PhysX launched today.

[^TANK^]

woo, ordering one at the end of the month!

where i want one

 

[BubbySoup]

Like I said before - I think it will be a short lived piece of hardware, it's going to be in the interests of Ageia to licence the hardware to VGA card producers and integrate the technology. Meh to buying it now.

Nah I don't see that happening. As with all things intergrated, if one part fails, the whole thing becomes useless. I for one would choose separate any day.

Plus, look at soundcards. 99% of motherboards you buy come with integrated sound but there is still a booming market for add-in cards.

 

[Lanz]

Plus, look at soundcards. 99% of motherboards you buy come with integrated sound but there is still a booming market for add-in cards.

I wouldnt say booming, not compared to a few years ago. Most people now use onboard sound, its only the hardcore that buy the latest creative cards.

 

[Gibbo]

I wouldnt say booming, not compared to a few years ago. Most people now use onboard sound, its only the hardcore that buy the latest creative cards.

And its that hardcore market that Ageia is targeting.

 

[ps3ud0]

Nah I don't see that happening. As with all things intergrated, if one part fails, the whole thing becomes useless. I for one would choose separate any day.

Plus, look at soundcards. 99% of motherboards you buy come with integrated sound but there is still a booming market for add-in cards.

If thats the case how did they pull off adding 3d accelerators to 2d cards

They did it by integrating the functions into primarily one chip - something it seems nVidia/ATI are actually trying to do at the moment with their graphics cards and physics routines - might prove useful when they start releasing dual core GFX cards and the like in the next few years -when that happens we wont need such addon cards just like we dont need seperate 3d accelerators now...

Having a hardware physics solution is useful, I just think they have jumped the boat and are trying to create an unrequired, non-existing market for a new product - but I guess theres always a first, an innovator in any market ...

How many people really appreciate near perfect physics while actually gaming, just like ultra-realistic graphics there comes a point where its just moot. Amount of times Ive squinted at a screenshot to tell the minute differences in rendering pale into insignificance when trying to play the same game at high FPS...

ps3ud0

 

[n3x]

How many people really appreciate near perfect physics while actually gaming

Physics are more important than graphics in my eyes, whats the point having a gorgeous looking game if it feels crap to play?

I think a lot of people overlook the potential this technology has to change the games we play in a big big way... only time will tell guess

 

[ps3ud0]

Physics are more important than graphics in my eyes, whats the point having a gorgeous looking game to play if it feels crap to play?

I think a lot of people overlook the potential this technology has to change the games we play in a big big way... only time will tell guess

Nice Pun

Theres always a point of neglible returns when it comes to accuracy of representation and I doubt, as gamers, we would really appreciate the difference in physics for something that is 100% accurate in its physics to something that is only 50% - all we want is a gross approach where things happen/react in a way a layman would expect them to (and so accept the consequences of the event) rather than what we have now with things like ragdoll physics, which are sometimes a bit OTT...

I really cant see a real market for these cards once the first sweep of games come out for them, they will have their niche as Gibbo said, albeit probably a small one at that - I cant see the real need for them until they are integrated into present, established components...

ps3ud0

 

[Lanz]

Nvidia and ATI have the pure corporate grunt to knock this small fry company of the face of the planet, once they sort out their physics solution, even if its only half as good as any standalone hardware solution, PhysX really doesnt stand a chance. Just my opinion mind, but we all know how the IT industry works, this will just get bought out by Nvidia/ATI or just fail.
TBH I'm quite suprised these cards ever made it to production, what with the current state of the PC gaming industry.

 

[sja360]

it isnt just gonna be purely for increasing damage etc to the level though? as i'd thought it would remove a load from the processor for when physical things e.g. car crashes happen.

 

[The Running Man]

hard-core gamers unfortunately are about 1% of the buying population..

thus its going to be a long time before it becomes mass, and if its not mass, which devs are going to support it, if the XBOX360/PS3 do not? it wouldnt make sense to maximise it as it will mean that games will run terribly for the 99% of the rest of the gamers

 

[n3x]

Dont say i didnt tell u all but this time next year we'll all have physx chips in our pc's... and consoles for that matter

 

[Lanz]

This card might take off if developers decided to patch older games to also use this card, but that doesnt seem to be happening.

