Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

  1. #1
    HEXUS.admin
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Posts
    31,709
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    2,073 times in 719 posts

    Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    Over on the Ageia stand at the Leipzig Games Convention 2007, we sat down with the guys who justifiably proudly showed off their Ageia specific Unreal Tournament 3 levels which, to be honest, were jaw-droppingly good.
    Read more.

  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    160
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    excellent, i really want this technology to succeed.

    accelerate everything with dedicated hardware is the amiga way, and it is the right way to do things.
    http://rusi.org/downloads/assets/FDR2.pdf - RUSI - A Force For Honour
    http://www.uknda.org/my_documents/my...essity_scr.pdf - UKNDA: A Compelling Necessity
    http://www.uknda.org/my_documents/my...ISIS_Sep08.pdf - UKNDA: Overcoming The Defence Crisis
    http://www.uknda.org/my_documents/my...y_Doc_24pp.pdf - UKNDA: A decision the next Prime Minister must make

  3. #3
    Filthy old man noTHINGface's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Herts
    Posts
    1,398
    Thanks
    28
    Thanked
    21 times in 20 posts

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    ... and from the opposite end of the spectrum I see no value here with multi core cpus.
    What we share with everyone is glum, and dark...

  4. #4
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,039
    Thanks
    1,880
    Thanked
    3,379 times in 2,716 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    Quote Originally Posted by noTHINGface View Post
    ... and from the opposite end of the spectrum I see no value here with multi core cpus.
    Have to agree with this to be honest.

    By all means add in some physics friendly instructions in something like SSE5, but the difference between the calculations physics requires and the instruction set of a CPU is not so huge as to need a seperate card, unlike graphics or sound.

  5. #5
    It's good to be bad pauldarkside's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Cornwall
    Posts
    2,930
    Thanks
    295
    Thanked
    378 times in 259 posts
    • pauldarkside's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASUS Maximus VI Hero
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core i7-4770K & Corsair Hydro H80i
      • Memory:
      • Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3
      • Storage:
      • Corsair Force GS 128GB, Crucial M500 480GB, WD Black 4TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Superclocked
      • PSU:
      • Corsair Professional HX850W
      • Case:
      • Corsair Graphite 780T (White)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus ROG Swift PG278Q
      • Internet:
      • BT Infinity @ 78Mbps

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    Considering UT3 is primarily a multiplayer game, I doubt the Ageia specific levels will feature heavily on game servers.

    Is the Unreal Engine 3 able to offload those calcuations to a "spare" core like the engine used Alan Wake, for example?
    My only concern is should I hide my true identity? A costume maybe?

    0iD: Plus weeing in it every now & again does it good
    scaryjim: 10" is just a little large to hold comfortably in one hand, which makes it a lot harder to tap, swipe and generally interact with.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Warminster, Wilts
    Posts
    407
    Thanks
    44
    Thanked
    23 times in 18 posts
    • Nemz0r's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASRock Z75 Pro3
      • CPU:
      • i7 3570k @ 4.5 GHz (+0.2V) w/ ThermalRight Ultima-90i (modified to fit S1155 with a hammer...)
      • Memory:
      • 16 GiB (4x 4GiB) Samsung PC3-10700 (1333) @ PC3-16000 (2000) 9-14-14-36 1.55v
      • Storage:
      • 1x 500 GB Crucial MX200; 1x 1.5 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11; 1x 500 GB Samsung Spinpoint T166
      • Graphics card(s):
      • XFX Radeon R9 290 4GiB
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX860 80Plus Platinum
      • Case:
      • Antec P180B
      • Operating System:
      • Microsoft Windows 10 Home
      • Monitor(s):
      • 27" Dell P2715Q
      • Internet:
      • ICUK ADSL2+ ~4 Mbps (sadface)

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    Great, another piece of hardware to buy... As if prices of components aren't going up as it is. I remember when the GeForce4 Ti4600 was released. The cream of the crop - and £250 to boot. Now we have the likes of the GTX and Ultra that started at something like £380 and £450 ?

