Physics processing unit

With that many rigid bodies being calculated it'll be a few years before the gpu's catch up :p :D
 
*Edit*

Wow neat actually... So it's a whole new card? (I skimmed through it... must report essay!!! Forums so tempting :p )
 
Yup, a dedicated PPU.

We still dont have APU's though, weird.
 
It will be years and years and years before this kind of technology is perfected and used in gaming pcs. Valve will probably have a new proprietary engine (source2.0/3.0) or maybe this kind of technology will never even be used as we think it will.


Although I hope things catch on sooner as this looks completely badass!
 
We'll know soon enough since I know there will be videos of this soon enough...
 
In the article doesnt it say there are 14 projects underway, utilising the tech, it also say that they will be on sale by the end of the year.

Its not exactly clear that any of the projects would be interactive games, but i cant see how its a stretch of the imagination, specifically because it says Epic(makers of the unreal franchise) was interested in the hardware.
 
people fail to understand that this would take immense amount of effort from game companies to specifically cater to this type of technology. The article makes it seem like Gabe and Carmack have expressed specific interest in this technology when all it means is they are interested in physics in general. The creation of hardware is always behind the software developer. Look at 64-bit technology ffs.
 
In terms of realising a greater degree of realism in gaming, extra levels of complexity are a natural result. And its typical for any new tech to have a period of adoption before it becomes a norm.

Pitty it missed the latest generation of consoles, imagine if it made a debut in a Ps3 for instance.
 
I think they've missed their window of opportunity, to be honest.

If they released it in the middle of last year they could have made a killing (especially if Doom 3/HL2 had support for the cards). But Intel is planning a comprehensive dual-core desktop processor rollout in the middle of this year with AMD going to follow shortly after (although their CPUs will be more of the high-end while Intel intends to tackle both mainstream and high-end).

So very soon game designers are going to have access to another whole CPU unit with which they can offload AI and physics calculations on to.

I guess if this card has enough support from big games/developers at it's release and is significantly faster than using a 2nd core CPU, then it could take off. But otherwise, I'm a bit pessimistic due to it's timing.
 
...not sure how the card works. It sounds like it won't have any interface except for it's connection to the bus - it'll be handling all the physics calculations that would choke a CPU if it were asked to handle as many as were advertised on the page. It sounds like the graphics card will still handle the images, but the physics card will allow software designers to ask a system augmented with this device to model much more realistic behaviors and, well, physics. Is anyone else getting this?
 
Lanthanide said:
I think they've missed their window of opportunity, to be honest.

If they released it in the middle of last year they could have made a killing (especially if Doom 3/HL2 had support for the cards). But Intel is planning a comprehensive dual-core desktop processor rollout in the middle of this year with AMD going to follow shortly after (although their CPUs will be more of the high-end while Intel intends to tackle both mainstream and high-end).

So very soon game designers are going to have access to another whole CPU unit with which they can offload AI and physics calculations on to.

I guess if this card has enough support from big games/developers at it's release and is significantly faster than using a 2nd core CPU, then it could take off. But otherwise, I'm a bit pessimistic due to it's timing.
Click to expand...

The point of having a "physics card" is the same as having a graphics card. A graphics card running at 400MHz does a hell of a better job at rendering a scene than a 4GHz processor, and the same will be true of physics cards.
 
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=21681

In the flesh and its supported by a number a large publishers/developers. Its here to stay.

At first we expect that some of the game levels are going to be optimised for the PPU and you won't be able to play them if you don't have this card. Some online titles will use this architecture as well and as I said it definitely looks cool and can change your feeling during a gameplay. The company will bundle some of the smaller shorter games and cool demos as soon as the card hits retail.
Click to expand...
 
Now all we need is a AIPU (artificial intelligence processor unit) and then the cpu will allmost have nothing to do... :)
 
Um, black and white 2 is going to have water physics, and there was mentioning of individual blades of grass bending under the weight of the creatures/armies.... it'd be sweet if all this was offloaded onto a ppu so that you'd see these things really detailed, and not simply when you get close.
 
as long as they standardize the APi and stuff......or it's gonna be one hell of a messy ride for us.
 
i wonder how they are going to play games with fluid physics, and you don't have a PPU...

Think after a year it will be minimum requirments (a PPU)

Hopefully Valvle will implent it
 
Ahhh when i am a full grown adult with a bitchin job with Valve or Blizzard Entertainment, These things should be made, and Gaming will be tested to the max :) Hail to the future
 
Wow that would be cool once implemented.

I remember when they first announced the physics engine:

email to Gabe:
Will the Source Engine support full fluid dynamics including large bodies of water and air pressure changes?

Gabe's reply:
Nope. It's a design decision not a technical limitation

:LOL:
 
kirovman said:
Wow that would be cool once implemented.

I remember when they first announced the physics engine:

email to Gabe:
Will the Source Engine support full fluid dynamics including large bodies of water and air pressure changes?

Gabe's reply:
Nope. It's a design decision not a technical limitation

:LOL:
Click to expand...

What if it was possible at the time, just limited by the hardware? Plus, would it have been worth it? Implementing something such as fluid dynamics would be a waste of time when most people will just look at the water and say something like "OMG rep33ting text0rz...HL2 sux!"

Definitely a design decision. It would be like modelling a physical brain for the characters, or giving them favorite colors.
 
Seeing as Source uses Havok, and this card only supports games using the NovodeX physics engine, they won't be compatible.

So source probably won't use this unless they drop Havok and do a huge engine rewrite.
 
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