yay! another computer gaming need! *sarcasm*
 

The Physics Processing Unit


Yeah, so there you have it, another expensive piece of hardware, to alleviate stress off the processor.

thoughts?

Re: yay! another computer gaming need! *sarcasm*
 

very very interesting...i really hope that developers go after this PPU thing, and that it does grow to be big in a short amount of time.

also, the price will have to drop if they expect a lot gamers to buy this thing...i would buy it if it had the game+card bundle thing...or if it was buy the card, get the game FREE that would be great.

i hope HL3 will have PPU support at least, and if we're lucky it will be a neccesity to play the game....that is, if there will be a HL3...and if there is, it's going to probably come out in 2-3 years anyway, if not longer.

Re: yay! another computer gaming need! *sarcasm*
 

This is fairly old, but I'll reply anyway.

Anyway, the feeling I hearing from the development community on this isn't great. It's another technology that's useless unless the game is coded specifically for that use. Also, by coding for the PPU, you're spending time and money for something only a few people own, and it's questionable whether it will ever take off.

The other big question is, would you rather pay for a PPU, or a dual-GPU card? You could code a second processor, either a CPU or GPU to handle just physics, but when it's not in use, you could code it to do other tasks.

I just don't see the PPU doing too hot, unless it becomes embedded in a graphics card.

Re: yay! another computer gaming need! *sarcasm*
 

Yeah, I've been reading about how necessary a PPU system is going to be. Actually there was a documentary about it on TV the other day as well. Fascinating stuff, in my opinion.


Well, the sequel to HL2 is actually an expansion running on the HL2 engine.

http://pc.ign.com/objects/740/740555.html?fromint=1

HL3... Who knows when that'll come out. But I imagine that yes, it will have PPU support if PPU systems are mainstream at the time.