7600GT = Physics Card

[Wreckage]

http://www.guru3d.com/article/gamereviews/345/

It's very well possible that you can have for example a Geforce 7900 GTX as primary graphics cards and pair that one up with a GeForce 7600 GT to do the physics calculations

 

[skooma]

I would think different gens would work together as well, right? Adding a little 6600 for $70 would be nice if all it has to do is the physics.

 

[aka1nas]

That's somewhat cool if a mid-range video card dedicated to physics can actually pull some decent numbers. Having mismatched cards like means you won't be able to use them for SLI in non-hardware physics games. On the other hand, it may allow you to use your previous video card to do physics duty when you upgrade, which is pretty neat IMO.

 

[Munky]

That's no different than using a x1600xt for physics with a x1900xt for graphics, which has also already been mentioned. But if we're going to use dedicated physics harware, I'd rather see a standard ppu used instead, so I won't have to deal with crap like "Doom 4 physics run better on Nv HW, while HL3 physics run better on Ati HW."

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Originally posted by: munky
I'd rather see a standard ppu used instead, so I won't have to deal with crap like "Doom 4 physics run better on Nv HW, while HL3 physics run better on Ati HW."

QFT.

It would usher in another level of fanboyism . . .

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: munky
That's no different than using a x1600xt for physics with a x1900xt for graphics, which has also already been mentioned. But if we're going to use dedicated physics harware, I'd rather see a standard ppu used instead, so I won't have to deal with crap like "Doom 4 physics run better on Nv HW, while HL3 physics run better on Ati HW."

Not me. I would rather buy a physics card cheap off of eBay (like a 6800GT), then pay $250 for a card that only works in a few games. At least the cheaper secondary video card could also be used for VIVO, TV-Out, secondary dispaly, SLI, spare video card, etc. While the dedicated PPU can't be used for anything outside of game physics.

 

[imported_ST]

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1

Originally posted by: munky
I'd rather see a standard ppu used instead, so I won't have to deal with crap like "Doom 4 physics run better on Nv HW, while HL3 physics run better on Ati HW."

QFT.

It would usher in another level of fanboyism . . .

double that...i hope both ati and nvidia can agree on 1 physics api, instead of one or the other aligning with havoc / aegea and really screwing things up...

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

The problem is, the real bottleneck is going to occur with rendering when dealing with such large amounts of onscreen geometry. By taking up the second pci-e video slot with a card dedicated to physics, you lose the potential of going SLI/Crossfire which would help allieviate the rendering bottleneck. I have nothing against the idea... if they can do it, fine. Personally, I'd rather have Nvidia/ATI slap a seperate PPU on some of their video cards. While the PPU would obviously have to share some of the memory and bandwidth with the GPU, it probably wouldn't hurt rendering output too much.

 

[cubby1223]

They'll just have to redesign the quad-sli concept to be sli video plus sli physics

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: ST
double that...i hope both ati and nvidia can agree on 1 physics api, instead of one or the other aligning with havoc / aegea and really screwing things up...

These companies won't survive with proprietary crap anymore than 3dfx did. MS is already defining a standard which ATI and NVIDIA will naturally conform to.

 

[DJCrunkMix]

hmm...physics. The word "physics" always drags me in .

 

[Bullhonkie]

I always thought it'd be interesting if SLI could be tweaked so you could use it with any two cards. Like if the driver could figure out how to properly divvy up the workload between a 7900GT and say a 6600GT so that you'd end up with better performance in the end. People could retain all sorts of older video cards and still get something out of them.

Would probably be too complicated of an undertaking to be worth it though. Just one of those ideas that would be neat but maybe not so practical.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Bullhonkie
I always thought it'd be interesting if SLI could be tweaked so you could use it with any two cards. Like if the driver could figure out how to properly divvy up the workload between a 7900GT and say a 6600GT so that you'd end up with better performance in the end. People could retain all sorts of older video cards and still get something out of them.

Would probably be too complicated of an undertaking to be worth it though. Just one of those ideas that would be neat but maybe not so practical.

then nvidia couldn't sell 2x of the latest cards...

 

[hooflung]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Bullhonkie
I always thought it'd be interesting if SLI could be tweaked so you could use it with any two cards. Like if the driver could figure out how to properly divvy up the workload between a 7900GT and say a 6600GT so that you'd end up with better performance in the end. People could retain all sorts of older video cards and still get something out of them.

Would probably be too complicated of an undertaking to be worth it though. Just one of those ideas that would be neat but maybe not so practical.

then nvidia couldn't sell 2x of the latest cards...

Maybe not but SLI is the biggest farce for the 'future upgrade' path they really market it for. I am not buying another 7800GT for a while. I just can't afford it. I have an SLI mobo that came with my graphics card.

So they are loosing a potential 280 bucks from me because their vendors do not make older cards because they are a model number behind. And if you can find one 6 months after your initial card... it is always going to be cheaper to get a new model.

