For those of you that do not know, CUDA is a new thing by Nvidia that allows developers to use the parallel cores (up to hundreds, such as my 8800GT which as 128) on 8+ series GPUs. This new technology opens many doors to developers for calculations such as physics. It uses the C programing language and is already being used in many areas. I was thinking, with the massive processing power that CUDA offers to developers, it would be really great if Cortex Command could utilize it for physics processing. I say this because Cortex Command does not run very well on my (and I imagine many others) 1.8 GH/z Dual Core CPU and I am certain that using CUDA on Nvidia graphics cards would make the game run perfectly no matter what you throw at it. If this where to happen I am sure that many users will buy the game and gain more interest. The GPU is under-used in CC and this will help distribute hardware resources. With more processing power you can do so much more with games, like Ageia PhysX, which is being released on CUDA, thus allowing thousands of physics objects in game, and the use of real time 3D liquids. What do you think about implementing CUDA into Cortex Command?

As a side note, only Nvidia GPU's can utilize CUDA at the moment, ATI users will simply have to stick with their CPU's for the moment.

For more information on CUDA please visit the following links:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUDA

As nice as it is, there's one problem.
Not all people have Nvidia Graphics cards.
And Data probabily would like CC to be played by all people.
CUDA requires a Nvidia graphics card, which would be impossible for me to play.

Graphics card processors are optimized for 3d calculation.

CC is 2d. Any benefit offered from a graphics card would be from a secondary processor, which is at most going to add half a gigahertz of performance.

CC consumes the following: CPU cycles and RAM. While "CUDA" would offer CPU cycles, a few of them, it would not add any additional RAM, and, guaranteed, large physics events would still cause lag.

Yes, but it is not necessary optimized for 3D calculations, it is optimized for parallel calculations, like all physics and any other calculations such as Ray Tracing. That is the magic of CUDA, it can process heavy things much faster than a CPU due to it's massively parallel cores, which will help on any C application. Also it would still boost performance on Nvidia users. Also, if you are an ATI user, you can still play the game as it is now. I'm just suggesting that if Data implemented it, it would help some users out quite a bit.

So let's see.

If Data took the time to add this program to the game engine, which would certainly add even more time to whenever the next release will happen, here's who it would benefit.

1. The circle of people who have nvidia graphics cards.
2. The circle of people with high-end graphics cards.
3. The circle of people with low end processors.

Or more specifically, the people who are represented by all of the above.

I fail to see how this is a valid commercial decision.

Data himself said that there was not much chance with optimization for the GPU.

I bet Dual Core support would be more ideal, that is, if he hasn't already said that it is impossible.

I fulfill every one of those criteria.

Anyway, I'm sure ATI will come up with their own solution eventually. It'd be nice to have the option.

I don't think that CC uses it at all... So not only would Data have to implement CUDA, he would also have to implement GPUs in general. Both would take a while. A lot longer than simple (hah) optimization of the current code.

I'm sure that GPU support will come with time anyway.

I think what Grif is trying to say is that it would benefit a very SMALL amount of people.
Only you specifically

The PhysX functions recently introduced to Nvidia cards have already been ported to their ATI counterparts. Just wanted to point that out.

Edit: I have an 8800 GTX, and the extra power for when I choose to do something obscene like dropping a nuke on Numgun's Zorneus would come in handy.