    And on top of that premium is coming an extra £100ish for a PhysX card? To say you can build a relatively high end PC for £1000, 10% extra for physics doesn't seem justified - especially because of multicore CPUs. Sure, if you have a single core CPU let people use a PhysX card instead of shelling out for a new CPU; but the exclusivity of some games' physics on PhysX card alone I don't agree with, the extra cores on CPUs these days should be able to be used first if they are there.

  7. #7
    It's good to be bad pauldarkside's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Cornwall
    Posts
    2,930
    Thanks
    295
    Thanked
    378 times in 259 posts
    • pauldarkside's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASUS Maximus VI Hero
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core i7-4770K & Corsair Hydro H80i
      • Memory:
      • Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3
      • Storage:
      • Corsair Force GS 128GB, Crucial M500 480GB, WD Black 4TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Superclocked
      • PSU:
      • Corsair Professional HX850W
      • Case:
      • Corsair Graphite 780T (White)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus ROG Swift PG278Q
      • Internet:
      • BT Infinity @ 78Mbps

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    Quote Originally Posted by Nemz0r View Post
    Great, another piece of hardware to buy...
    Unlike a CPU, RAM, etc., a PhysX card is purely optional - if you don't feel the need for one, don't buy one.

    As far as I'm concened there's little point in me spending £88 on something that has limited support. If it was supported more generally in Unreal Engine 3, for example, and would improve my user experience in every game that used it (BioShock included) instead of requiring specially designed levels (Unreal Tournament 3) then I'd consider getting one. That said, multi-core support could take care of that.
    My only concern is should I hide my true identity? A costume maybe?

    0iD: Plus weeing in it every now & again does it good
    scaryjim: 10" is just a little large to hold comfortably in one hand, which makes it a lot harder to tap, swipe and generally interact with.

  8. #8
    Goron goron Kumagoro's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    3,154
    Thanks
    38
    Thanked
    172 times in 140 posts

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    The structure of the physics processor is supposed to be more like that of a GPU than a CPU right....
    If it were the case that just a few new instructions need to be added to the CPU then the same could
    be said of GPU functions being added.

    It seems to me that Graphics cards now have the power to make use of the physics that the ageia
    card enables. What I am wondering though, is how much the PPU is being used in terms of
    processing power and when a the GPU will have power to spare.

    I have never liked the idea of using another Graphics card to enable the physics it seems to
    much of a kludge.

    In my opinion the PPU should be on the graphics card. If there are different grades of PPU they can
    matched up with the power of the GPU.

    I reckon AMD should buy Ageia

  9. #9
    It's good to be bad pauldarkside's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Cornwall
    Posts
    2,930
    Thanks
    295
    Thanked
    378 times in 259 posts
    • pauldarkside's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASUS Maximus VI Hero
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core i7-4770K & Corsair Hydro H80i
      • Memory:
      • Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3
      • Storage:
      • Corsair Force GS 128GB, Crucial M500 480GB, WD Black 4TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Superclocked
      • PSU:
      • Corsair Professional HX850W
      • Case:
      • Corsair Graphite 780T (White)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus ROG Swift PG278Q
      • Internet:
      • BT Infinity @ 78Mbps

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    PCGH: It is well known that your engine supports multi core CPUs. What is the maximum number of threads the engine can calculate? What is the performance gain when you play UT 3 with a quad core CPU? Will the engine even support future CPU with more than four cores?

    Tim Sweeney: Unreal Engine 3's threading support is quite scalable. We run a primary thread for gameplay, and a secondary thread for rendering. On machines with more than two cores, we run additional threads to accelerate various computing tasks, including physics and data decompression. There are clear performance benefits to quad-core, and though we haven't looked beyond that yet, I expect further gains beyond quad-core in future games within the lifetime of Unreal Engine 3.
    Source

    At least I have another excuse to grab a Core 2 Quad
    My only concern is should I hide my true identity? A costume maybe?

    0iD: Plus weeing in it every now & again does it good
    scaryjim: 10" is just a little large to hold comfortably in one hand, which makes it a lot harder to tap, swipe and generally interact with.