You could argue ebay or forum used card purchase but that is like telling me Sony Entertainment support the used video game stores. Nvidia just cares about selling chips to vendors. Vendors care about selling cards. Nvidia giving Vendors more options to sell cards 6 months down the road to a returning customer IS GOOD BUSINESS anyway you look at it.

Ill buy another card 6months down the road and put my current to PPU work if this happens. If not I won't bother with PPU at all.

 

[BigPoppa]

Originally posted by: Bullhonkie
I always thought it'd be interesting if SLI could be tweaked so you could use it with any two cards. Like if the driver could figure out how to properly divvy up the workload between a 7900GT and say a 6600GT so that you'd end up with better performance in the end. People could retain all sorts of older video cards and still get something out of them.

Would probably be too complicated of an undertaking to be worth it though. Just one of those ideas that would be neat but maybe not so practical.

Would have to be limited to only parts in the same line. IE 7xxx series could SLI together. You run into problems with different support functions: Shader models, directx versions, etc. The games would have to be pretty conforming if different series were able to be used together.

 

[hemmy]

current physics cards drop FPS a lot, and the visuals you gain aren't worth the loss in frames

idk why anyone would buy one. if they acted purely as an accelerator, not adding effects, just offloading the processing of those already there from the CPU to the PPU it would in theory be a solid product

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: hemmy
current physics cards drop FPS a lot, and the visuals you gain aren't worth the loss in frames

idk why anyone would buy one. if they acted purely as an accelerator, not adding effects, just offloading the processing of those already there from the CPU to the PPU it would in theory be a solid product

Yes, but there's no reason that the current situation needs to continue. Game devs will learn to harness the acceleration better, drivers will improve, and the APIs will improve. The first 3D accelerators from S3 actually slowed games down, too - remember the Virge 3D? Your line of thinking would have killed the 3D industry we all know and love.

Maybe physics accelerators are indeed a fad, but let's give it some time before we give final judgement .

If anything, the idea of using a graphics card as a physics accelerator makes for a fantastic upgrade path for mobos with 2+ 16x PCIe slots. GPUs are getting so powerful that we're now seeing physical limits from our LCDs, not fill-rate or shaders. So, instead of just tossing out my 7600GT when I move up to an 8600GT, I can leave the 7600GT in and use it for physics acceleration. You'll get a lot more use out of your cards like that, and more easily justify spending that $400-$500 on a top of the line card in the first place.

More total value == more cards sold.

-Erwos

 

[Kyanzes]

Would be awesome to use my old 7800GTX as a physics card! I LOVE the idea! Too bad it's quite unlikely to happen.

 

[Modular]

Whoever wrote that article needs to be shot. I bet they have a college degree too.

If you read it through there are around 15 spelling errors (easily fixed by spellcheck) and there are a few parts where it seems as though the writer is having a conversation with himself.


Anyway, that technology seems amazing. Too bad I'm still stuck on AGP with my 6600gt.

Any idea when this would be released? It may have said when in the article, but my brain was hurting trying to unscramble the illiterate jumble of letters I saw.

 

[will889]

Originally posted by: ST

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1

Originally posted by: munky
I'd rather see a standard ppu used instead, so I won't have to deal with crap like "Doom 4 physics run better on Nv HW, while HL3 physics run better on Ati HW."

QFT.

It would usher in another level of fanboyism . . .

double that...i hope both ati and nvidia can agree on 1 physics api, instead of one or the other aligning with havoc / aegea and really screwing things up...

Agreed. Moreover, now with WS LCD's really pushing GPU's we now have the possibility of having to have 2-4x GPUs and a phys-x card just to have fun gaming and have the best experience eventually. The complexity of setup and hassles will be mindboggling, especially with the Intel roadmap for CPU core changeouts now set at every two years (according to Intel). Can you imagine the size of the cases and the noise involved watercooling aside (very elaborate time comsuming-to-setup H2O setups)? Not to menion the higher chances of hardware failure running 3-4-5X GPUs?

Personally i see consoles really becoming more popular over this. Unless they can find out how to actually get 2-4x GPU's on one PCB slab and have it really run @ 4X speed etc.... without having to take up 2-4 slots and have 2-4 fans - effectively acting as dual or quad GPU's 'on die' with no need for load balancing with SLI or crossfire. Thus allowing us to have smaller cases with less noise and more slots to use. I don't want a monster case with 5 GPU's with huge fans and an 1500 watt PSU just to be able to push a 24" LCD with great frame rates. I wan't better innovation of the chips on one PCB to do the same. There will be a much broader seperation of 'classes' of personal PC's now that SLI and crossfire are being pushed so heavily. No one in their right mind is going to want an SLI rig to use in an office, or do excel on (for business purposes). Enter Windows Vista ...the first OS to require you to have a nice GPU just to see eye candy - as if the eye candy was even needed. You can get that with Windows Blinds or a uxtheme patch. IMO it's a fun time for GPU's but also getting stupid at the same time. Much better refinement is needed. to lessen heat and overall hardware footprint.

 

[atom]

I won't care about physics processors until software developers utilize them for more than throwing more crap on the screen. Awww man look at all this debris!!!! SWEET!!!!!!!!!11!!1:roll: