PhysX -- Engadget

iBUYPOWER launches potent M865TU gaming laptop

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 2nd 2009 at 8:04PM

Another day, another new one from iBUYPOWER. But this one's different, or so they tell us. You see, the M865TU is being hailed as the most powerful 15-inch gaming laptop ever, and considering that Alienware's M17x can't be included here, we'd argue these guys actually have an outside shot at being right. Within, you'll find a 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9800, up to 4GB DDR3 memory, a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 graphics card and a 15.6-inch WXGA (1,680 x 1,050) panel. It'll also ship with an eight-cell battery, 250GB HDD and a dual-layer DVD writer, and it's available now for as low as $1,499. Don't expect that "most powerful" label to apply to Mr. Base Configuration, though.

Continue reading iBUYPOWER launches potent M865TU gaming laptop

NVIDIA's PhysX SDK sashays onto Nintendo's Wii

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 19th 2009 at 12:41PM

Just two days after NVIDIA proudly announced that its PhysX technology was coming to Sony's potent PlayStation 3, the same can now be said in regards to Nintendo's decidedly less potent Wii. As the story goes, NVIDIA has just been approved as a third party tools solution provider for the Wii console, which inevitably means that the PhysX SDK is now available for registered Wii developers. Quite frankly, we're really interested to see where this goes; unlike Sony's SIXAXIS, Nintendo's Wiimote is highly based on physics already, so the possibilities here seem even more limitless. Get to work, devs!

[Via HotHardware]

NVIDIA licenses PhysX technology for Sony's PlayStation 3

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 17th 2009 at 3:22PM

After being on the tip of gamers' tongues last summer, NVIDIA's PhysX technology has cooled a bit in terms of sheer popularity. That said, we've no doubt that the buzz will be back in force after this one clears the airwaves. NVIDIA has just announced that it has nailed down a tools and middleware license agreement for Sony's PlayStation 3, effectively bringing the aforesaid physics tech to what's arguably the most potent game console on the market today. As a result of the deal, a PhysX software development kit (SDK) is now available to registered PS3 developers as a free download for use on the SCEI Developer Network. What exactly this means for future PS3 games remains to be seen, but one's things for sure: it's only up from here.

NVIDIA now offering laptop drivers directly through website

by Ross Miller, posted Dec 19th 2008 at 5:09PM

NVIDIA has announced that it'll now offer laptop GPU drivers directly via its website -- long overdue, if you ask us. These drivers have traditionally been offered through the computer manufacturers since most mobile GPUs are customized to be compatible with the devices' specific hotkeys and suspend / resume functionality -- NVIDIA said it has found a way around with a new modular architecture. First on the menu are beta drivers for GeForce 8M and 9M series as well as Quadro NVS-series laptops that add CUDA and PhysX support, with Windows-certified drivers for all GeForce 7, 8 and 9 series and Quadro NVS series are due out early next year. Now, if only we could download hugs...

[Via Notebook Review]

ASUS G50 / G71 laptops and ARES CG6155 gaming PC now available

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 22nd 2008 at 11:19AM

It's been awhile (or a long while, in the case of the ARES CG6155) since we've heard about these machines, but ASUS has at long last decided to start shipping 'em to retailers. The aforesaid gaming desktop still doesn't have a publicly available price tag, but ASUS assures us that it's out there now for those who know where to look. Thankfully, it was a bit (and we stress "bit") more forthcoming with details on the G50 and G71 gaming notebooks, which are also available as we speak for $1,249.99 and take-your-best-guess, respectively.

Read - ASUS ARES CG6155
Read - ASUS G50 and G71

NVIDIA enables PhysX and CUDA support for GeForce 8 and higher GPUs with free downloads

by Nilay Patel, posted Aug 12th 2008 at 10:43AM

It's not a direct response to AMD unveiling the HD Radeon 4850 X2 and 4870 X2 yesterday, but NVIDIA also came to play at SIGGRAPH, and it's got lots of new GPU-as-CPU toys for us this morning -- and what's more, they're free. Like we'd been hearing, GeForce 8, 9, and 200-series cards are all getting PhysX support as of today via a free GeForce Power Pack that contains a free full copy of Warmonger, three PhysX-enabled Unreal Tournament 3 maps, demos of Metal Knight Zero and the Nurien UT3-based social networking service, and a couple tech demos. The Power Pack also includes some new CUDA apps to play with, including a new Folding@Home client (ahem) and a trial version of the Badaboom video transcoder. That's a lot of new toys, so get downloading and let us know what you think!

Read - PhysX GeForce Power Pack apps
Read - CUDA GeForce Power Pack apps

NVIDIA uncorking PhysX support for GeForce cards on August 12th

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 7th 2008 at 10:32AM

It's arriving a month later than anticipated, but at least it's arriving (we hope). According to a first look at PhysX on NVIDIA's GeForce cards, The Tech Report is reporting (ahem) that the graphical outfit will dish out new drivers that add PhysX support on August 12th. The new software will allow owners of GeForce 8, GeForce 9 and GeForce GTX 200-series cards to use PhysX acceleration without shelling out any additional coinage, which means that you all will surely be giving it a shot just for kicks, right? Keep next Tuesday clear -- you and Unreal Tournament 3 have a date, like it or not.

