AGEIA (nVidia) still to much $.

[GLD]

I thought the prices on the PhysX cards were supposed to go down. $140 still to much dough imo. If they bring them down to below $100 to my door I just might buy one for my GRAW2.

[btarunr]

I don't think NVidia will release PhysX drivers for GeForce 8 in the series' lifetime. It's looks like NV will flash the PhysX card to consumers only when it's in a slump.

Last I heard, open-box PhysX cards made by ASUS sold for ~$110 which I still find high. Look around in forums, you just might bump into someone who wants to sell a PhysX card.

[jonmcc33]

It was never worth it since it used the PCI interface. Very poor design and not worth the money by any means.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Originally Posted by jonmcc33

It was never worth it since it used the PCI interface. Very poor design and not worth the money by any means.

It was not bottlenecked by the PCI interface apparently, so why is the PCI interface a bad thing? Besides there are plenty of PCIe>PCI bridges available so if Ageia wouldn't make a PCIe version themselves other companies still could.

[Solaris17]

i fond the physx card highly worth it.

[btarunr]

Originally Posted by DanTheBanjoman

It was not bottlenecked by the PCI interface apparently, so why is the PCI interface a bad thing? Besides there are plenty of PCIe>PCI bridges available so if Ageia wouldn't make a PCIe version themselves other companies still could.

Even if a company used bus-translation, the PPU would still end up with the same bandwidth as PCI. Aside, I don't think a PPU is bandwidth heavy, unlike a graphics card where heavy textures are transported, a PPU is just a math unit, all that's transported is instructions, lot of them.

[jonmcc33]

Originally Posted by DanTheBanjoman

It was not bottlenecked by the PCI interface apparently, so why is the PCI interface a bad thing? Besides there are plenty of PCIe>PCI bridges available so if Ageia wouldn't make a PCIe version themselves other companies still could.

It was supposed to help improve performance when using the extra physics but performance when using it always dropped.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/10223

Sort of pointless IMO, not to blame the bus for the fact though.

[Solaris17]

its intresting how all those other sites say their is a drop in performance though it seems in my case their wasnt at all.

[btarunr]

I agree it's pointless. Ageia's prime competitor, Havoc Physics, makes use of the CPU for physics. Rockstar Games (the makers of Max Payne II, GTA) are coming up with a new game called Alan Wake that uses Havoc Physics. In last year's IDF, they demonstrated the game on a Q6600 and declared that quad-core processors help in games incorporating Havoc since it could assign an entire core to crunch physics. With quads becoming affordable by the day, it kills the purpose of having a card that does it (or even making your GPU do it, since today's games are extremely GPU intense and every bit of the GPU's graphics processing ability counts).

[jonmcc33]

Originally Posted by Solaris17

its intresting how all those other sites say their is a drop in performance though it seems in my case their wasnt at all.

So TechReport, AnandTech, etc are all wrong and you know more than they do?

[Solaris17]

Originally Posted by jonmcc33

So TechReport, AnandTech, etc are all wrong and you know more than they do?

because of how intelligent that post is im going to say yes

i pWn anandtech tech report and all other sites discrediting the physx card...my hubris is blown up past extreme proportions and now i bealive myself better than even the godz

[CrackerJack]

Originally Posted by jonmcc33

So TechReport, AnandTech, etc are all wrong and you know more than they do?

Lay off of Solaris17, That techreport was in June 22, 2006, since then there's been improvement in the drivers. It seems like you always having to use articles, to try to prove some point. The cards where really made for quality purposes anyway not performance. Well it does help in some case.

[btarunr]

Let's agree to disagree on the point that a PhysX card indeed is useful, games with PhysX are really groove, though the $110+ price tags they command look rather steep. They should be more around the $80 range. Same applies to other bits of hardware that claim to impact gaming experience significantly (such as Killer NIC, that command $150+). Unless such products look inviting to gamers, chances are not many would critically appreciate them.

