Items tagged with Ageia
Every so often, someone on the 'Net stumbles across something noteworthy, but the news doesn't spread until weeks or maybe even months later. That's what's happened over at NGOHQ, where forum reader DarthCyclonis discovered that NVIDIA drivers released after the v185.85 WHQL package (i.e, 186.18 and higher) removed the ability to use a GeForce 8xxx, 9xxx, or 2xx card as a dedicated PhysX processor if an non-NVIDIA GPU is present. When asked for the reason behind the change, an NVIDIA representative stated: "For a variety of reasons - some development expense some quality assurance and some business reasons NVIDIA will not support GPU accelerated PhysX with NVIDIA GPUs while GPU rendering...
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NVIDIA completes Acquisition of AGEIA TechnologiesSANTA CLARA, CA — FEBRUARY 13, 2008 — NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA), the world leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the GPU, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of AGEIA Technologies, Inc., the industry leader in gaming physics technology. AGEIA's PhysX® software is widely adopted with more than 140 PhysX-based games shipping or in development on Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii, and gaming PCs. AGEIA physics software is pervasive with over 10,000 registered and active users of the PhysX SDK ......
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A couple of weeks ago, news broke that AGEIA was set to be acquired, but it wasn't clear as to who the parties involved were; the initial story claimed only that it wasn't AMD. As of a few moments ago, however, that rumor has become fact. NVIDIA just sent word that they will be acquiring AGEIA Technologies for an as yet undisclosed sum. We don't have all of the details just yet, but more information about the acquisition will be disclosed during NVIDIA's quarterly conference call, scheduled to be held on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 2:00 PM, Pacific Time.NVIDIA's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang does say in the press release that the acquisition will allow...
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According to an article posted on the CustomPC website which quotes AMD’s head of developer relations, Richard Huddy, AMD has contemplated the purchase of AGEIA, multiple times. There is no discussion regarding what AMD's plans for AGEIA's technology would be, i.e. would it be incorporated into an ATI GPU or a CPU, but the potential for a purchase is real - especially since Intel bought rival Havok."AMD has admitted that it’s considering buying Ageia, if the price is right. AMD’s head of developer relations, Richard Huddy, told Custom PC that ‘we’ve had that discussion, yes. It’s a discussion that goes round every three months – someone turns to me and says ‘why don’t we buy Ageia?’...
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We have been carefully watching the development and adoption rate of AGEIA's PhysX accelerators with interest. So far they've shown some promise, and we're expecting Unreal Tournament 3 and games based on its engine to provide more momentum to the standard.What is really exciting is the possibility that AMD might purchase AGEIA. We're not sure if this means PhysX on the CPU, in a Torrenza socket, or the more traditional expansion cards we're used to, but having AMD's support could prove to be a major boon.The main problem, according to (AMD PR Chief Richard) Huddy, is the price. ‘Our biggest problem is that Havok reputedly cost in excess of $100 million,’ says Huddy. ‘If I’d...
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A few days ago Ageia announced a mobile physics processor. At the time we speculated that a good first match for it would be one of the laptops in Dell's lineup. It looks like we were right. Though apparently as yet unofficial, we received word today from sources at Dell that the company will soon begin to offer Ageia's PhysX dedicated physics processor in the laptop line. Though our source could not tell us specifically which among Dell's lappies will be getting the upgrade, we think it's safe to assume it will be the XPS M1710, the company's 17-inch flagship gaming model. The M1710, eh? It would make a lot of sense, as that model has been their top-of-the-line...
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The AGEIA PhysX hardware accelerator has been a solution in search of a program. Meaning, there's just not enough software available to really make it worthwhile. That said, they have announced a mobile version for notebooks. Today, the company announced the PhysX 100M mobile processor, aimed at adding hardware-accelerated physics to high-end desktop replacement gaming notebooks. According to the press release, this new mobile part is designed to operate, "with power dissipation of nearly 10W under gameplay conditions." It also includes power management features not seen in the desktop version, to throttle down the clock speed if things get too hot or if the chip is idle.Judging...
