Alright, someone needs to break this down for the new kid...

I just got a 7900GT, so does that mean if i wanted these "Havok FX"s i would have to buy a new video card? Or is this a driver type deal i can just download? If not, could i get away with buying another 7900GT with the Havok FX and put it in SLi and it would work? Or would both cards need it? I'm lost?

I like this concept! Imagine Havok FX running on a X1900 series with those 48 shaders it has..... If this really takes off, Ageia will be toast... Just like it should be

This might make next generation games that use these APIs work better on systems that have an older processor.

I've been thinking of updating my AGP graphics card (Radeon 9500) to a more modern AGP card - 7600GS or 7800GS - just to improve a couple of games I have which I can't run at my LCD's native resolution. I don't want to buy a whole new system for PCIe graphics though. I only have a 2GHz Athlon XP though, so at some point it isn't going to be a balanced system.

This technology would balance things better in such a setup - however I think that in such situations it will be a choice between graphical physics effects or no effects, as they won't affect gameplay. Then again, I'm a sucker for graphics.

Just yesterday got a 7800GS AGP. How's that for timing. (not that it'll amount to much) Still have a PCI slot or two waiting for a PPU!

Erm, am I missing something here...? If you have a single card, and you're running Havok stuff on it, won't this slow down your graphics performance quite a bit? And if you're using an entire GPU from your SLi setup... might you not just buy a PhysX card instead of a second 7900GTX...

This just doesn't make any sense to me.

i wonder if the "effects" physics really can take full advantage of a higher end 7800/7900 card. It might be possible to mix a 7900 for graphics with a 6600 for "effects" physics. maybe nvidia can reuse nv40 chips on cards without vga/dvi out.

Unlocked 16/6 Leadtek 6800LE for the win!

I think the 6 series wont be of that good as they cant even run today's generation games at high speed. Yes but 7 series will be of better use as specially the SLI systems.... Good going NVIDIA..

Now that AGEIA's card has been delayed by several months, this could really kill it. Why pay for a separate new-technology PCI card when your current CPU and GPU can do a good job with physics right now with a mature technology [Havok]? Smart move by Nvidia.

but NVIDIA says developers are quite happy about the prospect of implementing a technology that can take advantage of an existing installed base.

How big a "base" is this?

Now that AGEIA's card has been delayed by several months, this could really kill it.

AGEIA's only future from the start was chapter 11.

This didn't kill it, it was already stillborn.

Hardocp has an article on it here: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTAwNSwxLCxoZW50aHVz...

This bit sounds promising:

The latest incarnation, Havok FX, includes some very enticing features; namely using Shader Model 3.0 GPUs for physics calculations. Notice we didn’t say “NVIDIA GPUs only.” Technically Havok FX will work with any Shader Model 3.0-capable GPU to help game developers utilize those GPUs to help offload physics.

I prefer modular approach of AGEIA, moreover it's not limited to effects physics... I think it's way better that you can make all movements and particles affect gameplay...

Still, good job nvidia...

EDIT: I am wondering about install base problems with PhysX, I installed SDK and effects work just fine in software emulation... All you need to do is not to write custom physics simulation but rather use AGEIA SDK...

Then again latencies....

I prefer it being CPU or GPU based, even if it take some performance. Rather than to buy a 250$ extra addon card with its own fan and noise.

s/whose a non-existent/whose nonexistent/g

And nVidia is going for the jugular