Physics Processing Unit

[mis4matt]

what is it? i saw something about it at dell and alienware.

is it worth it ?

where would it go?

where can i buy it ?

how would it connect and what kinda mobo do i need?

[mis4matt]

oh and i have read the other articles but they are a bit old and was woundering if any new opinions

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by mis4matt what is it?

From Wikipedia: "A Physics Processing Unit (PPU) is a dedicated microprocessor designed to handle the calculations of physics, especially in the physics engine of video games. Examples of calculations involving a PPU might include rigid body dynamics, soft body dynamics, collision detection, fluid dynamics, hair and clothing simulation, finite element analysis, and fracturing of objects. The idea is that specialized processors offload time consuming tasks from a computer's CPU."

Cricket

[Staren]

Now that we know what it is, is it worth the money? Personally I don't think so. Each game would have to be written to take advantage of the physics processor, and frankly there just aren't enough of the things out in the wild to make it worth while for game developers to write for them.

[mis4matt]

thank you very much and glad to know hat they still have not caught on ..thats less i have to spend

[Mr.Ferrari]

Overpriced for its usefulness too.