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What is a PPU and why PC Gamers should care
PPU stands for physics processing unit. Not to be confused with PSU, (Power Supply Unit) or GPU, (Graphics Processing Unit) A PPU is a dedicated processor for handling the physics processing in a computer game, it increases performance by offloading the physics calculations off the CPU and GPU.
There are a few ways to handle physics in games. There are middleware physics engines (ex. Havoc) Onboard GPU physics acceleration such as Nvidia's Quantum Effects Technology or ATI's version, which I am not sure what it is called. And finally, a PPU.
In 2006 a company named Ageia released a product called PhysX. This was the first PPU add in card. It was a 128 MB PCI card first retailed for $250.
In 2008, Nvidia released Geforce 8 series GPU's with a physics acceleration technology called Quantum Effects Technology designed to compete with the PhysX. That same year, Ageia was acquired by the Nvidia corporation. Now, any CUDA ready Nvidia Geforce 8 Series or above with 32 or more cores and 256 MB ram can act as a PPU.
Nvidia's rival ATI also offers physics acceleration onboard their GPU's as well. They claim the x1900 XT delivers 9 times the performance of an Nvidia based PhysX card. I have yet to see benchmarks however.
Based on the benchmarks I have seen, the best price to performance Nvidia GPU to use as a PhysX PPU is the Nvidia GTS 220, which sells for $65. To run a PPU you have to have at least 2 PCI-express slots on your motherboard. One used for your GPU and one for the PPU. To run SLI GPU's and a PPU you will of course have to have 3 PCI express slots.
As of September 2009, users with Nvidia GPU's can no longer use a AMD GPU as a PPU. Also Windows 7 removes support for the Ageia PhysX1.
In conclusion, I believe with the rise of low cost CUDA enabled Nvidia GPU's PPU's are now affordable to anyone, and there is no reason not to upgrade.PPU's are a great way to increase your PC's performance in games that have heavy use of physics. But as of right now I'm not sure that many games would benefit from having one. The only games I can think of off the top of my head our Mirror's Edge and Batman Arkham Asylum. You can find a full list online. For more info read this tomshardware article on the performance advantages of a PPU in Batman Arkham Asylum.
[I am going to write a second article explaining CUDA and GPGPU's (General purpose graphics processing units) Basically CPU, GPU, and PPU combined into one card, ATI is already offering a solution. Stay tuned.]
(Newegg was selling these CO-OP cards for awhile. These are dual pcb cards, This was a Geforce GTX 275 + Geforce GTS 250 for PhysX Eventually these will become 1 card when GPGPU's come out.)
There are a few ways to handle physics in games. There are middleware physics engines (ex. Havoc) Onboard GPU physics acceleration such as Nvidia's Quantum Effects Technology or ATI's version, which I am not sure what it is called. And finally, a PPU.
In 2006 a company named Ageia released a product called PhysX. This was the first PPU add in card. It was a 128 MB PCI card first retailed for $250.
In 2008, Nvidia released Geforce 8 series GPU's with a physics acceleration technology called Quantum Effects Technology designed to compete with the PhysX. That same year, Ageia was acquired by the Nvidia corporation. Now, any CUDA ready Nvidia Geforce 8 Series or above with 32 or more cores and 256 MB ram can act as a PPU.
Nvidia's rival ATI also offers physics acceleration onboard their GPU's as well. They claim the x1900 XT delivers 9 times the performance of an Nvidia based PhysX card. I have yet to see benchmarks however.
Based on the benchmarks I have seen, the best price to performance Nvidia GPU to use as a PhysX PPU is the Nvidia GTS 220, which sells for $65. To run a PPU you have to have at least 2 PCI-express slots on your motherboard. One used for your GPU and one for the PPU. To run SLI GPU's and a PPU you will of course have to have 3 PCI express slots.
As of September 2009, users with Nvidia GPU's can no longer use a AMD GPU as a PPU. Also Windows 7 removes support for the Ageia PhysX1.
In conclusion, I believe with the rise of low cost CUDA enabled Nvidia GPU's PPU's are now affordable to anyone, and there is no reason not to upgrade.PPU's are a great way to increase your PC's performance in games that have heavy use of physics. But as of right now I'm not sure that many games would benefit from having one. The only games I can think of off the top of my head our Mirror's Edge and Batman Arkham Asylum. You can find a full list online. For more info read this tomshardware article on the performance advantages of a PPU in Batman Arkham Asylum.
[I am going to write a second article explaining CUDA and GPGPU's (General purpose graphics processing units) Basically CPU, GPU, and PPU combined into one card, ATI is already offering a solution. Stay tuned.]
(Newegg was selling these CO-OP cards for awhile. These are dual pcb cards, This was a Geforce GTX 275 + Geforce GTS 250 for PhysX Eventually these will become 1 card when GPGPU's come out.)
Comment
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Comment by Cooper McKay on December 17, 2009 at 6:13pm -
Glad you enjoyed it. I'm sure that depends on the game though, games that can take advantage of more cpu cores that the i7 offers will have a better framerate.
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Comment by Cooper McKay on December 17, 2009 at 12:00pm
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For example, If you enabled PhysX in Batman Arkham Asylum at high settings without a dedicated PhysX PPU your framerate would be horrible. Without dedicated physics even the Core i7 is crippled with PhysX enabled. This will change with the introduction of the GPGPU's soon though.
It's like in the era when 3DFX first introduced the Voodoo, back then you had to have a 2D card as well as a 3D card, GPGPU's will integrate all of this.
© 2012 Created by Chris Pirillo.
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