Physx card

[james.miller]

its an interesting idea. i mean, there must be something we can do with a processor with that much internal bandwidth (something like 2tb/sec)

 

[Marc Fraser]

If the PPU acted as a additional CPU in Windows, when not being used as a physics accelerator perhaps it would be more likely to take off. Rather than replace dual core CPU with quad core (or even whole system upgrade) Add a Aegia card, so you get gaming acceleration (if widely supported, which it isn't) plus faster Windows when you're doing lots of heavy CPU multi-tasking

this would be useful however, the problem with this idea is that as far as I am aware the PPU is designed in a completely different way to your average CPU and would not be very fast at the majority of tasks a general purpose CPU performs.

 

[Boogle]

Boogle can I ask a big favour. You remember me right? I remember when you had the old longer name and we used hang around the same threads along with your website. Can you please confirm I was on the forums a lot back I 2002-2004 ish. Just so people know I am not lying. A lot of people still seem to think I work for Ageia and only sighed up recently.

Yep, back when I was Boogle Oogle

For the record I can confirm Pottsey has been around for a long long time, in the forum before the great wipe (and subsequent upgrade to vBulletin 3). Certainly before Ageia was even around

 

[Gashman]

i think the reason everyone is so anti-PPU is because so few games seem to support ageia physx, its great idea in theory but it just doesn't work in practice, though i would LOVE you if you could get a physx card to help in supreme commander and do all those newtonian physics calculations for the projectiles and debris, would free up loads of resources for your CPU to calculate how the evil enemy is coming to kill you, but i doubt that'll ever happen, so until then more clock speed is needed on your processor

 

[skullman]

What Ageia should have done was worked up some sort of deal with ATI/Nvidia to have a ppu hardware solution implemented onto gfx cards somehow. If such a deal happened it would have been a lot more successful I bet. The average consumer doesnt understand and doesnt want to arse about with seperate cards for this and that when they want to play games.

 

[Pottsey]

Thanks Boogle



“Originally Posted Squakingcow
the cloth was just added to make some distinguishable difference (after ageia stated that it was impossible to run the beta without a card, guess they tryed to cheat this time by giving the hardware an unfair advantage ).”
So let me get this right. A PPU running effects smoothly a CPU cannot is cheating? You’re saying the PPU running the effects it was designed for is an unfair advantage? Of course the cloth was added to make a distinguishable difference.

You also seem to be missing it’s not just the cloth that was added. What about the liquids, particles and other effects?

Ageia did say it’s impossible to run the CF without a card. Turning off the physic effects then running the game does not count. Turning off fluid dynamic effects which effect gameplay mean your not really running the game how its meant to be run. That’s like someone turning all textures off then going look my 128meg Gefroce 2 MX can run this game which says it needs 256meg of texture ram.






“Originally Posted Squakingcow
What ppu effects are included in gameplay? Tearing cloth ceartantly doesn't...”
Cloth has no impact on gameplay! Well you can hide behind it, shoot though it and spy though the hole or move though it. How can hiding behind an object then shooting though it at someone not effect gameplay?

Then there are the liquids and particle effects which you can change with psi powers. You can change the physics of lava to kill someone or the partial beam.





“ Originally Posted Squakingcow
Due to this it makes it increadibly difficult to determine if the rest of the physics (like boxes) are acctually being accelerated.”
No it doesn’t, go in a room without cloth but lots of boxes around and look at FPS with and without a PPU. Press copies can also turn off the PPU effects like cloth, liquids and particles.