the CPU and GPU, the PPU completes the triangle of gameplay, graphics and physics, balancing the load of these processing tasks and enabling pervasive interactive reality in tomorrow's games.

it will be doing all of the in-game physics. This will take off a huge load off of the CPU giving the CPU more rescources to do other tasks and make overall gameplay alot better


Pics
here

not offical pics i guess

[rachitboom2]

SOME HOT PICE OF INFORMATION DUDE !!!
Pls. tell me the site from where you got this information !!!

[Sourabh]

well as for the source find it here

as for the pic, found from google so mentioned it as not official

if u guys have more info abt it then u knw what to do

to the rumours around the internet , this wod be priced at 150$

now in future wht we have to look forward to is CPU, GPU + PPU and then GOD knows whts next !!

well as far as i can guess u wod need game developers to come up with games which will make use of these PPU's

on the site , one can even see EPIC, ASPYR game developers logo

who knows whats up for grabs

dun take the topic seriously

[rachitboom2]

Hey thanks dude for the link !!!

[NikhilVerma]

It looks more of a joke than reality....

Graphics Card, Physics Card... What now Chemistry Card?

[Sourabh]

dude i knew this wod happen so i mentioned it in my second post that dun take it seriously

anyways but u cant neglect the future technologies

nothing is permanent in life

all thot when the Creative Sound Blaster PCI came that its the GOD of all sound card

and then rest is history

[enoonmai]

@NikhilVerma: Its no joke man. Its deadly serious and is a major million-dollar industry. And its not like its really way into the future or something. AEGIA, the people who make the PhysX PPU also make the NovodeX physics API, which is being implemented by many developers, including Epic, in their Unreal Engine 3, so there will be quite a good amount of PhysX supported games by the time the processor launches at the end of this year.

yep chemistry card, bio card

and for games like ron and wow and aoe3
economy card (to managed internal economy)

and in the end, a new card to manage all these cards

[enoonmai]

I dont know why people treat this as a joke.

Here's a bit more news from AnandTech here

The PhysX PPU 32000 handles rigid body objects, soft body objects, fluids, particle systems (40-50 thousand particles), and collision detections. The end result will range from cooler special effects in games (explosions, cloth-like clothing, and massive particle systems) to totally interactive environments (where anything and everything can be pushed, pulled, thrown or otherwise destroyed in a realistic way).

The hardware itself is a 125 million transistor chip built on TSMC’s 130nm process. All we know about architecture is that it’s built with lots of data moving capability by networking experts. They’ve got parallel floating point hardware connected internally and externally to lots of bandwidth. The architecture is inherently different from that of current CPUs or a GPU.

Consumer acceptance is key to the success of the PPU. And in order for people to accept the product, we will need to see other physics engine support (Havok would be nice) and, ultimately, games. In this case, people won’t be interested unless game developers embrace the hardware. Hopefully developers will see the potential in added physics power and will embrace the product for its ability to make their games better.

Right now, AGEIA is talking about pricing on the order of graphics card. They aren’t sure of cost right now, but they could introduce multiple SKUs that fit different price points and have different processing power. It is more likely that we’ll see one part come to the market place. If the PPU flies, we might see more variety.

At first, we can’t expect a new genre of incredibly interactive games. The first few games that adopt the PPU will tack it on like the first few games that embraced hardware 3D. We’ll start by seeing effects enhancement (like more particles and objects go flying from explosions or some objects may get an upgrade to being deformable). If AGEIA has it their way, we will start seeing motherboards and notebooks integrating the PPU. If they can get good integration and acceptance of their add-in card, we might start seeing games that require a PPU and are really revolutionary with the level of user interaction allowed. AGEIA really wants to mirror the revolution that occurred with 3dfx, but it may be a better idea for them to separate themselves from that image considering how hard 3dfx fell from power.

Many people don’t think a separate add-in PPU will fly. What about vendors dropping both the GPU and PPU on one card? Maybe if the add-in PPU doesn’t stick around, we will one day see the birth of a ubiquitous “gaming card� that integrates graphics, physics, and sound onto one add-in board. Or if Intel decides that they need to go the extreme route, we may see integration of very application specific hardware that can handle tasks like physics processing onto the CPU.

