OT: Physics Cards

[Atrocities]

What exactly do phsycis accelerator cards such as AGEIA® PhysX® physics accelerator do and do we really need them?

[Phoenix-D]

They are supposed to speed up physics calculations (bouncing grenades, rolling barrels, collapsing hillsides, breaking glass..). The idea is to take load off the CPU by dumping it to a dedicated chip, leaving the CPU free for AI and such.

[NullAshton]

Yup. That's basically what they do. The same thing a graphics card does for graphics. You don't need them, but they're supposed to allow newer games to have mind-bending physics or something, and improve the graphics by doing things such as calculating where each and every piece of that glass you just grenaded lands.

[Combat Wombat]

They are worthless, at least now. Maybe in a few years when games support them and the price comes down. But until then I wouldn't spend my money on one.

[Caduceus]

I would hope at some point they would put both chips on a single card.

[Atrocities]

thanks guys for the info. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Caduceus]

Here (http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/03/the_scientists_opinions_on_gaming_physics/page2.html) is an article from Tom's Hardware talking about video cards v physics cards.

The tech isn't there yet for the cost, in my opinion.

This (http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/06/19/can_ageia/) is an older article from a month or two ago talking about the card.

[Xrati]

For about $260, it's an expensive way to bend ones mind... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/egg.gif