I'm considering buying a reasonably priced and low power Nvidia Physx card to go with my ATi 5970 for a new build. Obviously, it doesn't need to be strong on the graphics side of things, just solid enough for Physx. I know about the driver "issues", and the need for patches etc. so don't worry as far as that goes. I've briefly looked around here and elsewhere, but not seen anything conclusive. Any suggestions? Recommendations for a specific brand/version would be welcome.
I had a GTX250 for Physx but from I have read a 9800 is the min you need' A 8800gt will do it but not well.
Personally I've found PhysX runs fine on modern multi-core CPUs, there's no need for a dedicated PhysX co-processor. Shattered Horizon is a game that makes a lot of use of PhysX and that runs very well on my i7-920 and HD5850. The CPU is a bit overkill and I would expect similar performance from an i5 or Phenom II series processor.
I was curious and tried to do a quick google search on the subject only to be sent back to bit tech by the first result I found... Damn you internet gods ! Why won't you let me leave bit-tech ? What is the main loss when there is no physx ? For example for a game like Bad Company 2, what happens to crumbling buildings if you only have an ATI card ?
its a sign, you've posted too much and have too much respect, no you cannot leave! One of us! One of us! One of us!
Comparison vid Hmm... so would my 980x be suited to deal with Physx at a good quality level - thus making a dedicated card rather redundant?
Erm what?! 8800GT = 9800GT For physx a GT240/9600gt is more than enough. Anything slower than a 9500gt (8600gt) will cause perform drops rather than increases.
gt240 is prolly the best card in terms of efficiency - it doesnt need separate power and is single slot (the zotac one at least)
Have spent a while checking reviews and figures, and the GT240 looks to be just what I am after. Low power (with the Zotac line doing particularly well here) and solid Physx performance. Thank you all! =)
everything he said. Bumsrush's whole post is talking about a single nVidia product: G92 chip. gt240 is on par (a bit better actually) than 9600GT, 9600GT is absolute minimal you should be looking at. saw a GT320 on the bay as well, should have even better power efficiency, but it went for over £60 due to it's special. in-case you need this: http://www.ngohq.com/graphic-cards/17706-hybrid-physx-mod-v1-03-a.html
its been confirmed as a bug: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3744/...terogeneous-gpu-physx-its-a-bug-not-a-feature in the latest WHQL release the limitation will still be there.
F**KING B*****D C**T BADGERS!!! I hate, HATE the fact that Nvidia have done this with PhysX. They actually have to go to the effort of disabling it when an ATI GPU is present. I hope many people managed to get hold of the 'buggy' drivers and put them up for download. Anyway. To the OP: the minimum you want is a 9800GT. Only Nvidia cards can run PhysX, so even though your 980x is awesome, it can't run it.
Confused So is this true that all those that currenty have ati cards will see a benefit adding an additional Nvidia card for Physx?? I currently have two 5870's in crossfire so will I see any improvements at all as my cards appear to beast battlefield at the moment?
If a game supports PhysX, you'll benefit from it. You'll have to use some unofficial workarounds though .
"its been confirmed as a bug" Ah ha ..yes, but no! Whatever label/reason you, or more importantly nVidia, wish to assign to it, in the beta version of 257.15 driver update, the ability to run a hybrid PhysX set up remains and will continue do so... http://blogs.nvidia.com/ntersect/2010/05/update-on-release-256-physx-support-1.html In short, nVidia are not taking the 257beta driver, with the PhysX/Ati open door, down, now or anytime soon. If someone would like to post a walk-thru for installing a nVidia card and this driver, where an Ati card and Catalyst is already present, I for one would be grateful.
Apparently you can still pick up the beta drivers that have the 'bug' from Nvidia, but ngohq has a mirror anyway. Relevant links: http://www.ngohq.com/news/17916-nvidia-driver-bug-removes-hybrid-physx-blockage-updated.html http://www.ngohq.com/news/17896-nvidia-forceware-257-15-a.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRikKybcno0 http://blogs.nvidia.com/ntersect/2010/05/update-on-release-256-physx-support-1.html Can't say I agree with the practices going on either. Not a clue if they will continue to keep the 'bug' in beta drivers going, but that would be awesome... albeit wishful thinking. Still haven't decided whether to pick a GT240 up with the build, or later down the line. This development only confuses matters for me.
