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PhysX for WAR
markmcab
Member Posts: 22
I saw in the website of AGEIA that their PhysX processor (physics accelerator) will be optimized for WAR. Has this been formally announced by Mythic? Will this accelerator really add to the immersive aspect to the game in terms of better physics?
They say that you don't need it to be able to play WAR but if it will make a totally big difference to the overall experience while playing then should we still purchase it?
Well, I don't really know much about this new technology so maybe there's someone out there who can enlighten me? .
They say that you don't need it to be able to play WAR but if it will make a totally big difference to the overall experience while playing then should we still purchase it?
Well, I don't really know much about this new technology so maybe there's someone out there who can enlighten me? .
Comments
I don't think it will do that much. Already now Ati and Nvidia's cards offer options to simulate physics through the GPU. And by the release of W.A.R they might even have special functions included in their cards.
At this date it's to early to say anything about this. Since there are so little details about this out atm. So if you think about upgrading your computer for this I would strongly recommend you to wait.
Regarding the technology: Simply put. It's a card, like a graphics card, that does all the physics calculation. Removing this load from the CPU, allowing for greater overall performance and better/detailed physics. It's still a very new technology and I think that other people than AGEIA will offer something better soon. There are rumors that Ati will release it's own software so that developers can use Ati x1000+ cards for physics simulation.
It's also important to remember that all this needs to be supported from the game developers. A physx card won't help if the game doesn't support it.
PhysX makes the effects look cool, but I have also seen reviews where it causes the games to perform worse. Basically you are getting better effects and hopefully equal performance, but if you have ever played DAOC you might not want to use PhysX in RVR. When you get big battles with 100+ on each side then you are bound to have performance issues and I'm sure at that point PhysX will just make it worse.
I would like to see a single card setup from Nvidia or ATI where they just add the PhysX processor directly to the graphics card. This will probably be the best performing option especially if you can build SLI or Crossfire cards with PhysX built into each card.
Other
Back in the day, when graphics cards were first coming out people made similar arguments about games supporting them. Who wants to spend all the extra money just for a video card to play games? Well, what gamer wouldn't have a video card today.
The physics cards were just a matter of time. ATI could have written their code to support it long ago if they wanted to but now that the market is gearing for it, the are "being nice to us" and writting code for it. I am going to get a physics card in my next game system as it is the future of gaming.