NVIDIA has released a new version of their PhysX System Software. This driver supports all GeForce PhysX compatible video cards.

• Supports NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory.
• Experience GPU PhysX acceleration in many games and demos, some of which are highlighted in PowerPack downloads on www.geforce.com.
• Resolves PhysX SDK runtime issues with multi-GPU configurations in Hybrid environments.
• Improves performance of some PhysX enabled games on GeForce GTX 285 and GTX 295 products.
• Resolves occasional system crashes when PhysX is enabled on some systems when running on EA's Mirrors Edge.
• Runtime upgrade ONLY for AGEIA PhysX processors users. (New installations should install older PhysX system software such as version 8.09.04 - prior to installing this update).
• Includes the latest PhysX runtimes used in the latest game titles.
• Supports NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on GeForce via CUDA 2.0 for SDK versions 2.7.3, 2.7.2, 2.7.5, 2.8.0 and 2.8.1 (requires graphics driver v177.81 or later).
• Includes all the latest PhysX SDK Runtimes.
• Supports latest combines PhysX and SLI control panel featured in the latest GeForce drivers.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA PhysX System Software 9.09.0010 for Windows XP, Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit)

As NVIDIA celebrates the launch of its two new flagship products: the GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285, Sparkle made an addition to its mainstream graphics lineup with a 1 GB variant its GeForce 9600 GSO accelerator (model: SX96SO1024D3-HM). Traditionally, the G92 graphics processor in the 8800 GS, 9600 GSO should have a 192-bit memory bus, but with this particular card, Sparkle chose a 128-bit memory bus and added 1 GB of GDDR3 memory.

The card features a dual-slot cooler for the GPU. Its core is clocked at 550 MHz. Its 96 stream processors are clocked at 1375 MHz. The memory runs at 800 MHz (1600 MHz DDR). It supports NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX technologies and is SLI capable. It will be priced around US $100.

New NVIDIA BETA drivers have made their way to the web, providing GeForce GTX 295 testers with an early driver to test their shiny cards. These are the very same drivers that were used in the web previews of GeForce GTX 295 last week and are now available for everyone. Both drivers are dated December 12th, also included in the package is the latest PhysX software version 8.10.13. These drivers also supports all cards from the GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9 and GTX 200 series, and as mentioned the unreleased dual-GPU, dual-PCB GeForce GTX 295.

DOWNLOAD: Windows Vista 32-bit (180.88) | Windows Vista 64-bit (180.87)

NVIDIA slipped in an update to the PhysX System software, version 8.11.18. The piece of software serves as a backbone to the PhysX API, and is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit variants of Windows XP and Windows Vista. It provides hardware acceleration of PhysX with Ageia PhysX cards and graphics accelerators based on the NVIDIA GeForce 8 series, GeForce 9 series (with at least 256 MB of memory) and GeForce GTX 200 series. The software has been signed on 18 November, and is yet to replace version 8.10.29 from NVIDIA's software download portal.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA PhysX System Software 8.11.18.

In an interview with Godfrey Cheng, Director of Technical Marketing in AMD's Graphics Products Group, Bit-Tech.net has quoted him saying that standards such as PhysX would die due to their proprietary and closed nature. Says Mr. Cheng:

"There is no plan for closed and proprietary standards like PhysX," said Cheng. "As we have emphasised with our support for OpenCL and DX11, closed and proprietary standards will die."

Bit-Tech.net interviewed the AMD person to get the company's take on EA and 2K's decision to adopt NVIDIA PhysX across all of their worldwide studios, earlier this week. Interestingly, when asked about how the major publishers such as EA adopting PhysX across all of their studios would impact the propagation of the API, Cheng responded with saying that monetary incentives provided to publishing houses alone won't help a great deal in propagating the API, and that the product (PhysX) must be competitive, and that AMD viewed Havoc and its physics simulation technologies as leaders. "Games developers share this view. We will also invest in technologies and partnerships beyond Havok that enhances gameplay." he added. PhysX is a proprietary physics simulation API created by Ageia technologies, which was acquired and developed by NVIDIA. You can read the full Bit-Tech.net interview with Godfrey Cheng here.

NVIDIA adopted the marketing strategy of Graphics Plus, meaning that they intend to show their products as something more than just graphics hardware. The introduction of the CUDA GPGPU platform, and the subsequent introduction of GPU-acceleration physics in the form of NVIDIA PhysX helped the cause. The company released the Power Pack software delivery system back in August, which served as a mode for delivering not only system drivers, but also related content such as free games, technology demos, game demos, free software and software trials. The user can choose what to download, by customizing the Power Pack.

