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NVIDIA is ready to counter the Triple Play

With the release of the G80, NVIDIA will also release a new engine dubbed Quantum physics engine.  Quantum Effects Technology is similar (at least in spirit) to NVIDIA's PureVideo Technology -- a dedicated layer on the GPU for physics calculations.  A few documents alluding to this new engine appeared on public FTP mirrors late last week.

Quantum utilizes some of the shaders from NVIDIA's G80 processor specifically for physics calculations.  Physics calculations on GPUs are nothing new; ATI totes similar technology for its Stream Computing initiative and for the Triple Play physics. 

NVIDIA and Havok partnered up this year claiming that SLI systems would get massive performance gains by utilizing additional GeForce GPUs as physics processors.  Quantum may be the fruits of that partnership, though NVIDIA documentation clearly states that Quantum will work just fine without SLI.

NVIDIA's documentation claims Quantum will specifically compete with AGEIA's PhysX, yet does not mention who is providing the middleware.  Given that there are only two acts in town right now, it would be safe to say Havok has a hand in the Quantum engine.

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typo
By RobbieMc on 10/5/2006 5:05:01 AM , Rating: 2
Shouldn't the title read "Documents Leak NVIDIA's Quantum Physics Engine", not 'Quatum'?
Anyway, I personally think the name for that is kind of misleading. It implies actual quantum physics calculations, which probably won't be used in games any time soon :). So the havoc physics engine will support this, meaning any game developer using the latest havoc engine will support this type of physics?




RE: typo
By shamgar03 on 10/5/2006 7:31:14 AM , Rating: 5
Yeah, when I saw that I was thinking, how are they going to use quantum physics in games. It's ridiculous that a word like quantum is just one of those ooooh ahhh words to so many people. I mean naming it quantum physics engine is just straight up misleading; we should sue them when this comes out because it doesn't accurately portray gluons.


RE: typo
By Zirconium on 10/5/2006 8:12:21 AM , Rating: 4
ATI will counter by calling their technology the "Relativistic Physics Engine." Perhaps this is all fitting: with the power requirements on future generations of graphics cards, you may need your own nuclear reactor.


RE: typo
By Creig on 10/5/2006 10:07:47 AM , Rating: 4
I'm going to hold off purchasing a G80 in the hopes they'll release an "Albert Einstein Edition" G80 with IMPROVED Quantum Effects Technology and Superstring hyperthreading.


RE: typo
By Clauzii on 10/5/2006 10:13:25 AM , Rating: 2
Good one ;)


RE: typo
By GhandiInstinct on 10/5/2006 3:49:44 PM , Rating: 1
LOL oh wow...those 3 posts in a row had my dying, they build off each other into a riveting climax!

ROFL for a few hours brb....


RE: typo
By lemonadesoda on 10/5/2006 5:53:59 PM , Rating: 2
With the G80X Heisenberg, you will be very uncertain about the cost of ownership... principally, whether you actually have one or two GPUs in a one-card SLI, and even more uncertain about the electricity bill at the end of the year!!!


RE: typo
By Clauzii on 10/9/2006 9:13:15 PM , Rating: 2
The problem with a Heisenberg card could be that You would never really know when it worked... :)


RE: typo
By exdeath on 10/10/2006 4:07:31 PM , Rating: 2
What is worse is not knowing that it probably worked just fine before you turned it on the first time and observed that it didn't work... you'd never know if you had a dud or not...

Wonder how the RMAs would work here...


RE: typo
By rushfan2006 on 10/6/2006 12:17:49 PM , Rating: 2
...lol that and I'll also hold off until I don't need to get a 2nd mortgage to AFFORD the new G80 cards. ;)

Hmm....of course eating is over-rated right.....hmmmmmmm


RE: typo
By Nanobaud on 10/5/2006 12:58:52 PM , Rating: 3
Perhaps with the 'Pure Video' experience on their minds, they chose 'Quantum' to go with the inherent uncertainty-principle feature.


"Quantum Physics Engine" defined
By Eris23007 on 10/5/2006 3:12:44 PM , Rating: 5
Quantum Physics Engine : <kwahn-tum fiz-ziks ehn-jin>: pronoun 1. What comes out when marketing whores without any technical background whatsoever are asked to create a name for a technology that provides advanced processing of Newtonian physics. 2. Canon fodder for DailyTech forumites.




