Read my views on the future of physics cards.

Ageia has created a game called Cell Factor to demonstrate the abilities of it’s new Physx card.  But is there any kind of future for physics cards?

It has just came to my attention that Intel has just released a new Quad-Core processor.  Yes folks, you read that right, a Quad-Core processor.  Four processors working at once to make your games sharper, faster and more awesome then ever.  On top of this, there are now motherboards out that allow for two processors to be plugged in at once.  So you could actually have an 8-core processing machine.  In fact, Apple has already started selling computers with 8-core processing power! 

So in the light of all of this, the question come to my mind: are these new physics cards that Ageia has created and that Nvidia and Radeon are developing really needed?  I would think not.  From my understanding, all a physics card is, is another processor you can plug in, so that your main processor doesn’t have to get bogged down processing physics in games while it’s processing other stuff. 

But now the problem is that, when you have a 4-8 core processing machine, is physics really that big of an issue now?  Especially when the current games are made to be run, with physics and all, on a dual-core processor. 

On top of this, physics cards only work, if the game that’s being run has the ability to use physics cards.  Most current games don’t offer physics card support, and on top of this no next generation consoles have physics cards.  If the last generation of gaming was a clue, a large amount of pc games will probably follow in computing capability to the consoles in order to have multi-platform releases for probably four or more years.  In other words, most games being developed right now, are probably not being developed to need physics cards.  They may offer physics support, but I doubt they’ll need the actual cards to be able to play at full capacity.  This is especially true when your’e running an 8-core PC. 

The only way that physics cards are going to last, is if the games coming out require them in order to play, which would be a hell of move seeing as most gamers probably recognize that the physics cards aren’t needed with current processor capabilities.

So do I think that physics cards will last?  Right now, no.  At least I hope not.  It would be a pain in the ass to shell out more money when advanced graphics cards, ram, processors, and motherboards cost as much as they currently do. 

Either way, if physics cards make it or not, it’s a guarantee that video games will become even more awesome.

-Awesome McCrunchFist 

Here’s a video from YouTube of an Ageia Physx card in action:

Comments (1)

	1. 24-08-2007 02:29
	Since the current generation consoles don't need them, then we probably don't need them in PCs. Who knows. It would help in the future. I believe that overloading is not a bad thing. I would love to have 10 gigs of RAM, 12 processors, 4 tetra bytes of ROM, and a million video cards. Report

Repometal

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
BBCode:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments