A web-site has published photos of what it claims to be a next-generation Ageia PhysX physics processing add-in-card. The board seems to be rather huge, while the revamped physics processing unit (PPU) also seems to be large, which implies that the new board will be rather powerful.
The new Ageia PhysX card is designed for PCI Express x8/x16 slots and is much longer compared to the first incarnation of physics accelerator for personal computers and also has much more complex print-circuit board design. The new board also has external power connector, which indicates that the card has pretty high power consumption. Besides, the new Agiea PhysX sports an interface akin to that used by graphics cards that feature ATI CrossFire or Nvidia SLI multi-GPU technology.
The fact that pictures of the board emerged on the Web means that Ageia is already testing the new generation of PPUs along with its add-in-board partners.
New-generation Ageia physics accelerator card. Image from Newhua web-site
The next-generation Ageia PhysX chip is very large and resembles Intel’s first dual-core Smithfield processor. The huge die size of the chip implies that the new chip will feature much higher performance compared to the first-generation PPU. In addition, with improved multi-PPU technology the new generation of physics processing units will offer extreme physics performance.
New-generation Ageia physics accelerator card. Image from Newhua web-site
Ageia yet has to unveil the new incarnation of PPUs to replace the first generation of its PhysX processors unveiled in 2006. However, there are currently not a lot of games that take advantage of physics accelerators, moreover, John Carmack, the developer of legendary Doom and Quake video games, said in a recent interview that Ageia PhysX has no future.
New-generation Ageia physics processing unit. Image from Newhua web-site
Ageia’s PhysX is the world’s first physics processing unit (PPU), which offloads software physics processing from central processing units and graphics processing units to it. The architecture of the PhysX PPU is tailored for multi-threaded processing of vertexes, which allows game creators to develop detailed, soft and precise animation and simulation of movements, hair, clothing, liquids, fluids and other. Currently Ageia’s PhysX is the world’s first and only dedicated physics processing unit, but the company expects more startups to offer similar technology.
To take advantage of advanced capabilities the PhysX has, game developers have to create games using Novodex SDK supplied by Ageia, which requires some additional effort from them. According to Ageia, more than one hundred games designed for and supporting the Ageia PhysX processor are in development from over 60 software creators and publishers.
Ageia did not comment on the news-story.
Comments currently: 18
Discussion started: 08/30/07 04:32:38 PM
Latest comment: 01/26/08 08:01:38 PM
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1.
Oh yeah . . . more crap to fill up most needed PCI slots. Good God, I wish this company could stop putting this useless crap out onto the market. A very small amount of gamers actually have bought this thing and current/next gen GPU's can already do physics calculations; saving users a slot.
Furthermore, hardly any games support it and those that do, don't take full advantage of it. GPU based physics processing is really the best, most cost effective, and most intelligent move to do.
I hope that this PhysX crap burns in the market.
[Posted by: polkSpek | Date: 08/30/07 04:32:38 PM]
+ expand thread (4 answers)
- collapse thread
CPU-based physics processing is the best, most cost effective, and most intelligent move to make.
[Posted by: boner | Date: 08/30/07 05:02:48 PM]
Not quite right.
CPU-based approach is NOT the "best". (as in pure performance. A CPU is a general processor, its highly inefficient for specific tasks...ie: "Jack of all trades, master of none"). Heck, GPU-based approach does a FAR better job!
But CPU approach IS the most cost effective to develop on and sell to the consumer. No one wants to buy something that offers little improvement to their computing experience. (And I know we've all experienced this one time or another in our lives!).
The biggest problem for AEGIA is that software developers MUST write their games from the ground-up to fully take advantage of the hardware that AEGIA provides.
PhysX Accelerators don't work well (offer minimal benefit) when support is merely slapped on as a afterthought. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is a clear example of this.
Game developers can't do that. They can't tie themselves to a specific SDK too heavily. They must stay flexible while meeting deadlines and supporting other platforms (consoles, etc) to maximise profit.
I understand what AEGIA is trying to do, but wouldn't this capability be better off licensed to chipset providers such that physics acceleration is included with motherboards?
Why not have a Cell processor in PCI or PCI-Express form? Will that be good for physics acceleration? This way, you can have a programmable solution that has versatility and flexibility. (It isn't single purpose and can be easily adopted for other roles).
[Posted by: thumber | Date: 08/30/07 05:48:42 PM]
Posted by: thumber
"I understand what AEGIA is trying to do, but wouldn't this capability be better off licensed to chipset providers such that physics acceleration is included with motherboards?"
