Physics cards

[0iD]

There are a few physics cards available these days, but are they worth a punt yet?

[staffsMike]

Not with the gfx card you have.. I've not used one but I don't see it improving much of anything,

[DougMcDonald]

I spose it might bump you benchmarking scores, but probably not really worth it.

I suppose its similar to gaming network cards, i found one for £200 the other day, not really worth it tbh, unless you really really have a lot of money to burn

[shaithis]

A lot of newer games will be using a second CPU core to do the physics, I never understood why they released these cards just after dual-core CPUs were introduced

[DougMcDonald]

I suspect it was just unlucky timing, if they spent X millions on developing them, you can't not release them just because they would be redundant from day one!

[kalniel]

*shrugs* Things like dual channel and extra low latency memory show that people are more than willing to pay a premium for something that has little real world benefit. Worth a punt to see if physics cards became the next 'dual channel kit' I guess.

[DougMcDonald]

Fair point, we've certainly seen it in the past (sega mega cd!?!! )

I think half the problem is that games developers have enough hassle keeping up to date with DX releases and new gfx card possibilities without worrying about physics card potential.

[DecomposingStar]

Definately don't bother... When Warmonger comes out, see if its any good, then make a decision but... Judging by Cellfactor: Revolution, it'll probably be crap.

And i know the 2900XT can handle physics, i'm pretty sure the 8800's can too.

Besides, with all the DX10 efficiency, your CPU will have a couple extra cycles available for physics anyway.

[Agent]

*shrugs* Things like dual channel and extra low latency memory show that people are more than willing to pay a premium for something that has little real world benefit. Worth a punt to see if physics cards became the next 'dual channel kit' I guess.

[Robbie G]

PPU > CPU and GPU for physics. By a lot.

[5aboy]

yes, but an utter waste of valuable money.

if i had the money to purchase a 8800GTS + physics card, id say NO and get an 8800GTX instead, and ill save some cash.

physics cards were a fad, and a little one at that. save the cash, consider investing in q6600 when the price drops if you have too much money burning a hole in your pocket,

or you could give me the cash!

[Agent]

PPU > CPU and GPU for physics. By a lot.

You can have the best of any item - If no one cares about it, its not going to sell

[DougMcDonald]

It's kind of like i tell my mates who are console fans.

Irrespective of the consoles handware capacity, it's the games that will make it or break it.

Same thing with Physics cards, its not going to make any difference unless there is some eventuality which means that if you don't have a physics card, you can't do something.

Prime example was my upgrade a year ago, I didn't need to, but i bought a 6600GT to replace a 4400Ti because i needed some shader thing to play battlefield 2 which a mate got me addicted to!

[5aboy]

i think its a bit like the dvd-decoder cards that were out a few years ago, but the difference was that that actually made a difference to some people as their CPUs werent upto the decoding; as this is no longer an issue no-one goes out and buys a dvd-decoder card as the CPU will handle it.

i dont drink personally, but spend the money on whatever alcoholic beverage suits you (or go on a short weekend break someplace), at least you get something out of it!

[Zak33]

GRAW said it needed one. even loaded an emulator upon install.

dross....runs fine without.

Snake Oil my man.....just save the dough

[DataMatrix]

A lot of newer games will be using a second CPU core to do the physics, I never understood why they released these cards just after dual-core CPUs were introduced

Well, CPUs are designed to do single hard-wired tasks which makes their FLOPS performance very low compared to a GPU/PPU.