Friday, March 20th 2009
AMD to Demonstrate GPU Havok Physics Acceleration at GDC
GPU-accelerated physics is turning out to be the one part of specifications AMD is yearning for. One of NVIDIA's most profitable acquisitions in recent times, has been that of Ageia technologies, and its PhysX middleware API. NVIDIA went on to port the API to its proprietary CUDA GPGPU architecture, and is now using it as a significant PR-tool apart from a feature that is genuinely grabbing game developers' attention. In response to this move, AMD's initial reaction was to build strategic technology alliance with the main competitor of PhysX: Havok, despite its acquisition by Intel.
In the upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC) event, AMD may materialize its plans to bring a GPU-accelerated version of Havok, which has till now been CPU-accelerated. The API has featured in several popular game titles such as Half Life 2, Max Payne II, and some other Valve Source-based titles. ATI's Terry Makedon, in his Twitter-feed has revealed that AMD would put forth its "ATI GPU Physics strategy." He also added that the company would present a tech-demonstration of Havok technology working in conjunction with ATI hardware. The physics API is expected to utilize OpenCL and AMD Stream.
Source:
bit-tech.net
In the upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC) event, AMD may materialize its plans to bring a GPU-accelerated version of Havok, which has till now been CPU-accelerated. The API has featured in several popular game titles such as Half Life 2, Max Payne II, and some other Valve Source-based titles. ATI's Terry Makedon, in his Twitter-feed has revealed that AMD would put forth its "ATI GPU Physics strategy." He also added that the company would present a tech-demonstration of Havok technology working in conjunction with ATI hardware. The physics API is expected to utilize OpenCL and AMD Stream.
226 Comments on AMD to Demonstrate GPU Havok Physics Acceleration at GDC
:laugh: but seriously, I don't really care for tech demos. But when it involves physics, I certainly want to see what's up. I love the idea of realistically rendered mass physics with small performance hits!
Also, it irks me that they spelled it haterade, it's AIDE....
Then we also have the froblin demo... Actually most of their demos are pure marketing, but hey you like them, and they serve their purpose, so I guess I should accept that. I know you don't like to hear this, but Ati is all about marketing lately and most of you buy everything it comes from them. I used to love them in the past, when Ati was about the products and the tech and Nvidia was marketing (FX line, even GF 6 series), but lately...
And now this thread, even before we've seen anything, GPU Havok is so much better than PhysX, that suddenly is crap and flawed, and has a much better future. Every Ati fan said how wonderful was Ati because they said they wouldn't support a propietary physics SDK and bashed Nvidia for using one and trying to bring it to games. Now Ati supports a propietary physics API and everyting is so bright and wonderful...
I am really the only one who sees how they try to play with us?? First they say that a propietary API will never catch on and that it will die, then they make everything in their hands to bash that API and finally one year later they make their own one. If 2008 was a bad year to adopt a propietary engine because DX11 was coming out a year later, what happens in the same year of release of that said DX11? Some moths before actually?
In the near future only PhysX running in GPUs could (IMO it will) be faster, so they want to rule it out, just as they did with Ageia in the past. Intel wants to be the bigger high-end GPU provider too and knows he can't compete with Nvidia and Ati in graphics so they are trying to do something. That something was ray-tracing first, but both Nvidia and Ati demostrated they could do that just as well or better, and developers aren't really interested yet, so they have to find something. IMO that's physics but to an extent, controlling. Accelerated physics is going to be the next revolution in games, so pretty soon physics will affect performance as much as graphics and Intel wants to control that part. He wants to play in their field, because PhysX is much better than anything they can do ATM and IMO it will always be. NOT because of the API, which is similar, but because of where it runs, because of the ever evolving GPUs. It's like a racer with the slower car but the better acceleration, his only chance is to overtake the other before the other takes traction. The bad part for us is that the slow car will always slow down the fast one thereafter.
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I look forward to Havok on a gpu as well. But this anti-Physx sentiment needs to stop.
But AMD adopting Havok is indeed a bad move by them, IMO. Not only it will be at Intel's mercy, but it starts later and in no way it has assured a better adoption from developers. As Wile said it's the CPU Havok that has been in use, not the GPU one. So actually the score is 7-0 at the moment, that I can remember right now: UT3, Mirror's Edge, Warmonger, Cryostasis, Crazi Machines, Metal Knight Zero and Nurien. And if you take Ageia PPU games into account, that's a 10-0, by adding Cellfactor, and GRAW 1 and 2.
Also the CPU Havok lacks a lot of features that PhysX has (like advanced cloth and fluids in real time*) and although I suppose that the GPU Havok has those, they are new to developers. And no matter how you look at it, the API will be very different from the one in the CPU. So the already known factor won't have a big role here.
Considering what AMD said about PhysX and it's short lifespan, GPU Havok has a much shorter life even in AMDs mind so it's a dead end even before it has been demostrated. Nvidia at least believes in PhysX, but I highly doubt AMD sees this as much more than a short stop gap and a marketing tool to divert attention from PhysX and hey congrats AMD because it served it's purpose.
* There is an off-line or production Havok that is very different from the one in games, and that is the one used in Movies. If those movies would serve as any proof of Havoks superiority, I might as well say Nvidia has a much much better image quality, because MentalRay, it's production renderer and ray-tracer has been used in almost all mayor titles to some extent, or a good number of them. i.e Matrix trilogy. I say this just as an example that one good product doesn¡t automatically make all the similar ones from that company a better product. I'm just presenting a parallel example.
And 2k games. I forgot about 2k games.
Also to clear the record I've always loved the idea of GPU acceleration.
Lots of developers have stated they like the idea of GPU physics so it may be posible they adopt PhysX if there isn't any other one.
I was not talking about that anyway. The idea is simple, Havok (Intel) will probably win, as you said, I'm not saying the contrary, but that doesn't mean AMD will win with them, GPU Havok in AMD GPUs will probably never see the light of day (except for 1 or 2 titles), so we will loose both implementations.
Anyway when it comes to giving support to something, I couldn't care less what is going to be the winner. I will always support the one that I think is better for consumers. I'm seing how many in this forum, you included, seem to support Havok just because it has more chances of becoming the winner. That's stupid. If you think it will win buy accordingly when it comes the time, if you wish, but don't let that affect your mind and your words. It would have been much better for William Wallace to scream "mercy", but that wasn't what he had to do.
If intel makes it x86, then AMD can run it, via can run it, etc.
If they make it GPU capable, then at least they're getting paid for it in royalties.