I've more or less gotten used to the phrase "X-Fi sucks!" though I have my own reservations about the card and that it's given me the best audio experience though each time I try to appreciate it, somebody out of nowhere shows up with a pocket full of links/URLs all leading to "it sucks" content, all of which contradicts me and I find myself cornered though I brush it all off my shoulders, not because I'm a fanboy of some sort, but that I never came across any problems with the hardware and I shouldn't subscribe to all the flack I eat and so I cant strangle myself with something I don't believe in and fall slave to a mass-hysteria though I'm not supposed to be part of it.

[Solaris17]

i modded my live! 24bit to X-FI you guys had access to all sorts of cool stuff i couldnt use.

[CrackerJack]

Originally Posted by btarunr

Let's agree to disagree on the point that a PhysX card indeed is useful, games with PhysX are really groove, though the $110+ price tags they command look rather steep. They should be more around the $80 range. Same applies to other bits of hardware that claim to impact gaming experience significantly (such as Killer NIC, that command $150+). Unless such products look inviting to gamers, chances are not many would critically appreciate them.

I've more or less gotten used to the phrase "X-Fi sucks!" though I have my own reservations about the card and that it's given me the best audio experience though each time I try to appreciate it, somebody out of nowhere shows up with a pocket full of links/URLs all leading to "it sucks" content, all of which contradicts me and I find myself cornered though I brush it all off my shoulders, not because I'm a fanboy of some sort, but that I never came across any problems with the hardware and I shouldn't subscribe to all the flack I eat and so I cant strangle myself with something I don't believe in and fall slave to a mass-hysteria though I'm not supposed to be part of it.

Agree, if they were around the $80 price range. It would be worth it. But getting the card really just depends on what games you playing. 6/10 games i play support the card. If it was 8/10, then yeah I would pay $140.

[btarunr]

Originally Posted by CrackerJack

Agree, if they were around the $80 price range. It would be worth it. But getting the card really just depends on what games you playing. 6/10 games i play support the card. If it was 8/10, then yeah I would pay $140.

It's kind of chicken-egg situation. To experience PhysX and what its games look like, you play demos of games, only to realise that to play certain levels you need the PhysX card or that without the card you anyway don't get those effects. So it's somewhat unlikely that you pick up 8/10 titles off the shelf only to realise they all need PhysX. And again not many would embrace the technology this way. The best way is to make the hardware reasonably priced (if not cheap). Then let users pick one title after an other in anticipation of awesome physics effects.

Which is why you either have to read unbiased reviews, watch genuine videos or play the game on a PC that has the card, get a hands on experience with the card, then buy it. Its a slow process, of people beginning to appreciate something as new as a card that does physics, and so it helps if the hardware is affordable. If the card sells for $80 and they price the games that use Ageia SDK $2 more than normal, they can not only spread the technology but also recover manufacturing costs.

[Solaris17]

if you want u guys can check out some of my UT3 physx demos in the clubhouse

[CrackerJack]

I've got a bunch of physx games,
Unreal 3- i believe there's only like 3 maps, correct me if i'm wrong Sol
Vegas 1 & 2- I would just like to see what it looks like on Vegas 2.
GRAW 1 & 2- They both suck anyway! lol
Gears Of War- That would be interesting
Empire Earth III- WHY WHY it's a role playing, so there's no point there either.

Here's the full list of games: If I had about 10 more games, that I know I'll play for a month or longer. Then yep I would have already gotten one. link

