AGEIA PhysX chip

PhysX is the world's first Physics Processing Unit (PPU), an entirely new category of processor that promises to revolutionize gaming in the same way that the graphics processing unit (GPU) did in the 1990s. By offloading software physics processing from the CPU and GPU, the PPU completes the triangle of gameplay, graphics and physics, balancing the load of these processing tasks and enabling pervasive interactive reality in tomorrow's games.

check:

http://www.ageia.com/technology.html

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well, I think for the most people this chip is old news. But i used the search engine and didn't found anything on the forum.

What do you guys think about it ?

Hmmm I think it's a great development. Especially when they put one or more of these chips on some add-on card, so my cpu can do other tasks then process T&L software data for my Voodoo 5

Great job

Pff, two? One of these babies can do a thousand times more than a CPU can.
Don't need two for a long time

I'm not very sure about its success in the market, though. The reason why people want to spend their money for a 3D accelerator (started with Voodoo1 in 1996) is because the result is directly tangible on-screen (faster frame rate plus better image quality). I don't think it'll be the case with physic accelerator.

I think this card will increase frame rate because a lot of work of the CPU is now taken over by the PhysX chip en even more instructions where the chip is build for !
A lot of objects will look more realtistic so i think the image quality will defently increase !

And think about it... the enginiers of Unreal 3 already has a beta card so that the game can be prepared for this card.

I found this news from:
May 12, 2005 - 14:22 EST

Microsoft's Rise of Nations first to support Ageia's physics chip

By Wolfgang Gruener, Senior Editor

May 12, 2005 - 14:22 EST

Mountain View (CA) - Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends will be the first video that supports Ageia's physics chip - a technology that calculates movements and interactions and promises a more realistic gaming experience.

Ageia apparently is right on track convincing game studios to support its physics chip technology. Two months after demonstrating the technology for the first time, the company announced the first major title that will take advantage of the chip's capabilities: The real time strategy game Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends is currently developed by Big Huge Games and will be published by Microsoft game studios in Spring of 2006


The chip, named "PhysX", is designed to free up and complement the CPU and the GPU and take the role of calculating movements and interaction in games. Ageia claims that this will enable real-time physical simulation as well as natural, real-life interactions. Enhanced graphic effects can include gelatinous characters or realistic fluid dynamics with up to 40,000 to 50,000 simulated particles per screen.

Accordingly, the new Rise of nations will use this capability to show "massively destructible environments, more realistic unit animations, and spectacular environmental effects," said Tim Train, vice president of development for Big Huge Games.

A preview version of Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends will be on display at the 2005 E3 Expo, which will take place from May 18 - 20 in Los Angeles.

Gamers will have to use the PhysX chip to enjoy the expanded visual experience. At this time it is unclear, when such add-in cards will be available, however, Ageia already has a clear idea how much such cards will cost: The company expects a price range from $100 for entry-level boards to about $400 for high-end versions.

"massively destructible environments"

A nuke in an FPS anyone?

Oooh, this will be fun.

Whehe that baby 's gonna be mine. Hope it's gonna come out in regular pci 2.1 and pci-Xpress. My system doesn't have pci-x... Well we'll see!

QuoteOriginally posted by Jules


I think this card will increase frame rate because a lot of work of the CPU is now taken over by the PhysX chip en even more instructions where the chip is build for !

Only in the case where the CPU is the bottleneck. When the resolution gets higher, usually the CPU doesn't really matter anymore.

QuoteOriginally posted by Jules


A lot of objects will look more realtistic so i think the image quality will defently increase !

I guess this is the job for the video card (displaying objects, that is). More polygon counts, better texture filtering, and such.