[CaptainHaplo]

The idea of a physics card is NOT directly graphix related here folks. While they do contribute to better graphics - the idea is more along the idea of deformable terrain, destructable objects, etc. The ability to process calculations for HOW an explosion or object would react in real life is the whole goal. For many, with SH4 - a large "chain reaction" set of explosions can cause a brief hiccup or stutter - like when an ammo bunker pops. The goal of physics processing is to accurately model what happens to the shockwave, and all the objects affected by it. PGU's are built with a different instruction set than a graphics card.

What the result is - is more "lifelike" and "realistic" effects - which SHOWS thru the graphics. But stuff like bloom, transparency, etc are still handled by the GPU. Right now - most "physic" calculations are still done by the main CPU - which is not the optimal solution.

The first generation of PhysiX cards are limited due to support having to be built IN Game. However, there is rumbles that DX10 may (in theory) autosupport such hardware in that physic calcs are offloaded to the PGU. I haven't definitive proof, but w/ DX10 and a card - SH4 doesnt stutter on sequenced explosions. Same rig under xp w/ DX9c - small stutter... DX11 is supposed to fully support this. When the hardware is available for it - DX will use it. Its technically reasonable of an idea to force that thru an extension standard like DX. I don't know enough to be able to say for sure - but I would bet that it will be fully in 11 given what i have seen in 10.

As for GPU's mounting a physics card - while its possible I would expect that they would avoid it. As it is, the throughput speed across the interface (AGP/PCIe) is usually the limiter - trying to offload more data to the card just uses up that pipeline that is already maxed pushing the vid data. Why suck up bandwidth that you need to make the card faster? Doesn't make sense.

With multi-threading and prediction pipelines already in place - its not unreasonable to use a (relatively) slow PCI interface to allow a PGU to process data and return results to the cpu for use as needed. As an example - you fire a HE shell at a destructable target, the CPU instruction set "predicts" the impact as the shell is fired and travels. It estimates the impact area, then offloads the explosion calcs to the physics card - which processes it and returns it - so by the time the shell impacts, the pc has already done the explosion and just has to draw it. While the travel time to us is short - to the PC its more than enough time to perform the task as laid out. And so you are given a "deformed" impact area along with more realistic explosions - eye candy that wouldn't be possible without stutter except with the use of a physics card.

As games continue to get more and more complex, the need to handle such events will be more advanced. So yes - expect "PhysiX" cards to become more and more prevalent as time passes. Hope this helps clarify why they may be included on your next gaming rig wish list.