  10. #10
    Lovely chap dangel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Cambridge, UK
    Posts
    8,398
    Thanks
    412
    Thanked
    459 times in 334 posts
    • dangel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • See My Sig
      • CPU:
      • See My Sig
      • Memory:
      • See My Sig
      • Storage:
      • See My Sig
      • Graphics card(s):
      • See My Sig
      • PSU:
      • See My Sig
      • Case:
      • See My Sig
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • See My Sig
      • Internet:
      • 60mbit Sky LLU

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    It'll be killed off either by multicore or by the graphics industry pushing their own solutions. Their only chance is to get bundled onto some other hardware - like the aforementioned graphic card or perhaps a motherboard? Either seems unlikely at this stage as neither markets would see it as a good value add-in, especially at the likely premium. As for this year, crysis will use the CPU and so people will rather drop a few quid more on a quad core (which will make lots of games better in lots of ways) than a psysx card (which will make er.. UT3 better in a limited way).
    Crosshair VIII Hero (WIFI), 3900x, 32GB DDR4, Many SSDs, EVGA FTW3 3090, Ethoo 719


  11. #11
    Anthropomorphic Personification shaithis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    The Last Aerie
    Posts
    10,857
    Thanks
    645
    Thanked
    872 times in 736 posts
    • shaithis's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P8Z77 WS
      • CPU:
      • i7 3770k @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 32GB HyperX 1866
      • Storage:
      • Lots!
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sapphire Fury X
      • PSU:
      • Corsair HX850
      • Case:
      • Corsair 600T (White)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • 2 x Dell 3007
      • Internet:
      • Zen 80Mb Fibre

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    I said in the very first discussion on these board regarding physics cards that they were a complete waste and would be superseded in no time at all by multi-cored CPUs.....

    The thing is, the difference between "real physics calculations" and "pseudo physics calculations" (i.e. using the principles of physics but in much more simplified equations) is not going to be noticeable to end-users in a game.
    Main PC: Asus Rampage IV Extreme / 3960X@4.5GHz / Antec H1200 Pro / 32GB DDR3-1866 Quad Channel / Sapphire Fury X / Areca 1680 / 850W EVGA SuperNOVA Gold 2 / Corsair 600T / 2x Dell 3007 / 4 x 250GB SSD + 2 x 80GB SSD / 4 x 1TB HDD (RAID 10) / Windows 10 Pro, Yosemite & Ubuntu
    HTPC: AsRock Z77 Pro 4 / 3770K@4.2GHz / 24GB / GTX 1080 / SST-LC20 / Antec TP-550 / Hisense 65k5510 4K TV / HTC Vive / 2 x 240GB SSD + 12TB HDD Space / Race Seat / Logitech G29 / Win 10 Pro
    HTPC2: Asus AM1I-A / 5150 / 4GB / Corsair Force 3 240GB / Silverstone SST-ML05B + ST30SF / Samsung UE60H6200 TV / Windows 10 Pro
    Spare/Loaner: Gigabyte EX58-UD5 / i950 / 12GB / HD7870 / Corsair 300R / Silverpower 700W modular
    NAS 1: HP N40L / 12GB ECC RAM / 2 x 3TB Arrays || NAS 2: Dell PowerEdge T110 II / 24GB ECC RAM / 2 x 3TB Hybrid arrays || Network:Buffalo WZR-1166DHP w/DD-WRT + HP ProCurve 1800-24G
    Laptop: Dell Precision 5510 Printer: HP CP1515n || Phone: Huawei P30 || Other: Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Pro 10.1 CM14 / Playstation 4 + G29 + 2TB Hybrid drive

  12. #12
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    40
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post

    Re: Ageia PhysX - it really works!

    Physics cards will be the last thing gamers will buy as an upgrade to their system. The money used to buy a physics card would be better invested in other components (like graphics and processors, for example)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. EPP and how it works
    By scotland21 in forum abit.care@HEXUS
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 05-11-2006, 02:02 PM
  2. Cheap Microsoft Works Suite 2005
    By Aloos in forum Retail Therapy and Bargains
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 01-08-2006, 09:23 AM
  3. Works Vs Office
    By k0nigen in forum Software
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 28-04-2006, 05:29 PM
  4. Hard Modding 9500 to 9700 works for aiw9800se also
    By realityx in forum Graphics Cards
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 23-11-2003, 09:52 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •