Ageia Tests Next-Generation PhysX Accelerators

Schnippzle · 31 Aug 2007 at 18:52

What if you could bridge the card to an nvidia card? Just throwing ideas out there, and Im not sure what kinda bonuses it would offer......But then again, who knows what NVIDIA/Ageia have in the possible pipe-lines

J.D · 31 Aug 2007 at 19:03

leon4112 said:
lol in really don't see the point in these 100 quid + for a card that pushes boxs around when all cards about a year old can do the same hence how you can play the ageia demo etc

anyone who spends 100 quid so the boxs and stuff moves a bit more either needs to think about the money there spending or get a girlfriend!

i can justify spending 300-400 on a gfx card cos it DOES make a different but this well its all a bit loopy!!

there not gonna make a big enough impact for 100's of games to start supporting this and untill they do there always gonna make a loss!!

So the Unreal team and Graw 2 team have just wasted all the time implementing this into the game for nothing?. Damn, I wish I never said anything now :rolleyes:

.

Oh and going out to buy a Quad Core to get a bigger 3Dmark score is unheard of

. So why is someone wasting £100 for better effects with less impact on your system a bad thing?. It's for something a lot more than a bigger e-penis because you have 2000 odd extra points on your 3dmark score. Go and tell them to get a girlfriend too while your at it and stop trying to single out people with Ageia cards. At least the PPU does something new.

SteveOBHave said:
I disagree, the purchase of the DX10 capable cards has come with the added bonus of having the fastest DX9 cards on the market. Simply put there is an instant gratification when buying an 8800 or one of those AMD/ATI thingys , with the PhysX card there is not that perceptible immediate gain. This I see as the proverbial straw.

As an aside there must be some serious cash behind Ageia (or a very tolerant bank manager) for them to have held on this long.

Eh?. I'm talking about the people who buy these things for the new features? :confused:

. Yes there is an instant gratification in buying a powerhouse of a card. Of course there is and will always be. I just said the differences between the shaders and DX9 and 10 haven't been huge but still are seen as better features. Just like the PPU brings to games. Not HUGE changes but nice enough ones

.

I don't own one yet but I'm seriously thinking about trying one out. They're not dear at all and If I don't like it I will sell it or give it away. What is money for if not to spend?. Improved physics is the way forward in gaming and this is a stepping stone for to get it started in a more serious fashion I sense. I for one am hoping this takes off. I just hope the future prices are lower and the support is better.

Talrinys · 31 Aug 2007 at 19:28

Pottsey said:
“Q F T - why would you? They can't even utilise one card let alone 2!”
Come off it. Most PPU games get a 30 to 40% performance boost now. Only the first gen games had problems and we moved away from those ages ago. Its time to stop saying stupid stuff about the PPU like lowers FPS. 1 game out of 20 has that problem and it got fixed.

Saying that the above could well be a fake it goes against what we know about it. The PCIE cards are dual slots cards that fit both PCIE and PCI. It has ports on the bottom and top of the card. 2nd Ageia said the PCI-E card is the same as the PCI performance wise.

EDIT:
The PPU is also now used in none gaming products like http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/ slowly its starting to take off.

“I've just checked Ageia's website and can't find any inclination that this is real at all,”
Check the patch notes out for the newest drivers. Look for the PCI-E reference.

Still doesn't work when no one uses it when developing and it's a niche product

And not UE3 will absolutely not change that.

Talrinys · 31 Aug 2007 at 19:30

Schnippzle said:
What if you could bridge the card to an nvidia card? Just throwing ideas out there, and Im not sure what kinda bonuses it would offer......But then again, who knows what NVIDIA/Ageia have in the possible pipe-lines

Then we could be talking, if Aegia work up to the real world, and started working fulltime to make sure the cards work with Havok, with every single physics system out there, then it'll be a solution.
I'm not knocking the PPU idea in itself, just saying it's practically useless right now. There is a reason why hardware is fun, buying a new GFX will give a lot better performance and better graphics, this however has no tangible benefits for now, espically with processor multithreading and the sick overclockability of the C2D series.

Cyber-Mav · 31 Aug 2007 at 19:57

if they pull out a new card now with there bieng next to no benefit of the first generation physx card then they should expect next to nothing on sales.

Talrinys · 31 Aug 2007 at 20:33

Cyber-Mav said:
if they pull out a new card now with there bieng next to no benefit of the first generation physx card then they should expect next to nothing on sales.

I'm betting that their recent sales have been horrible too, a lot of quite stupid sysbuilders put them in retail-sales systems at first, and quickly realized their mistake, and enthusiasts(except for those who play the very few games which support it, and i mean really really play that game, all the time) always knew it was a bad deal.

