Havok FX

[biostud]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20051028224421.html

 

[SynthDude2001]

Sounds very cool. I'll be very interested to see how this develops alongside the standalone PPU, especially now that it's been delayed by a few months.

 

[biostud]

definately, and it will be interesting to see how well it will perform. It could be interesting if you could use a CF or SLI board with two videocards one for physics and one for graphics. Then the 'old' r520 or G70 might be paired with r600 or G80, and then let the old card do the physics. It might be an interesting upgrade path.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: biostud
definately, and it will be interesting to see how well it will perform. It could be interesting if you could use a CF or SLI board with two videocards one for physics and one for graphics. Then the 'old' r520 or G70 might be paired with r600 or G80, and then let the old card do the physics. It might be an interesting upgrade path.

:thumbsup:

Looks like I might be in for a very nice (and very expensive ) upgrade when I replace my video card next summer...

Edit: Also very interested in seeing how 3D performance will be affected on a single card too, since CF/SLI is probably out of my league as far as what I'm willing to pay. If they can approach the performance of the PPU just on the video card and not lower overall 3D performance by too much, that would be a very appealing solution.

 

[George Powell]

Originally posted by: biostud
definately, and it will be interesting to see how well it will perform. It could be interesting if you could use a CF or SLI board with two videocards one for physics and one for graphics. Then the 'old' r520 or G70 might be paired with r600 or G80, and then let the old card do the physics. It might be an interesting upgrade path.

However it might be quite difficult to implement in drivers.
The thing is HAvok is a thhird party system using current hardware. This is no bad thing but would need support from nVidia and ATI to become effective in multi GPU environments.

Personally I rather look forward to the development of physics engines and processing solutions.

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: George Powell

Originally posted by: biostud
definately, and it will be interesting to see how well it will perform. It could be interesting if you could use a CF or SLI board with two videocards one for physics and one for graphics. Then the 'old' r520 or G70 might be paired with r600 or G80, and then let the old card do the physics. It might be an interesting upgrade path.

However it might be quite difficult to implement in drivers.
The thing is HAvok is a thhird party system using current hardware. This is no bad thing but would need support from nVidia and ATI to become effective in multi GPU environments.

Personally I rather look forward to the development of physics engines and processing solutions.

To me the AGEIA sounds more interesting too, but I don't know wether it will the best solution, so it's nice to see other initiatives, specially for getting some competition in this market too.

 

[dopefish21]

This is THE best solution for us, because it cost nothing to the customer, and we get physics.

No one except rich enthusiasts will want to buy a PPU at 250$, so this new solution will probably be very welcome !

 

[Elcs]

Havok FX is currently under development. Though no release date is currently announced, Havok is expected to provide early access to leading PC game developers before the end of 2005, to develop real-world tests of this new product on cutting edge GPUs from major graphics card vendors.

Given that many game developers already use AGEIA?s PPUs and appropriate software, it is highly likely that Havok?s FX will have cost advantage over the PhysX, but will not have time-to-market advantage. Furthermore, it is also unclear whether performance of physics effects calculated on GPUs will be sufficient: even now Havok recommends graphics cards like NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX for the best performance.

Havok FX will be a new product from Havok and is not part of any existing product or product bundle. It is an optional add-on product that game developers will be able to license for their platform or console based games.

This news is truely exciting.

Related News at the bottom of the page looks good too.

BFG Technology to Sell Physics Accelerators.
AGEIA and BFG Technologies Enter into Distribution Agreement

Physics Processing Units to Offer Scalability ? AGEIA.
Physics Processors to Work in Pairs, AGEIA Says

It looks like theres some healthy competition going to be kicking off. I hope theres not a great divide between the 2 systems like there was with Video Vs. Betamax kind of scenario. Unlikely but at this stage, we know little beyond some fun tech demos.

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: Elcs

It looks like theres some healthy competition going to be kicking off. I hope theres not a great divide between the 2 systems like there was with Video Vs. Betamax kind of scenario. Unlikely but at this stage, we know little beyond some fun tech demos.

probably more like 3Dfx Glide