[Via UberReview]

PhysX on ATI effort gets helping hand from NVIDIA

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 8th 2008 at 12:12PM

Eran Badit of NGOHQ.com has already made some considerable progress getting PhysX to run on AMD hardware, and it looks like he's now getting a helping hand from a somewhat unexpected source, with NVIDIA itself reportedly giving the project its blessing. Apparently, NVIDIA has even gone so far as to invite Badit to join its developer program, which gives him access to documentation, SDKs and, most importantly, direct access to hardware and NVIDIA engineers, a move that Badit describes as "impressive, inspiring and motivating." Badit is decidedly less impressed by AMD, however, which has apparently been unwilling to provide with any hardware or support for the project. That stubborn stance, he surmises, can only be due to AMD's backing of Intel's Havok physics engine, which NVIDIA would no doubt like to have out of the picture (hence its willingness to help here).

[Via TG Daily]

PhysX layer running on AMD Radeon 3870, utility available "soon"

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 29th 2008 at 2:08AM

As if overnight, Eran Badit of NGOHQ.com has PhysX running on the AMD Radeon 3870. Badit said that the hack was "easy," and NGOHQ.com will distribute the utility after a bit more testing. As for performance, he hit a 22,606 CPU score in 3D mark Vantage, which is nothing to sneeze at. He swears that AMD isn't involved in any of this, and that the utility release will be entirely independent.

[Via TGDaily]

NVIDIA pushing out GeForce PhysX support in July

by Ryan Block, posted Jun 21st 2008 at 3:10AM

We knew driver-enabled PhysX support was due for NVIDIA's line some time soon, but HotHardware's reporting that GeForce 8 and 9-series owners will finally have it when ForceWare 177.39 ships alongside the GeForce 9800 GTX+ in July. The preliminary benchmarks seem to show some serious GPU performance gains for PhysX operations, so with any luck you'll soon be rendering Independence Day fireworks at greater framerates than ever previously imagined.

[Via Slashdot]

GeForce 8 GPUs to acquire PhysX support via software download

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 15th 2008 at 8:39PM

Good news for folks with a GeForce 8 GPU and lots of questions about how the recent Ageia acquisition would affect them: your current card will be receiving PhysX support. When NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was questioned in a recent conference call, he noted that the firm was currently "working towards the physics-engine-to-CUDA port," and it could be delivered as "a software update" to every card that's CUDA-enabled (read: all of the GeForce 8 GPUs). Sadly, the bigwig still wouldn't say when to expect the release of the first PhysX port, but we really can't imagine it taking too awfully long now.

NVIDIA / Ageia deal gets officially official

by Nilay Patel, posted Feb 13th 2008 at 8:36PM

Well that was fast -- just nine days after announcing plans to acquire PhysX maker Ageia, NVIDIA said today that the deal is done. Still no word on when we might see NVIDIA cards with Ageia tech in them, but we'll let these two enjoy their first Valentine's day as a ~~happy couple~~ merged corporate entity before we start asking the hard questions.

[Thanks, Ryan]

NVIDIA to acquire Ageia

by Nilay Patel, posted Feb 4th 2008 at 5:45PM

After months of rumors and speculation, NVIDIA announced today that it's acquiring Ageia and its PhysX tech. There's no word on how much coin NVIDIA is dropping on the deal, but the company says the move makes sense, given the similarities in GPU and PPU designs and the trend towards massively parallel coprocessing units like NVIDIA's CUDA cards. Of course, given the war of words between game devs and hardware manufacturers over the value of PPU units, it'll be interesting to see how the industry reacts to this deal -- come on, John Carmack, we know you've got a statement ready.

[Via FPS Labs; Thanks, Chuck]

AMD tosses around the idea of acquiring Ageia

by Donald Melanson, posted Nov 21st 2007 at 4:29PM

While it's apparently still quite a ways beyond the realm of possibility, Custom PC is reporting that AMD has at least tossed around the idea of acquiring Ageia, which makes the PhysX physics processing unit and corresponding PhysX software. That doesn't seem to be an entirely new development, however, with AMD's Richard Huddy saying, '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?' and I go through the arguments about why we should and why we shouldn't.' The biggest stumbling block, not surprisingly, is price, with Intel's recent acquisition of Havok weighing heavily into the equation. That, Huddy says, gave Ageia a roughly equivalent value of $100 million, a value Huddy says is about $90 million too much. He still doesn't rule out an acquisition altogether, however, although it seems that there'll have to be a pretty big shift in valuations before AMD's interest is really piqued.

Ageia's mobile PhysX PPU headed for Dell's laptop line

by Donald Melanson, posted Aug 29th 2007 at 3:23PM

John Carmack may not believe in dedicated PPUs, but it seems that Dell certainly does, as IGN recently reported that the company is set to add Ageia's new mobile PhysX PPU to its laptop line, a move that now appears to be all but confirmed by the above image residing on Ageia's press site. The mobile PhysX PPU itself was announced just ahead of the recent Leipzig Games Convention, and promises to offer many of the same benefits as its desktop counterpart while keeping power consumption to a minimum (10W during gameplay, according to Ageia). While there still doesn't seem to be any official word from Dell, as IGN points out, the company's top-end XPS M1710 (or forthcoming M1730) would seem to be the most likely to get the new upgrade.

[Thanks, Mack S]