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A '''physics processing unit''' ('''PPU''') is a dedicated [[microprocessor]] designed to handle the calculations of [[physics]], especially in the [[physics engine]] of [[video game]]s. It is an example of [[hardware acceleration]].
Examples of calculations involving a PPU might include;
# [[rigid body dynamics]], # [[soft body dynamics]], # [[collision detection]], # [[fluid dynamics]], # [[hair]] and [[Cloth_modeling|clothing simulation]], # [[finite element analysis]], # and [[Fracture|fracturing]] of [[Object|objects]]. The idea is having specialized processors offload time-consuming tasks from a computer's CPU, much like how a [[GPU]] performs graphics operations in the main CPU's place. The term was coined by [[Ageia]] to describe its [[PhysX]] chip. Several other technologies in the CPU-GPU spectrum have some features in common with it, although Ageia's product was the only complete one designed, marketed, supported, and placed within a system exclusively being a PPU.
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===PhysX P1 (PPU) hardware specifications===
[[ASUS]] and [[BFG Technologies]] bought [[License|licenses]] to [[Manufacturing|manufacture]] [[Alternative|alternate]] [[Version|versions]] of AGEIA's PPU, the PhysX P1 with 128 MB GDDR3:
* [[Multi-core processor|Multi-core]] [[device]] based on the [[MIPS architecture]] with [[Integrated circuit|integrated]] [[physics]] [[acceleration]] [[hardware]] and memory [[System|subsystem]] with "tons of cores"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_faq.html |title=PhysX FAQ |date=28 November 2018 |publisher=NVIDIA Corporation}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blachford.info/computer/articles/PhysX2.html |title=Lets Get Physical: Inside The PhysX Physics Processor |author=Nicholas Blachford |date=2006}}</ref>
** 125 million [[transistor]]s<ref name="Legit Reviews">[http://www.legitreviews.com/article/346/2/ Legit Reviews - ASUS's AGEIA PhysX P1 Card]</ref>
** 182 mm<sup>2</sup> [[die (integrated circuit)|die]] size
** [[Semiconductor device fabrication|Fabrication process]]: [[130 nanometer|130 nm]]
** [[Peak power output|Peak power]] [[consumption]]: 30 [[Watt|W]]
* [[Memory]]: 128 MB [[GDDR3]] [[Random access memory|RAM]] with 128-bit [[Interface (computing)|interface]]
* 32-bit [[Peripheral Component Interconnect|PCI]] 3.0 (ASUS also made a [[PCI Express]] [[version]] [[card]])
* [[Sphere]] [[collision]] [[Test|tests]]: 530 million per [[second]] ([[Maximum and minimum|maximum]] [[capability]])
* [[wikt:convex|Convex]] [[collision]] [[Test|tests]]: 530,000 per [[second]] ([[Maximum and minimum|maximum]] [[capability]])
* [[Peak]] [[instruction]] [[bandwidth]]: 20 billion per [[second]]
==Havok FX==
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==See also==
==References==
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==External links==
{{CPU technologies}}
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