NVIDIA released Power Pack #2, the second major iteration, consisting of changes to the list of things that can be downloaded. The pack now includes Warmonger (full free game) with two new levels: Tombstone & Asylum. It includes three new tech demos, a PhysX accelerated screensaver, and most notably, trial versions of Power Director 7, TMPGENC XPRESS 4.6.2.266 and Badaboom media converter, all of which take advantage of GPU acceleration. Apart from these, the usual contents of Power Pack #1 are also included. At any point in time, the Power Pack includes the latest system drivers of NVIDIA Forceware, and PhysX system software. For more, please visit this page.

ASUS is proud to announce an exclusive partnership with NVIDIA in the creation of the most powerful DirectX (DX) 10 motherboard-the ASUS P5N7A-VM motherboard. A showcase of intelligent and innovative motherboard design, the P5N7A-VM features an LGA775 socket for Intel Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo processors and supports the GeForce 9300 / nForce 730i chipset and memory expansion of up to a maximum of 16 GB with four DDR2 800/667 dual channel memory slots. With support for Hybrid SLI, CUDA and PhysX graphics acceleration, the P5N7A-VM promises to be the most powerful DX10 motherboard in the consumer market today.

Following a news article about the launch of the 730i which we covered here, EVGA has launched its first motherboard based on the Nvidia 730i Chipset with onboard graphics. You can find out more information on EVGA's Product Page, and a video overview is available here.

EVGA is proud to announce the latest product to the EVGA Motherboard family; the EVGA nForce 730i. With support for DirectX 10 and NVIDIA GeForce Boost Technology, the EVGA nForce 730i represents the latest in graphics technology and can provide up to a 70% increase in overall visual performance! All of these innovations are combined to make the EVGA nForce 730i the best single GeForce Graphics platform available.

Get it all with from The Force Within: With support for NVIDIA PhysX and CUDA Technology, the EVGA nForce 730i will provide you a full spectrum of visual nirvana and unsurpassed graphics processing power.

NVIDIA released today the latest WHQL version of its NVIDIA PhysX System Software. Version 8.09.04 supports both Windows XP and Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit).


Release Highlights:

• Supports for NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory.
• Experience GPU PhysX acceleration in several full games and demos today by downloading the GeForce Power Pack.
• Supports AGEIA PhysX processors and software runtimes (no change to PPU driver support).
• Includes the latest PhysX runtimes used in the latest game titles.
• Supports the following NVIDIA PhysX runtime engines: 2.8.1, 2.8.0, 2.7.4, 2.7.3, 2.7.2, 2.7.1, 2.7.0, 2.6.x, 2.5.x, 2.4.x and 2.3.x
• Supports NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on GeForce via CUDA 2.0 for SDK versions 2.7.3, 2.7.2, 2.8.0 and 2.8.1 (requires graphics driver v177.81 or later).
• The PhysX control panel can be found in the Windows Start Menu under NVIDIA Corporation.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA PhysX System Software Version 8.09.04

The functionality of CUDA and its implementation of GPU-accelerated PhysX processing has benefited many a GeForce user. Users of ATI accelerators lacking this incentive either use Ageia PhysX card or avoid it altogether. It has been verified by Hardspell that in an environment where Radeon accelerator(s) do graphics processing, a GeForce accelerator can be used standalone to process PhysX. Hardspell used a Radeon HD 3850 along with a GeForce 9600 GT on the same system with the display connected to the Radeon, though no form of multi-GPU graphics connection existed, the GeForce card partnered the Radeon well in processing physics, while the Radeon did graphics. Results of the oZone 3D FluidMark, a benchmark that includes routines to evaluate the machine's capability in processing physics, showed a greater than 350% increase in scores, showing that the GeForce accelerator is doing its job.

NVIDIA and Futuremark's same studio will join their latest technologies in Shattered Horizon, the upcoming first-person shooter game which was officially unveiled last week at the Leipzig Games Convention in Germany. Shattered Horizon, a multiplayer first-person shooter developed by Futuremark Games Studio, will fully utilize NVIDIA's PhysX technology it was announced today. This leads us to believe that when released the game will feature a lot of goodies like totally destructive space environment, stunning lighting effects and zero gravity physics. "We are excited to be working with Futuremark on their first original game," said Roy Taylor, NVIDIA vice president of content relations. "By utilizing the advanced features that NVIDIA PhysX technology provides, Shattered Horizon will deliver a compelling, visual, and highly interactive experience to gamers." For more information on Shattered Horizon, please visit this page, a 130MB HD .wmv game trailer is also available for download here.

