G80 Quantum Physics Engine:what do you think about it??

Megadrive1988 said:
gimmick
Click to expand...

The same could be said about all physics at this point really. Nothing is full, everything is half way done, etc. I think though if there is any real hope of making acceleration of physics beyond mainstream then it will be from the GPU or CPU guys, and not some new company out of nowhere.
 
I think gimmick is the wrong word here as it will probably have implications for the G80 in the GPGPU world... Really, I suppose it is just good marketing... if the G80's gpgpu abilities are far greater than previous generation hardware, it makes sense to market it. Quantum is a cool sounding word that probably resonates (as well as any physics term can) with the general public.
 
Heh, I thought Quantum was a hint that G80's ALUs really were scalar. :)
 
DailyTech compared it to PureVideo, and said it was a "dedicated layer". I hope that's not right --that there are dedicated blocks that that's all they do. But we'll see.
 
geo said:
DailyTech compared it to PureVideo, and said it was a "dedicated layer". I hope that's not right --that there are dedicated blocks that that's all they do. But we'll see.
Click to expand...

Well, Purevideo isn't totally isolated from the rest of the chip either.
There are clockspeed and pipeline ties on some levels of video decoding.

However, the prospect of having simultaneous HD video decoding, physics and 3D acceleration is interesting.
 
geo said:
DailyTech compared it to PureVideo, and said it was a "dedicated layer". I hope that's not right --that there are dedicated blocks that that's all they do. But we'll see.
Click to expand...


Well I'm thinking across of the lines of what INster is saying. The branching performance is improved very much in the g80 and it should be able to handle physics and next gen graphics to some degree at least for games to come in the next year, but we still have SLi to add into the mix, it should be very possible to use the second card even a midrange or lower end model of the g80 architecture for physics calculations, and even a lower end card of the g80 will give much better physics performance then a r580, just because the granularity is much smaller. Having a dedicated physics layer, I think its more like likely they are saying parts of the GPU can be used for physics when needed.
 
The question here is whether the G80 will be as easily programmable as ATI's products are said to be . If this Quantum labelled physics requires all sorts of proprietary programming layers ( CG version 2 :) ) and doesn't work with the upcoming physics stuff in DX10 , then it will be bad for us consumers .

Imagine if 2007 presents us with :

Havoc cpu and software based
Nvidia G70 series ( Nv claims that they can do physics )
Havoc gpu based
ATI X1k GPU physics
ATI R600 GPU Physics
Nvidia G80 GPU basd "Quantum" physics
Microsoft DX10 Physics
Ageia physics

Of course this is the worst case scenario , but imagine what it would be like regarding software support , which games will support what etc etc ( add to that dual and quad core support :( ) . Ohh we poor consumers .
 
I would certainly imagine Havok would have its CPU and GPU stuff all the same. So you still get the physics with your CPU, just a lot faster and more with a GPU that can be off loaded too. I think the physics situation will get better as time goes by. I do not think stand alone physics cards will popular, at least not for a good while. I see Nvidia and ATi building up a decent thing with GPUs that'll hopefully come down to a common API, I have some hope in Havok that this will be made possible.
 
Cowboy X said:
The question here is whether the G80 will be as easily programmable as ATI's products are said to be . If this Quantum labelled physics requires all sorts of proprietary programming layers ( CG version 2 :) ) and doesn't work with the upcoming physics stuff in DX10 , then it will be bad for us consumers .
Click to expand...

Given that every mention of Nvidia physics also includes a mention of Havoc it's a safe bet that "Quantum Physics" will be programmed via the Havoc API and not something proprietary to Nvidia.
 
trinibwoy said:
Given that every mention of Nvidia physics also includes a mention of Havoc it's a safe bet that "Quantum Physics" will be programmed via the Havoc API and not something proprietary to Nvidia.
Click to expand...
I'd like them to propose their own solution though, believe it or not, because Havok and Havok FX aren't exactly cheap, so it makes it less than ideal for indie devs...

Uttar
 
there is a good chance MS is making a direct physics, but of course only for Windows pc systems, I too am with Utter, it would be better to have one of the IHV's make a generic physics API or engine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
Its not just me, games used to be better
5 6 7
Replies
128
Views
5K
Shifty Geezer
Shifty Geezer
Z
Does being messed about by women or people in general, turn you bitter?
Replies
16
Views
1K
Zombietoid
Z
Z
Does anyone think YouTube is lame now?
Replies
7
Views
657
Zombietoid
Z
S
Discussion about lighting (usage of lighting techniques).
2
Replies
21
Views
3K
Frenetic Pony
F
B
  • Poll
Do you see another game other than GTA VI winning 2025 GOTY at TGA?
Replies
9
Views
899
Seanspeed
S
Back
Top