Ageia PhysX Cards (PPUs), Are they Still Worth It For Your System?

• December 9, 2010
• Written by Mark
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Andrew Elliott (also known as elliottad or MohawkADE) who recently made a very cool video for the Crank That S#!T Up with PhysX Video contest, has now made a new and very impressive video detailing the history of PhysX and the Ageia PhysX(PPU). Half of the video goes over the history of the Ageia PhysX card all the way up until Ageia and PhysX technology was acquired by Nvidia. Elliot then talks about whether or not the Aegia PhysX card is still a good solution if you are looking into a dedicated PhysX card for your system. As we know the answer is no as the Aegia PPU is no longer supported by Nvidia with newer PhysX driver releases. Elliot also covers the fact that the PhysX processing power required for games continues to increase causing laggy gameplay in newer games if a Ageia card is used.

This is a great video if you are not that familiar with Aegia and the PPU that started it all. Check it out below and be sure to check out Elliot’s YouTube Page here.

From PhysX Cards (PPUs), Are they Still Worth It?:

This is an informational video about the Ageia PhysX Card, also known as the PPU, and it’s impact on modern PC gaming. This video also discusses potential benefits and cons one may receive by owning one in this day in age.

Really a bit of an Ageia PhysX FAQ for noobs. If you’re already familiar with the PhysX card and you’re a hardcore new-age gamer, then I would not suggest this video to you.

BFG AGEIA PhysX Physics Processing Unit (PPU) Only $14.99 At Geeks.com

• July 29, 2010
• Written by Mark
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Geeks.com is selling the original Physics Processing Unit (PPU), the BFG AGEIA PPU for only $14.99. Even though NVIDIA has dropped all support for this card and very difficult to get working with Windows 7 ,this is no doubt a great collectors item for any geek or video game physics fan.

check it out and purchase it here Geeks.com.

Distorted/Artifacting GPU Still Good for Dedicated PhysX Card?

• December 8, 2009
• Written by Mark
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fball922 over at the Overclock.net forum is asking a really interesting question, is an Nvidia GPU that has an distorted output still capable of being a dedicated PPU/PhysX card? This is a really good question, video cards with distorted outputs or extreme artifacting problems are very common and commonly put on ebay and other places for extremely cheap prices. Could these cards since they do not require any video output still be used as a nice cheap dedicated PhysX card?

Some Interesting Answers from Overclock.net:

I dont think using a “broken” dedicated card for physx is a good idea. Unless you know what exactly is causing the distortion, you are taking a big risk.

The thing is the physx card being used isnt doing any video rendering, its “computing,” doing the calculations for physics.

endering is “computing”, just as much as PhysX is. It’s all math.

If something is wrong with the actual GPU to the point where it’s producing visible artifacts, it’s quite likely to produce some massive errors (and problems) when calculating physics operations.

That said, if what’s causing the video distortion is further down the line from any computational errors on the part of the GPU, it may work. I wouldn’t bet on it though.

So in my opinion, it will work, but im not 100%

User probably has the best solution that recently became very popular, he suggests cooking the entire card in the oven to fix the problem.

If you are interested in this or have any information about doing this check out the rest of the thread here.

EVGA and NVIDIA To Release A New Dedicated PhysX Card? PPU Part Deux?

• October 21, 2009
• Written by Mark
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With the recent announcement of the EVGA and Nvidia Halloween launch event on October 30th that promises to “Take PhysX to the next level” with a new PhysX themed video card that is not based on the new Fermi architecture, people are wondering what it could be. Rumors and speculation are popping up all over the internet about  the new card being a dedicated PhysX card. On the EVGA website’s launch event page it states that the new card is “a rocking new graphics card designed by NVIDIA and EVGA to take PhysX to the next level”. It sounds a lot like it might be a dedicated PhysX card or PPU( Physics Processing Unit). This would make a lot of sense as the AGEIA PPU has pretty much fallen off the radar with cheaper Nvidia series 8 and above cards being able to perform the same function at half the price, also Nvidia has stated that AGEIA PPU support would cease with future Windows 7 drivers.

With more and more games supporting PhysX and a lot of people being confused about how to run a dedicated PhysX card, so it would make a lot of sense for Nvidia or EVGA to release a new PPU.

The marketing for such a card could also fall into place with the recently released P55 Chipset that features “PhysX ready motherboards” in case you missed out on this HardwareCanucks has an excellent article on the P55 chipset and the “PhysX Ready” certification from Nvidia that motherboards with enough PCI-E slots can have.

From HardwareCanucks:

Nvidia has implemented a new “PhysX Ready” certification code for certain motherboards that come properly equipped and ready to install a dedicated PhysX slot. I know many of you have been wondering what the use of that PCI-E x4 slot is on most of the P55 boards we have been seeing to date and now you know why: this is a dedicated slot needed for Nvidia’s PhysX certification. You can run any card above a 9600 GT (they recommend using at least a 9800GT) in this slot for additional physics processing power.

You can ready the rest of this article here.