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ChileHardware has put together an interview with the CEO of AGEIA, Manju Hedge, regarding current and long-term plans for the company's PhysX PPU. It looks like AGIEA could be jumping on the general purpose bandwagon, ala GPGPU, and had plans to support multiple PPUs working in parallel. "We got the oportunity to interview AGEIA, the manufacturer behind the first specialized physics calculation card. In the following article you will see what is AGEIA planning on subjects like their PPU technology, Windows Vista, Overclocking, all of this from the CEO itself." The CEO also hints that AGEIA has plans to integrate the PPU into other devices from partners AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel (among...
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AGEIA Empowers Professional Software Developers to Create Even More PhysX Applications Royalty Free New End User License Agreement Terms Brings Every Developer the Power of PhysX MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - November 22, 2006 - AGEIA Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, today announced that it has implemented a new End User License Agreement (EULA) that allows the PhysX SDK to be used and its runtime components distributed in all commercial and non-commercial PC projects - completely royalty free. The new EULA allows game developers of any size to harness the power of the physics in their titles with a simple, no-fee license. READ MORE......
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Fudo over at The Inquirer reports that AGEIA's latest drivers have been found to reference system configurations which utilize multiple PhysX discrete physics cards. A key aspect of the driver called the Hardware Scene Manager (HSM) now uses compartments allowing for the presence of multiple PhysX cards. On the surface, it sounds as though Physics is following Graphics as we "could" have a scenario much like SLI and Crossfire where multiple cards can be used to increase performance. However, looking at the lack of any physics-rich titles at this time it is hard enough to justify the use of a single PhysX card let alone multiple cards. Hopefully, developers will begin to...
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AGEIA Shows Off Exclusive Pre-Release PhysX Titles And New Hardware at Digital Life Physics leader ups the ante on realism in games; offers a show special on PhysX boards and PhysX powered Dell gaming PCs MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - October 12, 2006 - AGEIA Technologies, Inc. the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for PC, today announced that it will showcase a series of upcoming PhysX games and PCI-Express add-in boards at Digital Life, (booth #1535), October 12-15 in New York City. In addition, AGEIA will give daily presentations on the future of advanced gaming physics in the Digital Life Theater and host a "celebrity appearance" on Sunday, October 15th. READ MORE... Dave...
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The folks over at Ageia have informed us that they have just released their new RealityMark physics benchmark utility. Based on the highly popular CellFactor technology demo we utilized in our initial review of the Ageia PhysX card, the benchmark runs through a timedemo of sorts which is run both with and without the discrete PPU enabled. This provides the user with a very clear understanding of what performance gains the Ageia PhysX card is providing for their system. For those early adopters of PhysX cards which are still waiting for developers to utilize the power of their hardware, this benchmark is surely a necessary download. AGEIA RealityMarkTM is a new tool which demonstrates the...
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AGEIA Inks Publisher-Wide Agreement with Major Russian Publisher 1C Company Largest Publisher in Eastern and Central Europe to Drive Support for AGEIA PhysX Processor in Region MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - June 27, 2006 - AGEIA Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, today announced that Russian publisher 1C Company has signed a publisher-wide licensing agreement for AGEIA PhysX technology. The leading publisher and distributor of computer games in Eastern and Central Europe, 1C Company publishes and distributes titles from leading Eastern European developers, as well as titles of international publishers for the local market. READ MORE......
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Scott from the Tech Report just sent word of a new article where he takes a look at Ageia's PhysX PPU. In typical TR fashion, there's plenty of technical detail, but unfortunately there isn't much performance data due to the lack of software to support the device. Here's our take on the PhysX PPU from a few weeks back. "I'VE HAD THE CHANCE to spend a few days playing with a PhysX card from Ageia, and there is much to tell, though not much one can do with the hardware just yet. I did find some interesting ways to test the PhysX card, and the results may enlighten us about the prospects for physics acceleration...
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GamePC labs has a review posted this morning of BFG's AGEIA PhysX card. Lots of good information in this review, along with some some insightful opinions and commentary. We've also taken a look at this card. For another reference point, you can read our article right here. "The problem is not the hardware. After seeing the demos, we know that the hardware is capable of some amazing effects and certainly, physics hardware acceleration will be the next frontier in PC gaming. However, the issue is timing. The cards are here, but there is no killer title to drive sales of the cards. To take an example which has been used a thousand times already, there is no "GLQuake "title to drive...
