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NVidia Cripples PhysX "Open" API
An anonymous reader writes "In a foot-meet-bullet type move, NVidia is going to disable PhysX engine if you are using a display adapter other than one that came from their company. This despite the fact that you may have an NVidia card on your system specifically to do this type of processing. 'For a variety of reasons some development expense, some quality assurance and some business reasons Nvidia will not support GPU accelerated PhysX with Nvidia GPUs while GPU rendering is happening on non-Nvidia GPUs.' Time to say hello to Microsoft dx physics or Intel's Havok engine."
Why is this not anti-trust? When you paid for the nVidia card to put into your machine why should its functions depend on whether or not a competitors hardware is present? What if Windows said uh-oh you have Linux installed on another partition, disabling Windows...
Shh.
...will it my $TERM faster?
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First they scoop up PhysX and try to create a market for PPUs. Now the only way PhysX is ever going to get any use is out of pure coincidence. Not the smartest move for Nvidia to make when Ati/AMD is on their heels with a new line of cards.
That's a new record for a Microsoft product. Lesser of two evils? Okay, occasionally. But a lesser of three!? There's hope for them yet!
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
From the NVIDIA PhysX FAQ:
Can I use an NVIDIA GPU as a PhysX processor and a non-NVIDIA GPU for regular display graphics?
No. There are multiple technical connections between PhysX processing and graphics that require tight collaboration between the two technologies. To deliver a good experience for users, NVIDIA PhysX technology has been fully verified and enabled using only NVIDIA GPUs for graphics.
Its anti-consumer, but that doesn't trigger an anti-trust charge, they don't have a monopoly.
Why does everyone scream like its illegal when a company does something they don't like? Unless they are king of the hill and using their powers to force others into capitulating with them, its not an issue for the courts. You don't have to buy nVidia. You don't have to use PhysX. You don't have to buy a Voodoo 3 card. Sure a game may only support one of the above, but thats not something that justifies going after nVidia unless they owned the market.
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What about a CRT is outdated? It has better black levels, faster refresh, and higher brightness than an LCD. It's analog but good cabling will still result in a crystal clear image. I think the primary disadvantages of CRTs is that widescreen is so costly as to be impractical. They are heavy. And they suck a lot of power. but in terms of image quality a CRT is still extremely good.
CRTs are "outdated" because businesses want to sell LCDs. Flat and light is sexy. And LCDs sold like crazy back when the image quality was dramatically inferior to a CRT, and it took them years to catch up.
CRT technology is not obsolete, but the marketing of CRTs is dead. If you want to argue that we should use technology based on marketability alone, be my guest. I suspect most slashdotters will rip into you pretty brutally.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
They didn't drop support for "CRT's". They decided that their stereographics driver would only work in the following configurations:
- anaglyph glasses with a "whatever" monitor (horrible color distortion and headache-inducing ghosting ensues).
- *THEIR* shutter glasses, with *THEIR* overpriced "partnered" LCD monitors.
Now, what is the difference (tech-wise) between their shutter glasses and mine? Only the fact that theirs send a specific "yes I'm nvidia" signal back to the card. What is the capability difference between their overpriced "partnered" LCD monitors and my 120Hz-capable CRT? Two things: Jack and Shit.
This is not about "dropping support for outdated technology." Prior to what they pulled, I could plug in an industry-standard shutter glasses set made by any of a number of manufacturers, combine them with any monitor capable of 120-Hz refresh (whether CRT, LCD, certain televisions, or even a few projector models), and enjoy stereoscopic gaming. After their "update" to the drivers and subsequent "update" to the stereoscopic drivers, the Nvidia cards would only recognize *THEIR* proprietary glasses (which again, hardware-wise are no different than the old type save for sending a "hi I'm from nvidia" signal to the card) and would only interoperate with a precious few "specially chosen" 120Hz LCD's.
This had nothing to do with "dropping support" for "obsolete equipment" (which wasn't in any way, shape, or form) and everything to do with trying to milk people for $500+ on a new rig by forcibly crippling industry-standard hardware.
That's a new record for a Microsoft product. Lesser of two evils? Okay, occasionally. But a lesser of three!? There's hope for them yet!
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you mean like this?