Nvidia Adding PhysX Processing to Existing GPUs Next Week, Developers Line Up with Support

Nvidia GeForce 8, GeForce 9, and GeForce GTX 200-series cards will support the new physics acceleration initially.

PhysX began as Ageia Technologies' attempt at a dedicated hardware physics processor. The idea of an expensive physics processing card never took off, and Nvidia purchased Aegia in February of this year, announcing that it would directly incorporate Aegia's technology into its line of cards.

Game support for PhysX includes released titles such as Epic's Unreal Tournament 3. Users can download the free PhysX Mod map pack, a collection of three UT3 maps that show off special effects such as twirling tornadoes and particle-based hail.

Nvidia claims that PhysX support is also being added to upcoming projects like EA DICE's Mirror's Edge, Creative Assembly's Empire: Total War, and Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands.

Early benchmarks predictably indicate that turning on the flashy PhysX effects will cost users several frames of performance.

For a look at a PhysX-enabled UT3 map, check out the video below. [videofeature]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkfVoWiCU3w[/videofeature]