search technology reviews, news, features, group tests
Popular Searches:   video , dvd , dell
 |  Register
 |  Newsletters  | 
Sitemap  |  RSS
RSS
Sunday November 22, 2009 12:49 PM AEST
Skip Navigation LinksPC Authority > News > Nvidia's bastille stormed by hackers
Nvidia's bastille stormed by hackers
NEWS

Nvidia's bastille stormed by hackers

by Nick Farrell  on Oct 6, 2009
Tags: nvidia | graphics
Nvidia's refusal to let its users do what they like with the cards they have bought has sparked a backlash amongst hackers.

Nvidia miffed some gamers when it decided to block a feature on its cards to allow its card to be used for PhysX functions while a rival ATI card is present for graphics rendering.

With the release of a new batch of drivers, Nvidia stopped any non-Nvidia GPU present in the system from working.

Its latest version of PhysX System Software also prevents physics processing unit (PPU) cards from working if a Non-Nvidia GPU is present.

The Green Goblin insists that it is not going against the open software philosophy of Physx with its antics.

It says that any company can freely develop hardware or software that supports it. It is just that it is not going to be caught dead encouraging people to install a chip that is not blessed by Nvidia in their machines.

That appears to be what a hacker who goes by the handle of GenL has done.

He has written an experimental beta patch that intercepts Nvidia's disable-PhysX-if-Radeon-is-present code.

It can be found here and we reckon it will sail up the nasal passages of Nvidia.

According to the forum the patch works jolly well even if it only works for PhysX GPU rendering and not PPU rendering.

GenL said it is still a work in progress.

 

theinquirer.net (c) 2009 Incisive Media
Email a Friend Email this
Print Page Print this
Tweet This Tweet this
Feedback Send us your tips


Ads by Google

Comments

Be the first to comment on this article.
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Login or register to submit a comment.
 

Top Stories

Box battle: Telstra takes on TiVo and Foxtel with T-Box trial in Melbourne
It's not quite Foxtel IQ and it's isn't TiVo either. The T-Box lets Telstra users watch movies and TV from the Bigpond site, as well as record and watch digital TV
 
5 More Free Linux Apps You Can't Do Without
More digital Swiss Army knife software, including Linux utilities and tools that are so useful you won't know how you ever did without them
 
Microsoft delivers Office 2010 public beta
Vendor details editions for Office 2010 along with application virtualisation for testing.
 


 
Intel
 
 
LogMeIn
 
 
Amazing Dell Coupons now available
 
Discover Apple