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PhysX and CUDA Apps for GeForce 8, 9 and 200 Series Graphics Cards Are Live
Posted by Matt Buchanan at 2:15 AM on August 13, 2008
Rumours of imminent high fail rates notwithstanding, today's a pretty good day to own any GeForce 8 series or higher desktop graphics card, since they all get PhysX support with a free download (three PhysX-juiced UT3 maps are free too). Also tapping the CUDA goodness is badaboom, an insanely fast video transcoder, Folding@Home and a couple of tech demos--Nvidia showed me the Fluids demo on a GTX 280, and it was pretty neat. I'm snagging this stuff right now, actually. [Nvidia]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
mdawg4624
Posted 2:41 AM 13/8/08
so the games have to support phsyx as well in order to take advantage of the new software?
mdawg4624
The-Llamalizer
Posted 2:37 AM 13/8/08
Great! Now where's the support for us laptop users?
"GeForce 8-Series or later desktop GPU required."
Common. Really?
The-Llamalizer
lilaliendog
Posted 2:32 AM 13/8/08
your snagging it now to play on your nvidia card which will blow up in t minus 10-9-8-7...
lilaliendog
Kirk Douglas
Posted 2:29 AM 13/8/08
Free equates to fun!
Kirk Douglas
Aristeia
Posted 2:26 AM 13/8/08
@OMG! Ponies! Deservs It: nah, not retarded. i'm kicking myself for sticking w/ 32 bit. Having 4 gigs of ram show up as just under 3 = hella fuggin lame.
Yeah, i'm downloading this now. My 8800 GTX needs a good work out. I hope this is as awesome as I've been imagining it, hehe.
Aristeia
Th3Chos3n0n3
Posted 2:25 AM 13/8/08
This is so awesome. Thanks Nvidia :)
Th3Chos3n0n3
Tikitiki
Posted 2:23 AM 13/8/08
Awesome. This should finish off my somewhat glitchy 8600M GT once and for all. Can't wait to try it.
Tikitiki
OMG! Ponies! Deservs It
Posted 2:22 AM 13/8/08
Evidentally, NVidia has 64-bit driver support too. Perfect for retards like me who installed a 64-bit version of Vista.
OMG! Ponies! Deservs It
leemajors
Posted 3:03 AM 13/8/08
valve not supporting this? i don't see any iD games either...
leemajors
matt buchanan
Posted 3:00 AM 13/8/08
@OMG! Ponies!: What do you think I run? 64-bit really doesn't suffer from neglect like it used to, so I think it's finally safe to jump in for anyone who knows what 64-bit is.
@The-Llamalizer: Thanks, added.
matt buchanan
JEmlay
Posted 3:22 AM 13/8/08
It's about DAMN TIME Nivida jumped into the F@H arena. I look forward to checking that out!
JEmlay
Norcross
Posted 3:19 AM 13/8/08
@OMG! Ponies! Deservs It: I'm rockin the 64 bit on 3 machines, wouldn't think of going 32 bit anymore.
Now, given that I don't play games at all, what benefits does this offer me?
Norcross
Log1c
Posted 3:17 AM 13/8/08
@leemajors: Valve uses Havok, PhysX is a competing product.
@OMG! Ponies! Deservs It: Yupola, I prefer to thing of us as the "awesomsauce brigade". Plus with the new 1GB and up graphics cards, 64 bit OS's are a necessity.
Log1c
Eruanno
Posted 3:17 AM 13/8/08
What does this do, and how does this benefit my Geforce 8600 GT? :P
Eruanno
paulrules
Posted 3:14 AM 13/8/08
30 day TRIAL? Where can I pirate it! :D
paulrules
MagnoliaBoy
Posted 3:08 AM 13/8/08
Hurrah! I know what I'm doing when I get home tonight! CUDA is GOODA!
MagnoliaBoy
eilegz
Posted 3:43 AM 13/8/08
well 8 series mean laptop geforce 8400 will be suppoted right?
eilegz
MagnoliaBoy
Posted 4:41 AM 13/8/08
@Norcross: Norcross, as in GA? I'm in Norcross...