2 Days to Vegas Steel Monkeys PC
Adrenalin 2: Rush Hour Gaijin Entertainment PC
Age of Empires III Distineer Studios PC, Mac
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs Distineer Studios Mac
Alpha Prime Black Element Software PC
Auto Assault Net Devil PC
Backbreaker Natural Motion TBA
B.A.S.E. Jumping Digital Dimension Development PC
Bet on Soldier: Blackout Saigon Kylotonn Entertainment PC
Bet on Soldier: Blood of Sahara Kylotonn Entertainment PC
Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport Kylotonn Entertainment PC
Beowulf Ubisoft PS3, X360
Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War Koei PS3, X360
Captain Blood Akella PC, X360
Cellfactor: Combat Training Artifical Studios, Immersion Games PC
Cellfactor: Revolution Artifical Studios, Immersion Games PC
City of Villains Cryptic Studios PC
Crazy Machines II FAKT Software PC
Cryostasis Action Forms PC
Dark Physics The Game Creators PC
Desert Diner Tarsier Studios PC
Dragonshard Atari PC
Dusk 12 Orion PC
Empire Above All IceHill PC
Empire Earth III Mad Dog Software PC
Entropia Universe MindArk PC
Fallen Earth Icarus Studios PC
Fury Auran Games PC
Gears Of War Epic Games PC, X360
Gluk'Oza: Action GFI Russia PC
GooBall Ambrosia software Mac
Gothic 3 Piranha Bytes PC
Gunship Apocalypse FAKT Software PC
Heavy Rain Quantic Dream PC
Hero's Jorney Simutronics PC
Hour of Victory nFusion Interactive X360
Hunt, The Orion PC
Huxley Webzen, Inc PC, X360
Infernal Metropolis Software PC
Inhabited island: Prisoner of Power Orion PC
Joint Task Force Most Wanted Entertainment PC
Kuma\WAR Kuma Reality Games PC
Magic ball 3 Alawar Entertaiment PC
Mass Effect BioWare PC, X360
Medal of Honor: Airborne EA Los Angeles PC, X360
Metro 2033 4A Games PC
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire BEC PS3
Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia Artificial Studios PC, X360
Monster Truck Maniax Legendo Entertainment PC
Myst Online: URU Live Cyan Worlds PC
Open Fire BlueTorch Studios PC
Paragraph 78 Gaijin Entertainment PC
Pirates of the Burning Sea Flying Lab Software PC
PT Boats: Knights of the Sea Akella PC
Rail Simulator Kuju Entertainment Ltd PC
Red Steel Ubisoft Paris Wii
Rise Of Nations: Rise Of Legends Big Huge Games PC
Roboblitz Naked Sky Entertainment PC, X360
Sacred 2 ASCARON Entertainment PC
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened Frogwares Game Development Studio PC
Showdown: Scorpion B-COOL Interactive PC
Silverfall Monte Cristo PC
Sovereign Symphony Ceidot Game Studios PC
Sonic and the Secret Rings SEGA Wii
Speedball 2 Kylotonn Entertainment PC
Stalin Subway, The Orion PC
Stoked Rider: Alaska Alien Bongfish Interactive Entertainment PC
Switchball Atomic Elbow PC
Tension Ice-pick Lodge PC
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter GRIN PC, X360
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 GRIN, Ubisoft Paris PC, X360
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas Ubisoft Montreal PC, PS3, X360
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (multiplayer) Ubisoft Shanghai PC, X360
Tortuga: Two Treasures Ascaron Entertainment PC
Two Worlds Reality Pump PC
Ultra Tubes Eipix PC
Unreal Tournament 3 Epic Games PC, PS3, X360
Unreal Tournament 3: Extreme Physics Mod Epic Games PC
Warfare GFI Russia PC
Warmonger: Operation Downtown Destruction Net Devil PC
W.E.L.L. Online Sibilant Interactive PC
Winterheart's Guild Zelian Games PC, X360
WorldShift Black Sea Studios PC

[Solaris17]

ya its only 3maps but with the maps comes an sdk that you can use to mod as many maps as you want to physx or you can make your own

[CrackerJack]

Originally Posted by Solaris17

ya its only 3maps but with the maps comes an sdk that you can use to mod as many maps as you want to physx or you can make your own

I know we have talk about this before, but i believe this well some people out awhole lot. You should start a Physx thread. And post you scores with 3dmark06, vantage and some games. With card disabled, and then do one with it enabled.

[jonmcc33]

Originally Posted by CrackerJack

Lay off of Solaris17, That techreport was in June 22, 2006, since then there's been improvement in the drivers. It seems like you always having to use articles, to try to prove some point. The cards where really made for quality purposes anyway not performance. Well it does help in some case.

I use articles as a reference to back up what I say. Isn't that the intelligent thing to do? I try to use credible resources as well (not THG or some Bob's website).