NVIDIA Buys Over AGEIA!

This morning, we had an emergency conference call with NVIDIA. Apparently, they had something urgent to announce. You couldn't possibly guess what it was. Neither did we.

Over the last few months, NVIDIA has been steadily buying up companies that add value and expertise. Their most recent purchase was the Finnish mobile graphics outfit, Hybrid Graphics. But that changes today with NVIDIA's acquisition of AGEIA!

What does that mean for us users? Let's talk to NVIDIA.

Tech ARP : Wow.. That was some purchase!

NVIDIA : Yes, but it was in the pipeline for some time now. We only finalized the deal with AGEIA moments ago.

Tech ARP : Really? Why? Don't you already have SLI Physics?

NVIDIA : We decided that running physics on the GPUs just wasn't going to cut it, not even with the amount of power our GPUs have.

Tech ARP : Does this have anything to do with ATI?

NVIDIA : ATI has always been a bunch of useless also-rans. We will always be ahead of them, even in physics. No matter what they do, they will always be second place.

Tech ARP : Err.. Okay.. But since ATI starts with the letter A, won't they always be first in the alphabetical order, phone books, name lists, etc?

NVIDIA : Fine. ATI can have the telephone books. We want the rest of the world.

Tech ARP : Okay.. Coming back to AGEIA, does this mean you will be integrating the AGEIA PhysX processor into NVIDIA cards?

NVIDIA : Initially, yes. But eventually, we will integrate the PhysX silicon into every NVIDIA GPU. It will probably double our transistor count but hey, if ATI wants to play the numbers game, we can do it with transistor count too!

Tech ARP : What about SLI Physics and Havok FX?

NVIDIA : We will continue to support SLI Physics and Havok FX, but eventually we want the PhysX silicon to handle physics acceleration, leaving the GPU to do what it does best - graphics!

Tech ARP : Err.. Isn't this kind of reversing your opinions recently that using the GPUs to do physics was the future, instead of going the AGEIA way with dedicated PPUs?

NVIDIA : Not so. We have to remain on top of the game. ATI may be slamming a lot of crap on us, but we will make sure the suckers eat dirt! Buying AGEIA will allow us to do just that.

Tech ARP : So, there's no threat from ATI, even though they are trashing your cards by 50% or more?

NVIDIA : ATI has never been good for anything but vapourware. With AGEIA on our side, we will make them eat so much dirt, Canada will disappear off the face of the Earth!

Tech ARP : But will this mean an increase in price for NVIDIA graphics cards that come with the PhysX processor? Or will NVIDIA continue to produce cheaper cards without the PhysX processor?

NVIDIA : Not at all. We not only intend to integrate the PhysX processor for free, we will now price our cards at least 20% cheaper than ATI's cards. If we have a vision for the next 5 years, it's to drive ATI into the ground, once and for all. When that happens, maybe we will buy those boys out and then we will be at the top of the telephone books too.

Conclusion

Man, that was some trip, wasn't it? ATI trashing NVIDIA in physics acceleration and then NVIDIA buying up AGEIA.

Will we see NVIDIA cards with PhysX processors soon? Will there be a new generation of NVIDIA GPUs, with integrated PhysX silicon? Will NVIDIA actually start selling their cards at 20% below ATI cards? Does it sound like a dream?

Maybe it is.... Maybe it's not. Only time will tell.