MagnoliaBoy
Log1c
Posted 4:24 AM 13/8/08
@eilegz: No. desktop only. Most laptop manufacturers use a custom set of drivers specific to each laptop, that is why you never go directly to nvidia for your laptop drivers.
@Norcross: Video decoding and conversion software (I think) which should run lots of times faster than on your cpu.
Log1c
Norcross
Posted 5:04 AM 13/8/08
@Log1c: hmmm...worth a shot. I've got a GEForce 8400 GS running a 22" WS Samsung LCD on DVI and a 17" Dell LCD on the VGA.
@MagnoliaBoy: no...Norcross, as in "last name". Although, I am a very distant relative of the guy they named the town after (4th mayor of Atlanta, I believe).
Norcross
thor79
Posted 5:22 AM 13/8/08
@JEmlay: It's my understanding that there has been an nVidia client for F@H for a while now.
I loaded up the new drivers and naturally wanted to test them out....unfortunately City of Heroes doesn't seem to recognize the PhysX support that the drivers load up. Looking at the PhysX property panel it distinguishes between GeForce PhysX support and an AGEIA PhysX processor. So my guess is games will have to be written to take advantage of PhysX support in Geforce GPUs. :(
thor79
rdldr1
Posted 5:58 AM 13/8/08
Its about time! I cant believe I spent $300 on a video card.
rdldr1
Log1c
Posted 6:10 AM 13/8/08
@Norcross: Yeah you might be okay because you actually have a dedicated graphics card. usually with laptops its that onboard crap which makes updating video drivers hell.
Log1c
itchytooth
Posted 7:09 AM 13/8/08
@Log1c: Okay, responding to your response to Norcross, I don't really game on my HTPC, but if this could help with DVD ripping in Handbrake I'm very interested.
I guess I'll go give it a look-see.
itchytooth
Log1c
Posted 7:33 AM 13/8/08
@itchytooth: I don't any video converting so I can't tell you if its program specific or if it applies to any video transcoding.
But it can't hurt to try!
Log1c
TigerClaw305
Posted 8:41 AM 13/8/08
I tried it earlier with the UT3 pack and it ran smoothly, I'm running on a P4 3.20Ghz with 2GB of ram and a Geforce 8600 GTS.
One thing to note is that they will have to create new patches to support the Nvidia Physx as the games with Agiea Physx built in will not support it.
TigerClaw305
wooties
Posted 8:32 AM 13/8/08
Here's the driver's modified for your laptops:
[forum.notebookreview.com]
I've installed them on my xps1530, but haven't really tested. I doubt the 8600gt is tough enough to do both graphics and physx. But new drivers are always fun.. right?
wooties
Bamboo
Posted 9:16 AM 13/8/08
I am also running Vista 64 on 2 computers and have for almost a year. No problems yet, and I have used my computer at 3.5 gigs of active RAM.
I can't believe I paid $375 for a 8800GTS 640mb. It was by far the most expensive part of my computer, and yet is still the bottleneck. Of course a month later the 8800GT got released, which was over $100 and beat my card in many tests.
Now I am getting constant BSOD from my nvidia drivers, and everywhere I look in tech forums, other people are having the same problems.
Bamboo
OMG! Ponies! Deservs It
Posted 10:41 PM 13/8/08
UPDATE: If you're thinking of upgrading your laptop to 64-bit Vista, do your research first. Track down your drivers in 64-bit format and have them at the ready after your done.
I've learned that laptops upgrade differently from desktops. THere is hardware that you might have to never use again. It might be no big loss if you never plan on using it, though. I don't anticipate using my i-motion on my VAIO.
It does help encoding.
OMG! Ponies! Deservs It
Posted 7:57 AM 15/8/08
@thor79:
Nope, there is an ATI specific client on their site and no Nvidia specific client.
latersooner
Posted 12:18 PM 15/8/08
Put a fork through it mine is almost done! My MacBook Pro purchased on 4/08 is awaiting a new Logic Board due to the rapidly failing 8600m GT. It may have put my 30 inch Cinema screen in permanent altered states too. Apple acted surprised! The Mac Genius said I was the first to arrive! They certainly weren't very reassuring about the problem nor the fix. Just, come back when we tell your new board is in.
latersooner