AGIEA PhysX PPU, the Physical Processing Unit

Anandtech has an article about the AGEIA PhysX PPU. The PPU (physical processing unit) is a unit which deals with the increasingly advanced physics engines used by today's latest games (e.g. Half Life 2).

Much like what a GPU does for a CPU, the PPU will handle the physics processing of the game/application allowing the CPU more cycles for other tasks.

The chip will probably be offered as an add-in card/chip which will use GDD3 to keep costs down. However it could be possible that it will be integrated into future graphic cards.

This to me sounds like it could have huge potential, and could lead to a more modulated and parallel approach to modern gaming hardware.

Read it here