Physics Processing Unit

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Physics Processing Unit
Nathan Caldwell
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PPU (Physics Processing Unit)?
Many games now use physics simulation Major
drain on the CPU
Most physics engines used by games are very
similar
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Dedicated physics microprocessors (PPUs) are
entering commercial market
Take strain off of the CPU
Allows even more advanced physics to be simulated.
Covers things such as Rigid Body, Soft Body,
Cloth, Hair, and Fluids.
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Available PPUs
Ageia PhysX First commercially available
PPU GeForce 8 Has effects physics
simulation HavokFX Uses GPU SLI cards for
effects physics simulation
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Ageia PhysX
Memory 128mb DDR3 SDRAM
Power Consumption 20 Watts
Memory Clock Speed 733 MHz
125 Million Transistors
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Physics Abstraction Layer
Allows simple switching of physics engine via
plug-in architecture
Currently supports most open source and freeware
physics engines (including Novodex), simple to
add engines to it.
Specifications still in active development
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Sources
http//www.ageia.com/
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_processing_un
it
http//www.pcper.com/article.php?aid140
http//www.bfgtech.com/physx/bfgphysx.html
www.ozone3d.net