For example, if Oblivion used this card to process all the stuff that's going on on the background, we'd see big improvements in fps across the board, but from what I've read, patches for current games arent going to happen.

 

[Goksly]

what competition?

Other companies start producing the cards.... Asus defo has one or two in the pipeline and others will also take it up. Also when Nvidia and ATI get their solutions up and running... well everything will bring the price down.

 

[v-zero]

I don't know what all the whining is about, if you don't wan to pay, then don't... You'll just have to live with ugly particle systems and nasty indestructable environments.

Seriously, this seems like a reasonable step in the evolution of computer gaming. We started with dedicated sound cards, then we went with dedicated 3D graphics cards, and people whined back then too - but now we don't think twice about graphics cards and sound cards for our gaming rigs...
The problem is that as games get closer and closer to realism, the general purpose nature of a CPU becomes less and less useful. When coding physics for instance, developers have to go round-about ways of doing things because the hardware is not perfectly suited. A graphics card is suited to a few physics tasks, but not the big ones - just stuff like realistic fog, clouds. It's good, but it's not really what we call "physics."
Plus with all those freed up CPU and GPU cycles we will be able to have even better looking games, and some truly convincing AI , I look forward to it with open arms.

Next it'll be the "AI card", then we'll get a special card that makes Windows run, and the CPU will become redundant... (J/K)

 

[n3x]

the nvidia and ati solutions have already been slated... and dont they involve using one of your gfx cards for physx??? how is this any benefit at all seeing as gfx cards cost just the same and im sure they're not as efficient.

U think the 256mb asus card will be cheaper?

Just have a look at these bad boys

http://softimage.wiki.avid.com/images/3/35/Physxfun.zip

 

[BubbySoup]

Yep, in SLI solutions it turns one of the cards into a physics board ... In single card configs it uses the spare cycles. Plus, atm it's pretty much non-interactive. You can watch it, but none of the effects or resulting debris etc will affect you or the environment.

It's physics done on the cheap compared to the dedicated chip.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

yeah its abit dissapointing, u'd think with the xbox 360 taking a lot of pc gamers away from pc gaming, prices would be going down not up

u getting one then loadsamoney?

Nah, i don't game on PC anymore, aint done for a while now, and im glad now if this is whats happening, theres no way i would pay £700 for a graphics card, and a PhysX card, they are having a giraffe.

 

[Goksly]

more companies getting involved with the physx cards = more competition = lower prices.
Dont be one of those people that argue that black is white

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Probably get some saying 'but its not £700 odd', well yes it is, you game in high resolutions, maxed details, AA/AF at high frame-rates, why else buy the top end cards like the x1900/7900 GTX if that is not the case, if you want to keep it like that when theres debris etc.. flying all over the screen when explosions and what not go off then your going to get these cards so that when all that is happening, your frame-rates don't plummet, and you can't tell me that everyone is now going to say 'sod that, im just gona buy a £100 card from now on then, and just play at low resolutions like 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, and no AA/AF, and a mixture of low/medium/high details, as i have to bring the cost of this PhysX card into the equation, id rather pay £320 instead of £700 odd' yeah right.

Anyone fancy 2x 7900 GTX's in SLi, and a PhysX card for around £1200 odd quid, yes please.

 

[BubbySoup]

Anyone fancy 2x 7900 GTX's in SLi, and a PhysX card for around £1200 odd quid, yes please.

It's all relative though. That kind of price is an impulse purchase to many people on this forum. There will always be a core group of people prepared to pay for the best and as long as there are enough of these people, the niche markets stay afloat - look at phase change for instance.

If you had said to me a few years ago that I was going to pay £650 for a monitor, I would have laughed at you. But now, well, I wouldn't be without my 2405