You're almost there, you said the software needs to be writing to the hardware in order to take advantage of it .... The only viable market for this kind of hardware, and when I say viable I mean profitable, is the console market.
They are not going to see a lot of money from the PC market for this hardware unless they can come up with all the software to support it (APIs or compiler) so other software companies can use it (think production software).
Game companies will NOT invest in code that run on hardware only 10% of there potential customers has! if they (Ageia) can get it (PhysX Accelerators) into consoles then game software companies WILL use it.
[Posted by: BigK | Date: 08/31/07 02:24:11 AM]
That's PCI Express you idiot!
PCIe x8 to be exact
[Posted by: ytjty | Date: 09/01/07 03:40:25 PM]
2.
Who needs Carmack's opinion? We all know PPU was dead before it birthed.
[Posted by: boner | Date: 08/30/07 05:01:03 PM]
3.
The logo on this card looks uncannily like an nVidia logo.
[Posted by: Beanerman | Date: 08/30/07 08:20:25 PM]
+ expand thread (2 answers)
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You're right. It does look like an Nvidia cooler. And why would it need a PCI-E slot? And why the hell does it have an SLI connector? Multiple PPU's? Yeah right, that what I'm gonna do with the few slot I have on my MB. Put 2 PPU's in 'em. If this thing is real I'm never buying a PhysX card again. My current one doesn't even do much.
This has got to be either fake OR the dumbest idea since the Bigfoot networks Killer NIC.
[Posted by: Moe Szyslak | Date: 08/31/07 10:34:24 AM]
I think I read somewhere about nVidia and ATi working on a 3rd card as an add-on to an SLI setup where you would have one card for physics. I guess this might be it but damn, what's with the double-slot cooler? That right there eats up like 6 expansion slots with a good SLI setup.. where's my RAID controller, sound card and NIC gonna go? I can't network a bunch of PCs to my computer directly if these cards can't get in there.
[Posted by: Beanerman | Date: 09/02/07 11:10:13 AM]
4.
Almost looks like a shopped video card >.>
And who came on the processor?
[Posted by: lainofthewired | Date: 08/30/07 08:27:08 PM]
+ expand thread (1 answer)
5.
"...the revamped physics processing unit (PPU) also seems to be large, which implies that the new board will be rather powerful."
Since when is size = performance?
I'm really sorry for Ageia, their initial idea was great. The first-gen card didn't have such a good start but it's understandable considering how conservative the industry has become. With second-gen cards you'd think they'd push to make it more useful and efficient. But instead of getting something more efficient, small and flexible you get a beast that's just as big and power-hungry as a graphics card.
[Posted by: fastpunk | Date: 08/31/07 02:12:34 AM]
6.
Might have been realistically successful if it were cheap eg. 50 USD
. Even better if it could be integrated onto a video card or sound card .
But too stupidly expensive to be worth the little improvement they bring , physics on the GPU makes more sense .
[Posted by: carbonated vodka | Date: 08/31/07 12:15:44 PM]
7.
Why Do I for some funny reason not trust this product?
[Posted by: huh | Date: 08/31/07 05:23:58 PM]
8.
For some reason, this card kinda reminds me of the PURE rendering card from ARTVPS. Don't ask me why, but when you start adding PCI-E support and a bridge connection, that just tells me that this PPU is aiming for a much broader market than just gaming.
Think about it, if someone developed the SDK into a integrated, dedicated physics calculation tool for rendering software, there'd be a much larger market for the add-on card.
[Posted by: Jytra | Date: 08/31/07 11:13:57 PM]
9.
Why not make it for the PCIe x1 or x4 slot (which never gets used). There is no way in heck I'd waste a PCIe x16 slot on a card that required proprietary software support to use. Ageia better get in over 50% of the games on the market in 2008 for an investment like this.
[Posted by: Wingless | Date: 09/02/07 04:35:29 PM]
10.
Only a very few gamers are willing to support the PPU, Havok FX exists only on paper and tech demos, no one will design a game for quad core when only the minority of enthusiast gamers have one and on top of all this the increased focus on cross platform games limits physics to what the console spec can do.
Looks like game play physics is going to be stunted for a long long time...
[Posted by: AnnoyedDragon | Date: 09/18/07 05:26:19 PM]
11.
looking forward to pcie card. Im just getting my card and am really impressed with the immersion of physX games graphics on my friends he is running a phsyX card. Btw its a PCI Express x8/x16 slots so who needs three video cards when you can use the third slot at x8 with this card. Most people still have there 680i's which only 2 slots run at 16x and third slot is 8x.. but neways
[Posted by: scot | Date: 01/26/08 08:01:38 PM]
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