Physx Ageia

[rayzzz]

Dont know if you guys already discussed pr seen this but i found this new physics engine quite interesting. here is the link http://physx.ageia.com/footage.html the difference between an ageia physics engine and a normal GPU physics have a very large difference. but i find this card to be a bit expensive though.

[Incinerate_IV]

I wouldn't bother with it untill its price drops to under $75, the number of games it supports that is actually out right now is pretty low.

[rayzzz]

i think that this engine will be needed very soon, since all the next gen games are very likely to include physics like these. But 300$ isnt very affordable.

[Spiff]

There are three companies arent there? Or at least two, one making a standalone card, the other integrating with nvidia cards. Competition should drive the prices right down

[rayzzz]

i hope so.... i cant afford this new physics stuff along with a new rig next year. Better start saving. the effects of the new engine are clearly visible though.

[HorseArcher]

I say this PhysX card are still in babyshoes.

It's a nice showcase they can do, but it's only a start. I say wait until it becomes mainstream with a good number of games supporting it and competitor companies start making cards like this and the price drops.
It could become an annoyance as well, since now if you want to play the latest/greatest games, you will need 2 cards, a physics card and a graphics card in order to play them. It's another way to squeeze more money out of us, just to play a game.

[Drunken]

Its not really worth it now, or for some time in my opinion. It could be great with certain games though, like the new battlefield

[krazykarl]

PhysX by Ageia uses the NovoDex API
while Nvidia uses the HAVOK API to accellerate physics using a GPU (SLI needed)
Nvidias approach as it stands right now is nowhere near as robust as the PHYSX standalone chip.

I am stoked about this, and Im hoping that CA will find a way to utilize this chip to do things like give projectiles accurate paths and destruction, and allowing for more moving objects (troops) on the screen.

[Kanaric]

I would never buy this. Games will/are going to be eventually programmed to work like that without this and i'm sure next gen vid cards do as well.

edit: BTW nobody buys this besides 14 year olds that think it makes them 1337.

[krazykarl]

I would never buy this. Games will/are going to be eventually programmed to work like that without this and i'm sure next gen vid cards do as well.

edit: BTW nobody buys this besides 14 year olds that think it makes them 1337.

Thats what they said about 3d accellerators. Things always work faster in Hardware then they do in software. It may take a few years to catch on, the industry may even just start integrating PPU's onto video cards. Hardware support is the future. Personally im surprised that things like Hardware RAID and TCP stack acceleration are not standard issue hardware yet. CPU's are for general purpose calculations, and they always will be, whereas specialized hardware does one thing and does it well and fast.

[Incinerate_IV]

Please note that PhysX is still very buggy, if you read the section below:

Game physics software engine company Havok has decided to go on the offensive and take on some claims on the newly released PC version of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, which is the first game to support the AGEIA physics processor. Here is some statements Havok sent over:

* Havok Physics (on the CPU) is used for all game-play physics in both the multiplayer and single-player PC versions of the game. All persistent collidable objects in the game are simulated using Havok software technology running on the CPU.
* Havok's logo is on the GRAW PC box, substantiating Havok's use in the game (confirmed by Ubisoft marketing). Havok was also used in recent GRAW releases including Xbox360, Xbox, and PS2 skus.
* AGEIA Novodex is said to be used in the single-player GRAW version for added PPU-accelerated effects - at the most AGEIA appears to be used for particle effects - and in no-way affects game-play outcome. AGEIA is NOT used in any way in any GRAW sku other than the PC.
* From our inspection, differential effects in the GRAW PC game when using the PPU are not significantly obvious - but where they can be observed, additional particles do not appear in volumes greater than 100's of particles (a range that is typically easily in the domain of the CPU/GPU for particles). These observed particle effects are also only particles and not apparently persistent rigid bodies. They pass through the environment after a short time (seconds) at most.User comments back this up: "to be honest it looks exactly same with the PPU as it does without it, the only difference is you get the extra blocks/debris, the strange thing is these extra blocks/debris seem to appear unrealistically out of no where when you shot things like the wall, floor etc, it really is like they've just been tacked on just to say *this game supports PhysX*."
* Consumer reports from users who already have purchased the PPU and GRAW indicate that the PPU "actually slows down the game" in moments when effects are generated that are unique to the PPU. The effects described above appear to be the cause of the slow down - our observations here using a DELL/PPU confirm this. Also see here. One user comments states: "10-16 FPS slower with hardware PPU, I guess I need another GPU (SLI) to help render the added debris and effects I get from using the PPU, the price of PC gaming just went up again :-(, I can't believe that I have to disable the hardware PhysX card I just paid 200 quid for so that I can play GRAW at an acceptable FPS, to be honest I just feel like giving up on PC gaming these days."
* AGEIA appears to imply and consumers conjecture that the PPU is generating so many objects that the GPU cannot handle the load. Multiple direct tests on the game by using NVIDIA's and ATI GPUs indicate the GPU has room to spare and in fact, if the PPU is factored out of the game, that the particle content generated by the PPU can easily be drawn at full game speeds by the GPU. So the introduction of the PPU most certainly appears to be the cause of the slow down in this case. NVIDIA specifically can technically verify that the GPU is not the cause of the slowdown.

We should stress that Havok is supportive of efforts like GRAW and Ubisoft specifically is a valued and strong business partner. More generally, Havok is a strong supporter of the PC development community with over 38 titles shipped to date on the PC using Havok technology. Havok is very enthusiastic about the prospect of additional acceleration for physics in PC games - specifically coming from multi-core CPUs and GPUs - both dual configurations and cutting edge GPUs targeting both graphics and "GP-GPU" applications.

http://www.guru3d.com/news.html

Another reason to not get the PhysX... Yet

[Hadrian]

Interesting stuff. I agree with Archer....give it time to develope.... and let someone else beta test it!