Often underappreciated by those who only casually play games, fast and accurate physical models and calculations are a key to a game's playability and realism. From the effect of explosions on nearby objects, to the impacts of car accidents, to how a character reacts when hit, physics is as important to realism as high-quality graphics. Because of this, Realtime Worlds' upcoming massively multiplayer online game, APB, will take advantage of NVIDIA GeForce GPUs and PhysX technology to enhance the game's free-form combat and real-time driving environments.

APB will bring players into a living, breathing city where cash is king and territory equals respect. Scheduled for release in 2009, APB is one of many titles to take advantage of NVIDIA PhysX technology, the world's most pervasive development platform for physics acceleration in interactive entertainment.

Now that the PhysX engine is a lot closer to every NVIDIA owner, new benchmarks designed to test these physics capabilities are unavoidable. First among many are the developers at oZone3D, releasing their first version of FluidMark, a physics benchmark based on NVIDIA's PhysX engine that measures the physics processing capabilities of CPUs, Ageia cards and OpenGL 2.0 compliant graphics card like NVIDIA GeForce 5/6/7/8/9/GTX200 (and higher), AMD/ATI Radeon 9600+, 1k/2k/3k/4k (and higher) or a S3 Graphics Chrome 400 series with the latest graphics drivers. This benchmark performs a fluid simulation by imitating the renderering of lava. Real physics parameters such as viscosity are used. SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) algorithm is enabled to increase the realism of the simulation. To test the FluidMark v1.0.0 please click here.

A new NVIDIA beta driver leaked today over the web space, enabling full PhysX support for all GeForce 9800 GTX, GeForce 9800 GTX+, GeForce GTX 260, GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce 9500 GT graphics cards. The download link for this driver is provided by our collegues over at Expreview. Download NVIDIA PhysX 8.07.18 driver from here. Also note that this release is considered a beta, use with caution and at your own risk. One final line before I finish, release 8.07.18 is also reported to work with GeForce 9600 GT and 8600 GT cards although they are not listed in the supported list.

NVIDIA Corporation has unveiled a new era of notebook PC gaming, featuring advanced rendering and physics effects that will transform gaming beyond what consumers know today. Enabling this evolution is a new generation of notebook PCs equipped with NVIDIA's newest GeForce 9800M and 9700M GPUs and featuring NVIDIA's PhysX physics engine. Perhaps the most significant advancements in PC gaming since DirectX 9, the new GPUs and PhysX will let notebook gamers enjoy the latest games in all their glory, experiencing ultra-realistic graphics and physical effects that mimic the real world, transforming their gaming into a truly cinematic experience.

Reports by TG Daily suggest that NVIDIA could release a WHQL-certified stable release PhysX driver that supports all capable GPUs GeForce 8 series thru 9-series and GTX 200 series. The driver would expand driver-level support to all PhysX-based game titles including the likes of Ghost Recon 2: Advanced Warfighter, Warmonger and Cell Factor: Revolution.

It is expected that downloads of free games such as Warmonger and Cell Factor could spike in August since the user-base of PhysX substantially increase then. The driver is expected to be out on the 5th of August.

NVIDIA has released two lines of high performance graphics processors (GPU) for the notebook PC market, the GeForce 9800M series and the 9700M series. These are sub-classified into GT and GTS for the 9700M and GT, GTS and GTX for the 9800M. These new GPUs provide a wide range of options for manufacturers to choose from and design high-performance gaming and multimedia notebooks.

These 9800M GTX GPU is based on the same G92 core, and will outperform its previous generation 8800M GTX that also happens to be based on the same core. The rest are based on the G94 and the newer G96 cores. These GPUs are CUDA compliant and will be able to accelerate game physics using the PhysX API. They support NVIDIA Hybrid Power technology. Simply put, on notebooks with integrated graphics processors (IGP) along with these GPUs, the system will be able to switch over to the IGP when not gaming, and switch over to the GPU when heavy graphics tasks are running (such as gaming, 3D rendering, HD Video acceleration, etc.). Speaking of video, these GPUs support Powervideo HD technology, includes VP2 acceleration. There's no information on these GPUs' fabrication technology yet. Specifications provided below.

With NVIDIA releasing their GeForce PhysX drivers, users of the PhysX accelerating GeForce cards were at an advantage over their Radeon counterparts, reason being that in a certain CPU test routine of the 3DMark Vantage benchmark, the physics processing abilities of the computer are tested, and since the physics API used happens to be PhysX, users of GeForce get higher scores despite not having a physics processor device such as an Ageia PhysX card. This differs from a real-life scenario where a GeForce accelerator does both graphics and physics and the overhead of physics processing affects the graphics processing abilities.