[Sourabh]

the whole purpose of the PPU is to remove the xtra load which the CPU has to take the burden of

with the advent of the havoc and other engines, these PPU's are expected as soon as later part of 2005

so its seriously not a joke

already posted is the prototype of the card with both PCI and PCIe ports, using a real chip and with 128MB of GDDR3 memory. The PhysX chip is made by TSMC and it's quite a large piece of silicon

It's all about waiting for the games titles with the needed support for this , but you will only be able to buy cards by the end of the year

the retail prodcut will have PCI or PCIe interface and the printed circuit board will end up much smaller as seen in the pic in the first post

[drvarunmehta]

First they take our money by releasing a new graphics card every 6 months which renders the old one totally obsolete, now they want to shove a PPU down our throats. All this just to play games.
This is just a new way to make money.
If the PPU costs as much as a graphics card, we'll be paying 30,000 for the latest card and another 30,000 for a top of the line PPU. Thats 60,000 just for playing games. What's wrong with game physics being processed the way they are now?

[enoonmai]

@drvarunmehta: Well, you know how they scream about military technology and the billions of dollars they spend on them? A couple of years down the line, all military technology gets declassified and then enters the commercial market. Which is why we have tools like the GPS and even the Internet today. The same way, games are what push hardware to its next generation. So, while it may seem pretty stupid and superfluous today, these technologies are what drive tomorrow's "standard" hardware. Imagine, if you didnt have games, you wouldn't have had C and Unix in the first place. The PPU will first ship alongside GPUs but soon, they will be integrated into a single card once it gains mass acceptance from the gamers and the game developers alike.

[gamefreak14]

Originally Posted by drvarunmehta

First they take our money by releasing a new graphics card every 6 months which renders the old one totally obsolete, now they want to shove a PPU down our throats. All this just to play games.
This is just a new way to make money.
If the PPU costs as much as a graphics card, we'll be paying 30,000 for the latest card and another 30,000 for a top of the line PPU. Thats 60,000 just for playing games. What's wrong with game physics being processed the way they are now?

Absolutely true, you have 4 Ghz pcs in the market, you have 400Mhz FSB RAM, you have 400$ monster cards for the sole purpose of gaming.
So whats wrong with those monsters which Nvidia and ATi regularly release to keep framerates @ a constant 100+??. If they are serious about the pricing, yes, it's a beautiful example of improved technology becoming more affordable when the exact reverse is what we see. As of now, a PPU is hardly what we need. I see this as a deliberate attempt for yet another change of the motherboard...or a christmas gimmick. Even PCI-e hasn't got a foothold yet and they come out with this...
I think it's high time to shift over to consoles. They don't come with mod chips to convert your console into a graphics workstations...I wonder why...

[drvarunmehta]

Originally Posted by enoonmai

@drvarunmehta: Well, you know how they scream about military technology and the billions of dollars they spend on them? A couple of years down the line, all military technology gets declassified and then enters the commercial market. Which is why we have tools like the GPS and even the Internet today. The same way, games are what push hardware to its next generation. So, while it may seem pretty stupid and superfluous today, these technologies are what drive tomorrow's "standard" hardware. Imagine, if you didnt have games, you wouldn't have had C and Unix in the first place. The PPU will first ship alongside GPUs but soon, they will be integrated into a single card once it gains mass acceptance from the gamers and the game developers alike.

@enoomai: im all for pushing hardware to its next generation.
but consider this: the PPU being a new technology will be really expensive, but hardcore gamers will still buy it. game developers will be forced to make the latest games incorporate an advanced physics engines in their games to make full use of the PPU, lest the hardcore gamers get pissed off. but what about the rest of the people who can't afford it? should they not be able to play next gen games despite having paid a bomb for their graphics card?
if graphics card makers are really serious about the PPU they should directly incorporate it into the next generation graphics cards and not sell it as a standalone solution

[icecoolz]

I don't get it. What is wrong with PPU being integrated with the GPU ? And how will it force you to change the motherboard ? Just a piece of info the till now all the video encoding was done by the processor directly. Not anymore. With the nvidia 6 series the video encoding decoding is done by the nvidia decoder directly using the card. So less strain on the CPU. Secondly I have the 6800 and I didnt change my mobo still running on an A7N8X-E mobo with a Barton 32 bit chip. So where do I see the need to change boards ? PCI-E is completely different. It changes the architecture of the whole motherboard itself. How the northbridge and the southbridge communicated, how the bandwidth is consumed everything is changed with the PCI-E. If you keep looking at PCI-E from just a gaming perspecitve then your hindsight will prove to be your downfall. PPU is a component on the graphic card will be used to render the Physics engine directly and not use the cpu much. So I dont see a change in mobo do I ?

