Talk:Physics processing unit
Does anyone else think this comes off as an advertisment? Someone with more knowledge on the subject should probably provide a counter point...
- I removed the advertisement and cleaned it up a bit (it was a PPU and a CPU in the previous version :P).
NovodeX/PhysX
There's a lot of confusion between NovodeX (a physics programming API, much like Direct3D is to graphics) and the actual hardware board that Ageia is developing. Despite the common origin of the hardware/API, I don't think it's really relevant that the PS3/Xbox is going to support the software NovodeX simulation pipe. As such, I don't think those facts belong in the article. The same goes for statements like: The NovodeX API can also be used to program physics for general purpose hardware, but it is specialized to run optimally on the PhysX hardware.
Thoughts, anyone? --Kyle Davis 08:11, 5 December 2005 (UTC)
Useless Anandtech
Calling the link a closer look takes the expression to new depths. Quotiong:
We really don’t know a great deal about the intimate details of the architecture, but a light weight parallel floating point with lots of communications is a good start. We’ve had several guesses at how the hardware works that have been confirmed wrong. But to paraphrase Edison, eliminating all incorrect paths leads to the goal.
The only thing you get is a cookie storm and tons of advertising. I suggest we drop that link.
- No objections received, link deleted.
What is a PPU really?
What the heck makes a core a "physics processing unit" different from an ordinary SIMD vector unit anyway? Is there some kind of special opcode for "calculate Laplacian" or "solve critically damped spring" or something? Collabi 10:17, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
- I have tried to find out but cannot find details on the internals of the PPU. The advantage PhysX has over the Cell processor, is a SDK ready for use, complete with a tutorial. It is possible a patent search can unearth something more substantial than the glossy whitepapers that are available.
- This article states that Sony made an agreement with Ageia to port its SDK to the Cell processor.
- An SDK I can certainly understand; physics simulation is software, you can provide a middleware package to encapsulate that software for developers. You write an API for a software package that runs on a processor. But I can't imagine what special instruction set a chip might have for physics, other than the usual linear algebra. I can find only three patent applications by AGEIA and they seem to be mostly concerned with their algorithm for solving the Linear Complementarity Problem. The chip itself is only sketchily referred to, and appears to be a vector processor essentially like the Cell: a group of parallel math units each with its own memory island. Collabi 23:22, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
Distributed Computing?
How viable would a PPU be for various scientific and mathematical computation performed through distributed computing? Gaming and various 3-D modeling are likely to take only a few hours out of the day, but DC is 24/7 and can use all the speed it can get. Is this something BOINC and BOINC apps can and should support?
- Well, for distributed computing apps to support it, they'd need to have some idea of what it actually is. At the moment there's almost no information on this, which leads me to believe that when it's released, all information about how it works, and thus how to make it do anything but game physics, will be top secret. There are some attempts to use GPUs to help with distributed computing, but it's an uphill battle, in part for similar reasons.
Vandalism?
"It is also rumored that the Nintendo Revolution will run with a PPU chip and clock in at 4 quadrillion petaflops, but still pale in comparison to the original Xbox. (Note: PPU in Revolution Rumor was formed by Drinky Crow, a man with tons of credibility.)"
Yeah, someone want to change that?
PPU in Rev
"The Nintendo Revolution is rumored to use a PPU. [3]"
Is there actually going to be a physical piece of hardware for "physics" or is it just software for it? Because it's linked to howstuffworks.com, and while it is informative, it isn't very up to date, and it DOES say "rumored"
- Someone put that in there and it caused a ton of vandalism so I removed it, since it is just a rumor anyways. But someone later put it back in, so I added a "source" for the rumor. If you want to modify or remove it go ahead. Tnikkel 19:59, 12 December 2005 (UTC)