Ageia PhysX

Physics card..?

http://physx.ageia.com/
from WinCustomize Forums
This is interesting. Instead of pursuing cometition against ATI and Nvidia with a VGA chip, a company named Ageia is working in a different direction, producing a physics chip. This chip will (at least supposedly) simulate a more accurate environment, and will be able to manipulate a lot of different objects at the same time. I can't really describe it here in so few words. See it for yourself at the posted link. It is already available in a few PCs offered by Dell, Alienware and Falcon Northwest, but for those of us who don't have $5,000+ to throw at a new computer, it will be available from BFG and ASUS for a total of $300 - a price at which I could get a good factory-OC'd GeForce 7800 GT CO to use to use to SLI my rig. So, what do you think? Will the PhysX card match or exceed the hype? I will probably wait until the cards are out and see how they perform before I make my decision, but if you had to make a decision between the two right now, which one would you choose?
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Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I was fortunate enough to catch a bit of a presentation showing off what the new PhysX cards can do. It's pretty impressive; it's capable of having roughly a thousand objects all interacting with each other.

I have a feeling that one day, these physics cards will be as prevalent as graphics cards are today. Remember that ten years ago dedicated 3D graphics cards were just getting started, and today they are in every machine even remotely connected to gaming. Of course, a large part of the rise of 3D graphics cards was a "killer app": I believe Quake was the first game to require a 3D graphics card, which drove gamers to purchase them.

I don't know of any "killer app" for the PhysX cards yet, but I don't think it will be too long in coming. I'm sure game developers will jump at the chance to integrate the PhysX card as an integral part of gameplay. With that said, I'm going to wait on purchasing one of these chips for myself until a game comes out that makes it worth my while.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Only bad thing about this card is they released it for sale without many supported games as of now. I cant see spending 300 on a card that doesnt support the games i have. It doesnt have many games supported less the 10 i think.

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think it'll be worth buying once the games etc start flooding out to support it but as it stands its simply not worth it, why buy a washing machine that will only wash one item of clothing...that has no comparison what so ever but you get the point