PPU Refresh Cycles

S

Slo Gun

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 10, 2005
Messages
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Does anyone have any information on this, i know its early as they are not even out yet, but i was wondering if they are gonna be constantly refreshed like graphics cards. With a new products every 6 months that sends the older ones one the way to being oboslete, with new technology, or will they be more like sound cards. Where you can just buy one and know that its gonna get the job done and last for a good while before the new technology comes out.

What are peoples thoughts?
Anyone have any inside info?
Are they gonna tempt us into buying this new ppu then 6 months later bring out another one thats twice as powerful?
 
It probably depends on how well they sell. Since there is no direct competition I don't think they will be refreshed as much as video cards.
 
From what I had read about the Algia PPU was driver updates would enable more of the chip and not product upgrade. I bet it will be more like a sound card than a video card. The PPU initialy should have way more capabilities than what can be actualy used.
 
The current cards will receive feature updates via driver updates through 2006 and into 2007. Sometime after that they might come out with another one. They definitely won’t have a 6 month product cycle.
 
pettybone said:
..............
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And you point is? (no pun intended)

Seriously, I don't think that contributed to the topic much.


Anyway, yeah, I think it will be like a sound card. It will be a few years before we use it to it's full potential, and then the next one will be released, and it will be a few years again...etc.
 
HOCP4ME said:
And you point is? (no pun intended)

Seriously, I don't think that contributed to the topic much.


Anyway, yeah,.
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Your right and very observant. Good catch!
 
Remember how graphic cards show the image slightly differently from earlier generations?

How sure will you be now that your grenades will still bounce the same way, your bullets will hit the same places, or your rocket jump will still work when you get a new PPU card.
 
This is from one of Slamdunk's post which is a quote from this article.
PPU Life Cycle said:
One interesting aspect that came up during my discussions was the idea of a life cycle or product cycle for a PPU. In the world of GPUs, we are pretty used to seeing a new flagship product every 6-8 months from both NVIDIA and ATI. Because graphics is quite a bit more scalable than physics, this hasn’t really been an issue. But for physics programming that may require a separate physics card, the idea of having new cards out every 6 months can be gut wrenching. Would you like to be REQUIRED to buy a new PPU every 6 months for the latest titles to run on your system? Surely not.

AGEIA was adamant that this would not be the case for the foreseeable future. In fact, they have already seen the opposite occurring; upgraded firmware and drivers for the PPU has opened up new features and options to programmers on the same hardware. Cloth simulation is the first example of this as it wasn’t ready initially when the SDK went out to software developers but has since been perfected and added into physics engine, without a need for a hardware upgrade. AGEIA told me they feel that this will continue to happen through 2006 and into 2007 as the power of the PPU is being less utilized until the CPU and GPU can keep up.

Of course, that can’t happen indefinitely and when I asked specifically about new hardware with faster physics processing, they didn’t have much to say other than it would come, but not for "at least another year." My impression was that it would be even longer than that but of course no one would commit to anything. It is pretty obvious though that a market like this requires a certain stability that the GPU and CPU realms don’t need.
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Lord of Shadows said:
I wouldnt be surprised if the future pci-e version used the same processor.
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I would expect that, and hopefully they'll have that one by the time I'm ready for a system upgrade.
 
Thanks for all the replys fellas.
Think that answered my question. I mite well purchase one if they are gonna last two or three years.
Its taking the p155 otherwise imagine having to upgrade graphics and physics every year!! They are taking us for a ride if thats the case, i mean where will it stop....
I wonder what the next new card will be.
 
well i wont get one until i see some PCIe versions. how much more can my 7800GTX 512 get choked
 
Slo Gun said:
I wonder what the next new card will be.
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Ever hear of string theory. Will be coming to a mobo near you, later in the fall. Purchase tickets ahead of time. SPU bois.
 
I believe Ageia said that it would be a two year hardware refresh cycle, and inbetween that new firmware would add features and technologies to the current hardware.
 
pettybone said:
Ever hear of string theory. Will be coming to a mobo near you, later in the fall. Purchase tickets ahead of time. SPU bois.
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NOVA has a dvd that I rented from netflix about that. that was some wild stuff.
 
GotNoRice said:
The current cards will receive feature updates via driver updates through 2006 and into 2007. Sometime after that they might come out with another one. They definitely won’t have a 6 month product cycle.
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i hope so videocards are killing me already as is.. :eek:
 
I was talking more along the lines that in one year they will be using the same processor so there is no need for one to rebuy a new ppu.
 
Lord of Shadows said:
I was talking more along the lines that in one year they will be using the same processor so there is no need for one to rebuy a new ppu.
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I doubt there will be a need to buy one in the first place for a year.
 
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