The relation of GPU acceleration for gaining higher 3DMark scores in physics tests has been controversial to say the least. Futuremark has now decided to update its Hall of Fame to exclude all results using PhysX on a GPU, simply because this was not how they intended it to work. It has also been updated to organise the results better for easier comparison. You will be able to use GPU physics processing to get a 3DMark score, you will not be able to make it to the Hall of Fame using it. You can use an Ageia PhysX card to assist your 3DMark score to make it to the Hall of Fame, as that's how Futuremark intended PhysX processing scores to assist your final scores.

Following the NGOHQ episode with devising software that lets users accelerate GPU-based NVIDIA PhysX API on Radeon accelerators, and with NVIDIA coming in support of such an effort, a general opinion was made that NVIDIA sought an industry-wide domination of CUDA as the de-facto general purporse graphics processing (GPGPU) architecture, with putting their investment of acquiring Ageia Technologies to good use by pushing the PhysX API. Although it comes as a good news for AMD that their graphics cards that are already optimized for Havoc physics could now support PhysX acceleration, it's not in the best interests of the company that they allow the growth of CUDA and components based on it to this extent, since AMD has its own FireStream line of products and a GPGPU architecture in the making.

TG Daily spoke with Richard Huddy, Manager of Worldwide Developer Relations, and Godfrey Cheng, Director of Product Marketing, two key individuals with AMD. When it comes to the most interesting question of PhysX implementation on Radeon, Mr. Cheng says that AMD has no problems encouraging the use of feature-enhancing 'middleware', and that they have no arguments in NVIDIA going ahead with propogating their PhysX middleware as long as they don't put Radeon accelerators into a unfair disadvantage.

Eran Badit of the NGOHQ ATI PhysX driver fame now joins the NVIDIA developer program. In a more assertive statement, he believes that NVIDIA wants to "take on Intel with CUDA and to deal with the 'latest' Havok threat from both AMD and Intel.".

In a conversation with TG Daily, Roy Taylor, vice president of developer relations for NVIDIA says: "Eran and I have been talking via email and we have invited him to join NVIDIA's registered developer program. We are delighted at his interest in CUDA and in GPU accelerated physics using PhysX. Eran joins a long line of developers who are now working on using the GPU to run physics and who are doing so with the world's leading physics software - PhysX. "

Derek Perez, in charge of Nvidia's PR department, joined Taylor with this statement:
"We'll help any and all developers are using CUDA. That includes tools…documentation…and hands on help. We're delighted with the interest in CUDA and PhysX; and that includes the news on www.ngohq.com."

Once feared by many for aggressively defending its intellectual property, NVIDIA seems to have changed its approach towards things. In a bid to popularize their technology, it is willing to give the 'PhysX advantage' to even its competitor, AMD. But it still remains to be seen if PhysX performs on Radeon "the way it's meant to perform", now with Eran Badit working in close collaboration with NVIDIA. He says he still awaits samples from AMD so he could devise PhysX drivers for them. Surely NVIDIA has brought in good days for small developers with big aspirations.

Amidst this whole 'nGOHQ' saga, and us getting astonished at the way things turned out, here's what we missed:

NVIDIA is in talks with AMD over a possible technology-transfer agreement over PhysX, say industry sources in Hong Kong. In a not-so-recent article by HKEPC, it is said:

In a dramatic turnaround of events, NGOHQ.com, the creators of a special system software that allowed users of the ATI Radeon graphics accelerators to use proprietary features of NVIDIA graphics accelerators such as GPU-accelerated version of the NVIDIA PhysX game physics API, claim that in fact NVIDIA wanted to help them with this effort. On June, the 26th we had covered reports of the said outfit improvising a driver after proving that NVIDIA's proprietary GPGPU architecture, CUDA was flexible enough to work on a ATI RV670 graphics processor.

Eran Badit of NGOHQ.com successfully modified NVIDIA CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) to operate on an ATI GPU and has been able to run the NVIDIA PhysX layer on an RV670, the Radeon HD 3850.

He tells that enabling PhysX support on Radeon cards is not particularly difficult, leading us to believe that physics on graphics cards may not so much be a technology problem but an issue of corporate dynamics.

On his first run, Eran got a 22,606 CPU score in 3D Mark Vantage, enhancing the overall score to P4262. A comparable system without PhysX-support will cross the finish line at about P3800.

NVIDIA Releases Beta PhysX Driver For Public

NVIDIA releases the beta driver 177.39 for PhysX support on some GeForce GPU's. They have also said that a new stable driver, the WHQL 177.44 sans PhysX support would be released later today.

Depending on your Windows setup, you can download the driver from these locations: (please note, it is a beta driver, refer to the "Products Supported" tab for a list of supported products)

32-bit Windows Vista | 64-bit Windows Vista
32-bit Windows XP | 64-bit Windows XP