The Future of PC Gaming

[stelleg151]

The problem with trying to add the PPU to hardware is that I think it will be a software engineering nightmare to try and make a game capable of using the PPU or not. For the GPU, the transition was on a much smaller scale(there are exponentially more computers in the world now than the days before GPUs), and was needed to introduce gaming to computers. PPU isnt needed to introduce any new features, only enhance current features. I also cannot see how it could be done nearly as flexbly as graphics (30 different settings for amounts of physics, depending on PPU speed/existence??)

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: CP5670

They will probably have 'boundary boxes' for all possible values of calculated precision. I don't know, it hurts the brain to even think about what they'd do about it.

It would be pointless to buy the card in that case though, if it just reverts to the "simple" physics. That's what I can't understand about this; the card would either need to have almost no effect or make the game work differently for each player. I can only see it being used in singleplayer games for a while.

Well interactivity would take a dump if they had to do that. But you can still have an accurate waterfall within a 5x5 unit box, visually. Hopefully they'll be able to make this bounding box as small as possible so it has little negative effect. I just noticed, you edit your posts as much as I do.

 

[TraumaRN]

Personally if it means I can view more realistically modeled behaviors, such as grass that moves individually, leaves that sway dynamically, realistic water rippling etc....I'm all for it.

 

[schtuga]

Seeing as how high end x-fire/sli are cpu limited,would this not help it,or am I lost on this and it is not intended that way?

 

[Regs]

It all depends on the support of the developers and how well the developers can sell it to their customers. AEGIS will be in the passenger seat all the way through the ride.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: schtuga
Seeing as how high end x-fire/sli are cpu limited,would this not help it,or am I lost on this and it is not intended that way?

Yes, it most certainly will. The PPU will take off a big chunk off the CPU load if PPU is supported by the programming.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Epic, Croteam and Crytek are all on board with utilizing the PPU in their upcoming engines. I haven't heard a comment from id yet one way or the other but I can't imagine Carmack letting them get that kind of advantage over their engine.

 

[John Reynolds]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker
Epic, Croteam and Crytek are all on board with utilizing the PPU in their upcoming engines. I haven't heard a comment from id yet one way or the other but I can't imagine Carmack letting them get that kind of advantage over their engine.

Didn't Carmack at last year's QuakeCon say he thinks AGEIA's PPU would hurt overall performance in next-gen engines?

 

[BenSkywalker]

Didn't Carmack at last year's QuakeCon say he thinks AGEIA's PPU would hurt overall performance in next-gen engines?

Last year he was also saying that adding SMP support wasn't worth it as it didn't add enough performance- and then we saw the Q4 SMP patch and how huge the performance gain was. Carmack is working with the 360 and PS3 now and I don't recall him saying they wouldn't support the PPU explicitly so he may have a different perspective then his initial one. When he tries to move code from the consoles to the PC he is likely going to run into some serious performance issues on the CPU side.

 

[shabby]

If these things can fold, they'll sell like hotcakes.

 

[Crescent13]

I'm 99% sure this is the PPU. Look at what they have said

First came the CPU
Then came the GPU

It's obviously nothing like the power of 3, it's a brand new processor altogether, and rumour has it that Ageia has teamed up with BFG to make the PPU.

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: CP5670

They will probably have 'boundary boxes' for all possible values of calculated precision. I don't know, it hurts the brain to even think about what they'd do about it.

It would be pointless to buy the card in that case though, if it just reverts to the "simple" physics. That's what I can't understand about this; the card would either need to have almost no effect or make the game work differently for each player. I can only see it being used in singleplayer games for a while.

Well interactivity would take a dump if they had to do that. But you can still have an accurate waterfall within a 5x5 unit box, visually. Hopefully they'll be able to make this bounding box as small as possible so it has little negative effect. I just noticed, you edit your posts as much as I do.

oh, I see what you're saying now, so it would really only be used for graphical effects than anything else.

Yeah, I edit my posts all the time, probably averaging three or four edits per post. There is always some small grammar error or something I forgot to add in.

 

[Inappropriate4AT]

These PPUs are supposed to retail for something like $300 I believe. Even if they do become mainstream I won't be buying one for a long time, until the prices drop significantly.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: Rage187
PPU's are going to be a huge failure.

I'd rather spend money on a PPU than a second video card - and SLI and Crossfire don't look like they're going away, I'm sure there are many many people who feel the same way.

 

[Painman]

How many solutions will we end up having to choose from? Is this going to bring another round of proprietary API wars? Whoopee. :frown:

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: Crescent13
I'm 99% sure this is the PPU. Look at what they have said

First came the CPU
Then came the GPU

It's obviously nothing like the power of 3, it's a brand new processor altogether, and rumour has it that Ageia has teamed up with BFG to make the PPU.

Isn't BFG another fabless company though?

 

[BenSkywalker]

How many solutions will we end up having to choose from? Is this going to bring another round of proprietary API wars? Whoopee.

It is supposed to integrate fully with current APIs. When you build a game to take advantage of the PPU you are given fairly turnkey tools to make it, relatively speaking, easy.

oh, I see what you're saying now, so it would really only be used for graphical effects than anything else.

For sims the PPU will be a godsend for gameplay. Having an honest physics system in place can offer significant improvements to the core game- this will almost certainly end up being a case where we will only see it at the beginning and then only from ports from the consoles(PPU required titles).