[drvarunmehta]

Originally Posted by icecoolz

I don't get it. What is wrong with PPU being integrated with the GPU ? And how will it force you to change the motherboard ? Just a piece of info the till now all the video encoding was done by the processor directly. Not anymore. With the nvidia 6 series the video encoding decoding is done by the nvidia decoder directly using the card. So less strain on the CPU. Secondly I have the 6800 and I didnt change my mobo still running on an A7N8X-E mobo with a Barton 32 bit chip. So where do I see the need to change boards ? PCI-E is completely different. It changes the architecture of the whole motherboard itself. How the northbridge and the southbridge communicated, how the bandwidth is consumed everything is changed with the PCI-E. If you keep looking at PCI-E from just a gaming perspecitve then your hindsight will prove to be your downfall. PPU is a component on the graphic card will be used to render the Physics engine directly and not use the cpu much. So I dont see a change in mobo do I ?

The issue is not about having to change the mobo but about having to buy an additional piece of hardware to play games.
You made a good point when you stated that the nvidia 6 series, decoding is done by the graphics card itself. This is exactly what is required for the PPU i.e. integration on the graphics card itself.

[icecoolz]

Well no idea how the PPU is going to be right now. And also its early adopter technology. Right now only Unreal 3 has announced that it will be using PPU. Do you even realise how long it would be before PPU becomes mainstream ? Atleast another two years. And dont tell me ur not gonna upgrade your system by them. Upgrade s are a part of the computing industry. If it werent I would still be with my old AMD K7 and 64 MB RAM. Remember what Bill Gates said 640 kb of memory ought to be enough for anybody". Your crib is against technology. I dont see the point in that. People still use their 4200Ti cards where in nowadays dual core GPU's are available. Both will always co-exist. And as far as I can see using a technology does not mean that other technologies will not be supported. For PPU to become a mandatory standard such as H/W T&L it will take another two years atleast. Thats a lot of time to start cribbing about it now itself.

[Sourabh]

aaah guys the price of this card is very competitive and wod be prices around $150

i dun feel like even the physics card wod cost a bomb compated to a graphic card

i mean yeah htey cn be slightly over-priced but not INR 30000 as wht u were talking abt

well y dun u take it in optimistic term

wht is u have a 2.4 Ghz Northwood processor and a descent 9600 Pro card and u want to play these latest games which have support for PPU

u wont be able to play the new games properly for sure, but if u gt urself a PPU for abt 7.5k it can make a world of diference and let u not change anything and work with the same system

*specs just an example to point out

[NikhilVerma]

What's the real use of a PHYSICS card?? when we are gonna get 3-4 core CPU's in the future...

It's basically an extra CPU attached to the AGP slot?? Isn't it??

[Sourabh]

Well even if there are multi core Cpus they wont be better off with a dedicated Physics Card with 128 Mb DDR3 RAM

this is not meant to be a AGP card but a pci-e 1x or a PCI 32 bit card both in one

i mean a pci-e 1x at the top and the PCI on the botttom to use it anyway u want

Well if u say whts the use of a PHYSICS card when there are multi core CPUs , then whts the need of a graphic Card ??

[NikhilVerma]

Right.... But If you look at it using a different perspective...

If a graphics card were to be present in a CPU we will need much more processing power from that CPU than if a physics card, were to be present in a CPU...

Plus a GPU requires lots of different type of calculations like bump mapping, smoothing, anti-aliasing, shading, reflecting stuff to name a few... But a physics card requires only some complex calculations...

Plus a GPU will enhance the older games too... But a PPU will only come to effect when games designed for it are there...

[Sourabh]

TeamXbox has a lengthy interview with the CEO of AGEIA Technologies, Manju Hegde, whose company is building the first dedicated Physics Processing Unit (PPU) called the PhysX chip. This technology is being touted as the next big thing in gaming, almost as important as the first 3D card.

AGEIA's PhysX chip is the world's first dedicated PPU. With AGEIA's groundbreaking new technology, developers can now create scenes using the same laws of physics that govern the physical universe, enabling players to interact with any object in any scene at any time, providing pervasive interactive reality. In concert with the CPU and GPU, the PhysX chip will allow game developers to create characters, backgrounds and effects that rival those of Hollywood movies, but with interactivity.

The company already has the backing of Ubisoft, Epic Games, and Microsoft. When asked if we'd see this in a next-gen console, Hedge said, "On this one, you will have to wait."

Source: Shack News

[NikhilVerma]

Only if they are able to create ultra realistic water/liquid simulation, the I will consider it a nice choice...

Like when water falls down on a hard surface it makes splash and drops spread everywhere...

[BONZI]

mmm Eat less food from tomorrow and save money to buy one when they are released.

I guess AGEIA is gonna be in the news for the next few years