GF8 to get PhysX

[Asus]

http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/14147

"Huang revealed that Nvidia's strategy is to take the PhysX engine and port it onto CUDA. For those not in the know, CUDA stands for Compute Unified Device Architecture, and it's a C-like application programming interface Nvidia developed to let programmers write general-purpose applications that can run on GPUs. All of Nvidia's existing GeForce 8 graphics processors already support CUDA, and Huang confirmed that the cards will be able to run PhysX."

 

[giant384]

sweet, will change the nvidia cards so much now that its actually going to happen.

 

[CptStern]

how awesome is that? kisses 8800gt (from afar, I'm at work)

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Ah nice, so that buy out by Nvidia had something in the pipeline planned. Something for nothing! I'm hugging my BFG 8800GT OC2 as well Stern, what version did you go with in the end out of interest?

 

[CptStern]

I settled on the evga sc 8800gt instead of the evga SSC that I had been waiting for almost 2 months..they're still in short supply

 

[Asus]

The quote is just an FYI to show the direction they are headed. Looks like they want to cut off CPU physics, not exactly push away ATI. ATI's hardware also runs general purpose apps with it's own code. Like Folding@home. So it might work with current ATI cards as well at some point.

"NVIDIA's Tony Tamasi stated that they are committed to working with any of their competitors in the GPU market to get PhysX running on their hardware. The major concern is to put more powerful physics options in the hands of developers, and having PhysX enable hardware accelerated physics on any GPU would set the stage for a physics revolution. We would see developers actually start to push the limits of the hardware because everyone would have access to it.

And, more importantly from NVIDIA's perspective, it would put advanced physics out of reach of current CPU architectures. Even though a GPU may not be as well suited to physics as dedicated hardware, a modern CPU is vastly inferior to both. Getting more developers to implement PhysX, selling them on the pervasiveness of hardware support, and bringing a more impactful user experience to gamers could help push PhysX past Havok in the physics market. " -source

 

[Qhartb]

I think the overall theme is "GPUs aren't just for graphics anymore". There's lot of GPGPU research going on. Gamers, the traditional target of graphics cards, see it as taking over physics (and maybe later some AI). There are applications in other fields, too. The reconstruction of MRI or CAT scans in medicine, for example. Right now, it's exploring what traditional CPU jobs could possibly be better handled on a GPU.

 

[DreamThrall]

Awesome.

 

[DreamThrall]

I understand it to be a driver and/or firmware upgrade.

 

[Asus]

This is really awesome since it is not only that current GPUs will get PhysX but that the install base will be huge. Devs might actually program for it...
But there is still the problem for the Devs not knowing how much power a customer will have towards PhysX since there are different powered GPUs out there. That will keep it mostly used as physical stimulated graphic effects and not game-play altering physics.

It does have to have support from the driver but it is a software app running on GPUs. Similar to what would run on the CPU. But because GPUs are parallel in nature they run it better than CPUs.
Similar to Folding@home and ATI GPUs. Speed for that program with parallel work loads goes GPU > PS3 > CPU.

 

[[Matt]]

Cool, but is this going to be a hardware or software addition?

EDIT: never mind, I'm an idiot.

Currently software but future nvidia products may feature hardware accelerated physics onboard the graphics card.

 

[Asuka]

Neat. Didnt expect this.

 

[Eejit]

Ah nice, so that buy out by Nvidia had something in the pipeline planned. Something for nothing! I'm hugging my BFG 8800GT OC2 as well Stern, what version did you go with in the end out of interest?

I just licked my xpertvision 8800gt. I think maybe that wasn't such a good idea, my tongue is still numb and the card smells funny.