RE: "Quantum Physics Engine" defined
By lemonadesoda on 10/5/2006 6:00:48 PM , Rating: 4
Marketing gurus have opted for retail boxes to be high gloss with pictures of Manga styled Scientists with go-faster stripes, wind in hair, and out-popping eyes. The batman edition shows speech bubbles " Whoosh " and " Zoom " and " Ker-fastest "


By Jkm3141 on 10/5/2006 8:23:57 PM , Rating: 2
my god im dying...
rofl


Havok?
By probedb on 10/5/2006 5:23:25 AM , Rating: 2
I hope they're using the Havok API/whatever. We certainly don't need a 3rd Physics API knocking around.




RE: Havok?
By 0blivious on 10/5/2006 5:52:42 AM , Rating: 2
Havok's good but when there's something there's always something better.

And we all want better, no?


RE: Havok?
By phusg on 10/6/2006 11:29:54 AM , Rating: 2
Yes we do, we just don't want a 3rd 3rd party Physx API. What I would love to see is an open source OpenPhysx API that is accelerated on any SM3.0 card. Havok is totally unaffordable for home programmers, they won't even give you a demo version unless you are a software house. And Ageia also requires you to enter into a contract if you actually want to publish anything based on their API, not to mention the need to install another ~200 dollar hardware card into your system.

Can anyone recommend a good open source physics API that scales well to 4+ cores? I think this is the way to go for me...


RE: Havok?
By exdeath on 10/10/2006 4:10:30 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, considering the PhysX card allows for what, 20% faster than pure CPU under heavy physics load? So throw 3 more cores in there that aren't busy running the rest of the game or OS house keeping...


oh dear
By Wwhat on 10/5/2006 7:10:24 AM , Rating: 5
Similar to the purevideo thing eh? so it will take space on the chip but won't work until the third generation but you will see it in ads and you will already pay for it, how lovely.




RE: oh dear
By Wwhat on 10/5/2006 7:11:40 AM , Rating: 3
Oh and plus you will need to buy the API seperately for 15 to 20 dollars, just like purevideo.


Poor Aegia
By lopri on 10/5/2006 6:12:14 AM , Rating: 1
So would this mean the death of Agiea? (Did I spell it correctly?)




RE: Poor Aegia
By nomagic on 10/5/2006 6:54:17 AM , Rating: 2
If agiea(??) cannot prove that a dedicated solution is a better solution. Then, this pretty much spells doom for the company...


RE: Poor Aegia
By Clauzii on 10/5/2006 11:28:49 AM , Rating: 2
It's Ageia ;)


hmm
By shabby on 10/5/2006 7:12:07 AM , Rating: 3
I wonder if that extra memory bus and memory are for the physics(chip) on the g80.




RE: hmm
By R3MF on 10/5/2006 9:44:37 AM , Rating: 2
my guess is that it is reserved for IQ stuff like AA.


Wow.
By oddity21 on 10/5/2006 4:51:14 AM , Rating: 2
GPU physics without SLI. Brilliant!




RE: Wow.
By Visual on 10/5/06, Rating: 0
RE: Wow.
By RobbieMc on 10/5/2006 9:08:35 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Quantum utilizes some of the shaders from NVIDIA's G80 processor specifically for physics calculations.


Quantum physics?
By Jellodyne on 10/5/2006 12:12:17 PM , Rating: 4
They're skipping right over correct Newtonian physics?




Another marketing blunder
By lemonadesoda on 10/5/2006 9:23:53 PM , Rating: 2
Quantum (quanta), noun: The smallest discrete quantity of some physical property that a system can possess (according to quantum theory).

I guess these means:

1./ Quantum Effects Technology = there is only ONE effect (singular use of quantum)
2./ It will be a VERY SMALL effect

Don't think I want one of those...




RE: Another marketing blunder
By oddity21 on 10/6/2006 9:06:41 AM , Rating: 2
Quantum hard drives = even bigger blunder?


Hmm..
By scrapsma54 on 10/30/2006 4:35:18 PM , Rating: 2
I am thinking Nvidia is going to use their UDA for this so the physics can be done to accelerate anything thrown on it. Nvidia must have done some research on this or they would not have done this. Roflcopter for this thread.




Typo?
By fzkl on 10/5/06, Rating: -1
RE: Typo?
By oddity21 on 10/5/2006 5:07:24 AM , Rating: 3
Condom Physics FTW!


RE: Typo?
By dice1111 on 10/5/2006 10:30:05 AM , Rating: 1
The safest physics you can get, while still being able to enjoy the game.


RE: Typo?
By Salman on 10/5/2006 10:44:40 PM , Rating: 1
hilarious!


RE: Typo?
By Tsuwamono on 10/10/06, Rating: 0
We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk." -- Apple CEO Steve Jobs

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