Physics Accelerator

[Ice]

I was browsing some computers and I came upon this object, a physics accelerator. My question is what exactly does it do and is it worth getting if I get a new desktop?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

What a coincidence, I was about to ask the same question!

[Master_Thief]

A physics accelerator is a card which computes all of the data related to physics in a game e.g. the havok physics in Oblivion. The idea is that it allows for much more, and much better physics systems in games. The problem is that the new cards, which are created by a company called Ageia are very expensive, and are currently on the cutting edge of technology which is never a safe place to be. Ageia is taking a gamble in a market dominated by Nvidia and ATI and the chances of failure are high. Also not many games support the new cards, though several do such as Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and City of Heroes. Others are in the process of being patched in order to support it. At the moment buying a physics card probably isn't worth it unless you happen to be completely obsessed with the previous two games. It would be best to sit back and see what happens.

Check out www.ageia.com for more info.

[The_Mark]

Well, I'm pretty confident I'll get one when the release of Game2 (the real OFP2) is immiment. If something deserves a physics accelerator, it's that game.

And on the plus side, the game's release will take long enough for the accelerators to become affordable.

[Master_Thief]

Just make sure you have some fps to spare. I've heard that the accelerators can make a bit of a dent on performance. Also make sure the games you want to play are supported by the card otherwise it will just sit there doing very little. However most of my knowledge is based on a magazine article from a couple of months ago so things may have changed.

[lars573]

Also ATI and Nvidia have benn working better physics support into Crossfire and SLI. SLI now (I think) can be configured to have one GPU doing the graphics the other physics. The next version of Crossfire will have 3 PCI-e X16 slots on the CF MoBo's. Where the third slot can have a lowerend card stuck in and set to physics mode. ATI example is an X1600 XT or PRO as physics with 2 X1900's as the graphics.

Now Aegia's cards are a 1st gen product. It has little support from games, so far.

Also have you heard about the project to develope an AI chip for PC's?

[Master_Thief]

Haven't heard about the AI chip, sounds intriguing though. I did, however, see a mention of the three ATI cards in a magazine. That sounds like a pretty damn good idea if you ask me. It'll cost a fortune to build a pc with that capability but the performance increase would be massive. I feel slightly sorry for Ageia though as it really is going to struggle to compete with ATI and Nvidia.

[Ice]

Hmm, I think I'll wait to buy a new desktop. This physics accelerator idea intriques me and I want to see a more complete and advanced product before I buy one. Also, I think I going to wait till the release of Windows Vista and its SP 1.

[x-dANGEr]

Gah.. More things to spend the money on if you ask me.. A question btw.. What has got Physics to do with Graphics.. I mean, I thought physics are one of the CPU's calculations at the most.. Now it needs it's own GFX card.. ?!

[Geezer57]

There's a Wiki entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_card

Then a Toms Hardware article here: http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/...physx_failing/

And a HotHardWare review here: http://www.hothardware.com/viewartic...leid=816&cid=2

Doesn't look ready for prime-time to me right now - I'll pass.

[AussieGiant]

I was also considering this.

As Geezer mentioned I am passing. It basically removes the physics calculations from the GPU. From my understanding this is mainly collision detection.

Essential this is a further development of splitting the division of labour inside a PC.

The GPU can focus on drawing nice pictures while the Physics Accelerator calculates all the trajectories and collisions.

In the end you need SW designed to use this effectively and there are only a few games do this at the moment.

It is sort of like the "Dual everything" solutions we are seeing at the moment. For example I am not convinced that MTWII will use the Dual Core processor technology, so why buy it.

I'm holding off on a new machine to see if all this stuff is really going to be used.

As an interim solution I'm going to replace my 256mb nVidia 6800 with a 7950 GTX with 1Gig of RAM. Hopefully in my 20 month old Dell with a 3.4Ghz hyper threaded processor and 2 Gigs of 533Mhz Ram MTWII will play quite well.

[Kanaric]

The accelerator is a complete waste of money. If you ever see it in action not only does it look like crap but it offers no improvement worth the money spent on it. Its mostly something that people buy just so they can add another "cool" hardware to their signiture on the gamespot forums.

Wait until this kind of "acceleration" is included in video cards. The money is better spent on a new video card, like 7950, then this.

I used to have a video of it in action that i'd show to people and it ususally sells them on it being horrible but unfortunately i dont anymore...

[x-dANGEr]

Wow AussieGiant.. That should be more than enough.. At least, I hope so!

[AussieGiant]

I would have thought so too x-dANGEr, but even with this set up I can't play RTW on maxed out settings without it becoming a little jerky.

I think something is not right...damn it. But I don't know what.

I'm also running the game only on 1280 x 1024.

[x-dANGEr]

I guess RTW is unstable when it comes to lagg.. For instance, it used to be a LOT faster on my PC before format, now it can lag at 2 on 2's.. (Normal scale, GFX set to none)

[AussieGiant]

Hi x-dANGEr,

That's what I'm talking about. It drives me slightly nuts.

Anyway Geezer has convinced me to take the "wait and see" approach.

I'll buy MTWII install it and then see how thing go.