Physics Cards... the wave of the future. The Golden Age of Computing is at hand

[GUNWOUNDS]

Seems there may be something else we will have to place in our computers. A physics card. Sure CPU's and GPU's can process physics..... but a dedicated physics card can perform physics calculations 100X better than either one of them. And get this... it can currently calculate 32,000 simultaneous objects moving per second.

It would take a 150.0 ghz CPU to match that.

Card costs $300 bucks.

What it will be used for:

-Explosions that cause dust and collateral debris damage

-Characters with complex, jointed geometries for more life-like motion and interaction

-Spectacular new weapons with unpredictable effects

-Cloth that drapes and tears the way you expect it to

-Lush foliage that sways naturally when brushed against

-Dense smoke & fog that billow around objects in motion

And here is demo footage... unbelievable.

Click on the pictures to activate the videos.

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

A list of games that can utilize physics cards:

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

[GUNWOUNDS]

What exactly is the AGEIA PhysX Processor?

The AGEIA PhysX processor is the first dedicated hardware accelerator for PC games that enables dynamic motion and interaction for a totally new gaming experience.

Exciting immersive physical gaming feature that you can expect to see in next generation cutting edge titles will include groundbreaking physics features such as:

Explosions that cause dust and collateral debris

Characters with complex, jointed geometries for more life-like motion and interaction

Spectacular new weapons with unpredictable effects

Cloth that drapes and tears the way you expect it to

Lush foliage that sways naturally when brushed against

Dense smoke & fog that billow around objects in motion

What is the Gaming Power Triangle

The gaming triangle represents the three critical PC processors that enable the best possible gaming experience. The AGEIA PhysX processor is the key hardware element required for optimized game physics and is the new third engine of the Gaming Power Triangle which will drive a new era in exciting and immersive gaming. This new triangle consists of the central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU) and Physics Processing Unit (PPU) working together to balance the extensive computing demands of game logic, graphics and physics. Within this balanced triangle the CPU

[GUNWOUNDS]

Some people are saying that Nvidia or ATI will buy out Ageia and incorporate the physics core on their GPU's as a sort of hybrid card.... OR... they will design their own PPU (physics processor) and add it to their GPU's. Thus driving Ageia out of business. Lets see what happens.

Also wanted to add that some people are saying that it will be capable of:

1./ ZIP/RAR up to 100x faster (you are now limited by HDD performance)

2./ Encode MP3 and DivX up to 100x faster (you are now limited by HDD performance)

3./ Secure encryption on the fly

4./ Photoshop filters up to 100x faster (you are now limited by RAM and HDD performance, not CPU)

5./ If you are an office worker, speed up those EXCEL financial modelling calcs so the spreadsheet becomes "instantaneous" again.

6./ Crack passwords 100x quicker

7./ Complex CAD files rendered 100x faster

Man the golden age of computing is at hand.

[Khan]

Damn I'm glad I cant be bothered to upgrade anymore ;)

[veK]

heard about that before...

reminds of the good old time when you had 2 gfx cards (no I don't mean SLI youngsters) - one for 2d and an extra card for the 3d gfx...

[Jack Leaf]

The sad thing is, while hardware is getting better, the games you play with them get only worse in terms of relative quality.

[Kiyouta]

I thought they were just making physics chips? Not whole cards. It's just more wasted space and noise! Good job you don't have to think so hard when using computers these days.

Damn I'm glad I cant be bothered to upgrade anymore ;)

Right... I'm sure you can be convinced otherwise by your extravagant buddies at the ol' land of bright lights and fan noise. I've got a good mind to jump you and make good use of the paper shredders. Cuts hair real good I'm told! ;D

[Khan]

Right... I'm sure you can be convinced otherwise by your extravagant buddies at the ol' land of bright lights and fan noise. I've got a good mind to jump you and make good use of the paper shredders. Cuts hair real good I'm told! ;D

Pfft they're all PS2 people here :P. Well cept this one guy who reminds me of.. you :P

IT'S NOT MY FAULT!! I wanted a haircut, really, I did mean to get one on sat it just never worked out.

[Swordmaster_Duncan]

The sad thing is, while hardware is getting better, the games you play with them get only worse in terms of relative quality.

Too true.

I think I heard a rumor (I'm not entirely sure, even as rumors go :P) that the Nintendo Rev was going to have a physics processor for the calculations of the 'wand' and what that translates into game wise. As in it uses the physics processor to work out velocity, acceleration and torque of the remote(input), and also for the physics of the world/objects (output). As I said, I'm not sure, and I don't think there is any info for or against. We might find out at E3. Who knows...

But yeah, I am all for physics cards, even If I can't afford it. It's kind of a step towards a single universal colossal engine.

[Acriku]

We'll see how things go when more games incorporate this into their engine. THe differences are spectacular, so i can't imagine it being snuffed out so soon.