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Fudo over at The Inquirer reports that their channel-checks with retailers have uncovered some lackluster sales for Ageia's new PhysX PPU. One particular vendor claims they are selling roughly ten cards per day which is certainly below average for a hot new piece of hardware. Apparently, the questionable enhancements in current games we witnessed when we reviewed the BFG PhysX card are not enough to push consumers over the fence just yet. We have no doubt the quality of the product is there, however we now need the games to fully take advantage of it. Of course, the most significant game to support Ageia's PhysX technology is about...
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Kuju Entertainment Supports AGEIA PhysX Processor in Rail Simulator LOS ANGELES and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - May 10, 2006 - AGEIA Technologies,Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, announced today at E3 that Kuju Entertainment is supporting the AGEIA PhysX processor in its upcoming Rail Simulator. Rail Simulator lets players take charge of steam, diesel and electric trains on real routes in the United Kingdom and Germany. The sophisticated gameplay even allows players to design their own ideal journey routes. Kuju Entertainment is the developer of Microsoft Train Simulator, which sold over a million copies worldwide and inspired third-party companies to develop over 40 expansion...
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AGEIA PhysX Powered Add-in Cards Now Available Worldwide AGEIA's PhysX Processor is Available Now on PC add-in Cards from ASUS and BFG MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - May 9, 2006 - AGEIA Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, today announced the availability of its PhysX processor on add-in accelerator cards from ASUS Computer International and BFG Technologies, Inc. The first physics processing unit (PPU) designed to power pervasive real-time physics in PC gaming can now be purchased by consumers worldwide, thus delivering true physics interaction on a massive scale to serious gamers everywhere. Click Here to read more... ...
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When Mountain View California start-up Ageia announced a new co-processor architecture for Desktop 3D Graphics that off-loaded the heavy burden physics places on the CPU-GPU rendering pipeline, the industry applauded what looked like the enabling of a new era of PC Gaming realism. Of course, on paper and in PowerPoint, things always look impressive, so we waited with baited breath for hardware to ship. That day has come and we've fully tested a new card shipped to us from BFG Tech, built on Ageia's new PPU. BFG's PhysX Physics Processing Card Is this technology evolutionary or revolutionary? You be the judge. We also invite you to "Digg" our...
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Without question, one of the hottest topics throughout the industry this year has been the advent of the discrete physics processor or "PPU" (Physics Processing Unit). Developed by a new startup company called Ageia, this new physics processor gives game developers the opportunity to create entirely new game-play characteristics that were not considered possible using standard hardware. Since its original inception, both CPU and GPU vendors have come to the spotlight to showcase the ability to process physics on their respective hardware. However, the Ageia PhysX PPU is the only viable solution which is readily available to consumers. For the foreseeable future, the only vendors...
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HardOCP has just published an editorial which illustrates the need AGEIA's PhysX hardware has for a killer application. As we referenced in our PhysX launch coverage, we agree with Kyle's perspective that the game developers are the key to this new hardware. Although technology demos are fun to watch and toy around with, at the end of the day we need some great games to ever justify spending $250 or more on a discrete physics card.Forgetting all the important business components like install base, distribution, technical support, game publisher and developer partnerships.....the list goes on and on. Without a couple of killer apps soon that create their own buzz and solidify a PhysX community,...
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The Inquirer has posted some interesting news regarding a 256MB PhysX card coming from ASUS in May. As you might recall from our AGEIA PhysX launch review, the "standard" PhysX card will be equipped with 128MB of memory. The card from ASUS will represent the flagship model and will come with 256MB of memory and a robust heatsink assembly. Unfortunately, we have no details regarding price or any perfomrance differential we'll see versus a 128MB PhysX card. Per usual, we will all have to wait and see. TAIWANESE GIANT Asustek said it will be the only company to manufacture and sell the 256MB Ageia PhysX card - the high end model....
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