Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Captain Red

good lord, a physics card.

Recommended Posts

that's right, first there where sound cards, then there where video cards and now physics cards. known as 'PPU' (Physics Processing Unit), I don't know how to justerfy this for non-gaming reasons... i suppose those guys who design buildings and what now might find some use for it.

http://physx.ageia.com/

goody. another thing to make my computer redundent.

What do you think the odds are of this thing one day showing up on the minimum system requirements?

Share this post


Link to post
GoatLord said:

You would think something like that would be PART of a video card.

Physics = video? I disagree.

Share this post


Link to post

Well if you have dedicated video, sound, etc., why not dedicated physics? Frees up the CPU to do other stuff.

Share this post


Link to post
BlackFish said:

The newer nvidia cards are already going to have gpu physics, making this sort of thing obsolete.


They don't do the same thing. The Havoc stuff that nVidia is doing is purely for "eye-candy" physics - splashing water, swirling mist, ruffled capes, etc. It doesn't "talk back" to the actual game very much and if you turn it off you're not missing anything important.

The Ageia thing actually helps with the physics that have an effect on gameplay, which is part of the problem. For multiplayer games you can't just "ramp up" the physics for some players without affecting gameplay. Physics accelerators might take a very long time to catch on, if they ever do...

Share this post


Link to post
zarkyb said:

Well if you have dedicated video, sound, etc., why not dedicated physics? Frees up the CPU to do other stuff.


Soon there will be so many dedicated cards that there will be nothing left for the CPU to do. ;)

Share this post


Link to post

Considering that CPUs don't get significantly faster anymore it seems like a good idea. Physics calculations are among the most costly stuff around.

Share this post


Link to post

Why, in a day and age when the most fatal flaw a game can have is not being simple enough, do we have these?

Share this post


Link to post

Bucket said:
Why, in a day and age when the most fatal flaw a game can have is not being simple enough, do we have these?

The tech guys felt economically impelled to invent stuff, the dealers to sell it, and a bunch of bored geeks to play a "new" title every month or so.

Share this post


Link to post
Enjay said:

Soon there will be so many dedicated cards that there will be nothing left for the CPU to do. ;)


We'll be back to the Amiga :)

Share this post


Link to post
baronofhell said:

capitalism, god damn capitalism.

Oh shit, look out! A company wants to sell goods or services!

I guess I don't understand the problem here.

Share this post


Link to post

Though if you ask me, having several general purpose processors in a computer makes a lot more sense.

Share this post


Link to post
Quast said:

Oh shit, look out! A company wants to sell goods or services!

I guess I don't understand the problem here.

Profitability stifles innovation. Perfect example: The oil industry.

Share this post


Link to post
AndrewB said:

Profitability stifles innovation. Perfect example: The oil industry.


That's a pretty terrible example.

Share this post


Link to post
AndrewB said:

Profitability stifles innovation.

Because if someone wasn't going to make money selling this card they would've designed something grander, with better features, right? They'd probably give them away for free too.

Share this post


Link to post

Gaylen Spladd said:
That's a pretty terrible example.

I'm thinking he's referring to a lack of development in non-oil based vehicles, in the same way game design might be stunted by the heavy push of hardware industry, which can make tech innovation dominate game design innovation (the games being different mostly because the tech is different, as opposed to being different because the tech is used in different ways.)

Share this post


Link to post

If new innovations require tons of R&D dollars, and the status quo is extremely profitable, then there won't be enough incentive to innovate. This is the case in at least two aforementioned industries.

Share this post


Link to post

This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. soon enough the CPU will run 0.01 percent of the work, making all your pci slots melt with data.

which brings me to this: there is nothing wrong with staying with what we have at the moment. When those morons figure out graphics do not equal gameplay, it will be too late.

Share this post


Link to post
Csonicgo said:

which brings me to this: there is nothing wrong with staying with what we have at the moment. When those morons figure out graphics do not equal gameplay, it will be too late.

Do you have a video card in your computer?

Share this post


Link to post
Quast said:

Do you have a video card in your computer?


Of Course I do... the fact is, that "productivity programs" (i.e. microsoft office) could not benifit from such a card. and surely not an operating system.

On the subject of dedicated processing units...It may soon be where everything is controlled via cards and addons to the motherboard- including the processor. in fact, I wouldn't be surprised that sometime in the future, motherboards will ship in "pieces" and would be put together like the old IBM motherboard-daughterboard slots. Then you could truly customize when your motherboard is in tongue-and-groove sections. imagine buying a southbridge piece or a Sound piece and then building a custom computer as interlocking "legos".
Sure as hell would be more affordable to keep up with technology, as I don't see gold pin connectors becoming obsolete anytime soon.

I looked at the videos of the "difference"... and I'm not impressed. A similar graphical effect could be made with previous techniques, even if it isn't conforming to the laws of physics. So what if the explosion looks "real" and pieces of the box flies everywhere? That isn't where the "fun" is.

Buildings and landscapes are now massively destructible with extreme explosions of thousands of shards of glass and shrapnel that cause collateral damage; lifelike characters run, jump, block, tackle, swim or fly in remarkably natural lifelike ways; realistic smoke, fog and oozing fluids now react with characters, objects and entire physical environments..


Why don't they call this a violence processing unit instead...

Share this post


Link to post
Csonicgo said:

Of Course I do... the fact is, that "productivity programs" (i.e. microsoft office) could not benifit from such a card. and surely not an operating system.

Office benefits from a video card? Unless you have a secret 3d version no one else has, I doubt modern cpus (or not so modern ones at that) have much difficulty operating it without help from an additional chip. Do you really think geforce gt cards, for example, would exist without a computer gaming market?

However, that's not to say AT ALL there aren't "productivity programs" haven't reaped the rewards of hardware acceleration. But are you to say non-box falling adventure physics based programs, simulations and such couldn't do the same?

Csonicgo said:

I looked at the videos of the "difference"... and I'm not impressed. A similar graphical effect could be made with previous techniques, even if it isn't conforming to the laws of physics. So what if the explosion looks "real" and pieces of the box flies everywhere? That isn't where the "fun" is.

Did you get upset when the first video cards were introduced as well?

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×