Pottsey · 31 Aug 2007 at 20:43

“lol in really don't see the point in these 100 quid + for a card that pushes boxs around when all cards about a year old can do the same hence how you can play the ageia demo etc”
It does more then push boxes around and those year old cards cannot play the Ageia demos without all the fancy effects turned off and they are slower even without doing the extra effects

“you can just snap up a company - it's the wonders of money and lots of it.”
Depends how the company is structured. If it’s a private company like Matrox then no you cannot just snap up the company. Its one thing to snap up a company like ATI its another like Matrox. Saying that I have no idea which company Ageia is like.

taz488 · 31 Aug 2007 at 21:25

stop defending the dire product, and accept that its simply not worth it in any way shape or form. pottsey go be a fanboy to something half decent.

Carling · 31 Aug 2007 at 21:40

taz488 said:
stop defending the dire product, and accept that its simply not worth it in any way shape or form. pottsey go be a fanboy to something half decent.

I have to agree tbh.

Cyber-Mav · 31 Aug 2007 at 21:42

taz488 said:
stop defending the dire product, and accept that its simply not worth it in any way shape or form. pottsey go be a fanboy to something half decent.

he's not defending the physics card from what i can see, he is just pointing out the benefits of the card and what the card can do compared to what the cpu can;t.
although its hard to see the difference the physics card makes from screenshots cuz physics has to be in motion to be seen really in action to be judged.

willhub · 31 Aug 2007 at 21:47

I think, it's pointless having a total seperate card just for physics, tech is progressing now, and it should be fine applying these PPU's to graphics cards or even letting the CPU do most or intergrate it into the CPU.

lay-z-boy · 31 Aug 2007 at 21:50

willhub said:
I think, it's pointless having a total seperate card just for physics, tech is progressing now, and it should be fine applying these PPU's to graphics cards or even letting the CPU do most or intergrate it into the CPU.

People said the exact same phrase about graphics cards, now if your a gamer the graphics card is the major deciding part in the system.

Personally I would hope that things like physx can take off, more cool effects for us gamers

willhub · 31 Aug 2007 at 21:55

lay-z-boy said:
People said the exact same phrase about graphics cards, now if your a gamer the graphics card is the major deciding part in the system.

Personally I would hope that things like physx can take off, more cool effects for us gamers

Well it would be good if physx does take off, but on the graphics card, I dont want to keep on adding stuff to my system, 1 graphics card is enough thankyou, no extra cards for in game effects.

Gerard · 31 Aug 2007 at 21:59

lay-z-boy said:
People said the exact same phrase about graphics cards, now if your a gamer the graphics card is the major deciding part in the system.

Yes but back then with the original voodoo cards there was an immedite obvious impressive difference. What did people see with the first physx enabled games? More dirt in explosions that looked like rabbit crap and a framerate decrease, "fluids" that according to a lot of sites looked more like some kind of jelly. Maybe if these cards had more of an impressive immediate impact they would have been accepted more readily, fact is their initial introduction was less than stellar and ageia dropped the ball when it came to first impressions.

jaykay · 31 Aug 2007 at 22:10

Yep first impression are every thing. I dont think physics cards will launch. With CPU growing more cores and increasing in power there can start doing physics with not a huge performance hit. Also with dx10 bringing a unified gpu core that can do a variety of equations there just no place for physics cards.

Talrinys · 31 Aug 2007 at 22:19

lay-z-boy said:
People said the exact same phrase about graphics cards, now if your a gamer the graphics card is the major deciding part in the system.

Personally I would hope that things like physx can take off, more cool effects for us gamers

Except that physics is not an area of focus, graphics are bound to be, and so far physics but physics simply aren't that demanding, and look at the promises for late this year and next year in terms of processor power - no problem. Now i'm not saying that i can't be here in 5 years having been proven wrong, i'm just saying that if that is going to happen, Ageia needs to step their game up, cause broken promises and half-baked products can only get them so far

Cyber-Mav · 31 Aug 2007 at 22:22

a ppu is only good if it can do stull like deformable terrain, you can blow up anything in a game and do proper physics stuff. bu the agiea impelmentation to do jusy some cloth waving and cheapo water effects is a joke considering the only games using that card are crap games.

Talrinys · 31 Aug 2007 at 22:22

Gerard said:
Yes but back then with the original voodoo cards there was an immedite obvious impressive difference. What did people see with the first physx enabled games? More dirt in explosions that looked like rabbit crap and a framerate decrease, "fluids" that according to a lot of sites looked more like some kind of jelly. Maybe if these cards had more of an impressive immediate impact they would have been accepted more readily, fact is their initial introduction was less than stellar and ageia dropped the ball when it came to first impressions.

Plus they have done nothing to actually prove the need since then

I agree that something better than Havok, that is saying something better than just "visual physics" - a physics engine that enhances the game, would be nice. But that's on the developers for now, not hardware people.

Talrinys · 31 Aug 2007 at 22:23

Cyber-Mav said:
a ppu is only good if it can do stull like deformable terrain, you can blow up anything in a game and do proper physics stuff. bu the agiea impelmentation to do jusy some cloth waving and cheapo water effects is a joke considering the only games using that card are crap games.

World in conflict for instance does this to a certain degree, and that game runs flawlessly on my system, which isn't that highend

tetsuo · 31 Aug 2007 at 22:26

i may pick one of these up when i go and get my chocolate fireguard.