AMD to pair CPUs, GPUs with Intel's physics tech
Cry Havok
AMD is partnering with Intel to improve the way its graphics chips can handle physics and other scientific calculations.
Well, sort of. AMD's actually working with Intel subsidiary Havok, which the chip giant acquired last year. Havok operates separately from Intel to develop its Havok FX physics processing API, which allows developers to code up such algorithms to run on GPUs rather than CPUs.
It's main rival was Ageia, developer of a similar API and a dedicated chip, PhysX, to run the calculations. Ageia, however, is now part of Nvidia, which is understandably playing down PhysX while promoting Ageia's software technology as a way of running physics calculations on its own GPUs.
All this stuff is going to run on discrete graphics chips, so it makes more sense for AMD to partner with an Intel company, which isn't competing with it - yet - in the discrete GPU market.
The partnership will ensure that Havok FX can take full advantage of the idiosyncracies of AMD's Radeon GPU architecture and of its x86 processors.
Games, in particular, are increasingly incorporating algorithms that can model complex interactions between players and the worlds they inhabit. Traditionally, these calculations have been handled by the CPU, but they're better suited to the GPU's parallel-processing design, which whizzes through them while the general-purpose CPU would struggle.
COMMENTS
Graphics chips in consoles
The PS3 uses an NVIDIA chip, RSX. The Xbox 360 and Wii use AMD/ATI chips: Xenos and Hollywood.
@Gregg Bond/kain preacher
Kelvin is an absolute scale. You don't talk about 'N degrees Kelvin', it's just 'N Kelvin'.
@Gregg Bond
Scientists in hell have managed to achieve 0 degrees Kelvin, Satan is quoted as saying "It's a trifle chilly".
1
They lied its really only 3ºK
@Phil Hare
Because Havok has an SPE optimised version. You don't have enough spare processing power on either the 360 or PS3 graphics chips to do physics.
@Phil Hare
IIRC both the Xbox and the PS3 use ATI based designs, futhermore Havok is more of an API, like Direct X to allow for complex physics to be coded easier and be more realistic.
