Hey chem

{OF}Blong · 05-22-2006, 10:32 PM

saw this posted on another forum what do you think????

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=222

ChemicalWarrior · 05-22-2006, 10:53 PM

ATi pushed it with the start of the X1800 series, and ATi does it better. Actually, ATi cards are currently being used by a guy named Mike Houston and his team at Stanford.

You can read up on him and his projects here.

Also, if you visit and do searching of his posts at the Beyond3D forum you'll find him talking a lot about the GPGPU (the first GP stands for general purpose) performance the X1K series from ATi compared to Nvidia 7 series.

Also, realize that the 7900 is just a clock improved version of the 7800, other than that there's no difference expect for transistor savings, which is always standard.

ChemicalWarrior · 05-22-2006, 11:04 PM

Actually, didnt make the connection the first time around. But the reseacher that they mention from Stanford is most likely Mike Houston. I always take it wrong when an article associates a research like that one did. Saying Houston knows his stuff is an understatment.... big time. You'll have to have a fairly deep understanding of the GPU architecture, but some of his posted at B3D and confirmed by others really show that ATi has a much greater lead in possible processing power for physics with the GPU.

I have no idea how it will work son though. Its been rumored at for awhile that Microsoft could be working on a Direct3D like system but for physics. This would mean complete market domination and ATi, as usual would have first grabs...... MS likes ATi. This is why the 9700 Pro was such a stellar card for so long. ATi got first grasps and design choices on Dx9.

I personally think physics processing by dedicated units, or semi dedicated with GPUs, is a ways off. Simply put the dual core CPU is not being used and could provide a much cheaper way to give enhanced physics.

Also, notice that Aegia released their PhysX processor....... it blows. It actually makes performance worse while adding only fluff onto the game. And then that fluff has been hacked into the non-PhysX version of a few games, and guess what? Performance was actually BETTER with the CPU processing it.

Its all very iteresting. I just dont believe there's a place for a dedicated physics processing unit, especially with new dual core processor and come 2007, quad core.