ATI Physics card?

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novadaemon

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Aug 24, 2006
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I was able to snag a cheap 3850 off of fleabay as a card for another rig but I was wondering if ATI still had some kind of phsyics thing implemented with 2 GPU's...

Right now i have a 4850 and if i could use this 3850 as a physics card I would go ahead and upgrade my mobo to a 790gx board.

So is it worth it at all? Worst case scenario would be to just use it in my other rig or use it for folding.

Offtopic question. Does folding require good GPU memory or could I get an artifacting card off ebay and use it for folding too?
 
As of right now ATI has very very little to do with Physics on a GPU, if anything.
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novadaemon said:
I was able to snag a cheap 3850 off of fleabay as a card for another rig but I was wondering if ATI still had some kind of phsyics thing implemented with 2 GPU's...

Right now i have a 4850 and if i could use this 3850 as a physics card I would go ahead and upgrade my mobo to a 790gx board.

So is it worth it at all? Worst case scenario would be to just use it in my other rig or use it for folding.

Offtopic question. Does folding require good GPU memory or could I get an artifacting card off ebay and use it for folding too?
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You can't use a Radeon for GPU calculated physics. There was a demo done by AMD to show off Havok physics done on the GPU, but that's non-existent for consumers.
 
figured as much... that physics demo was still stuck in my mind.

I'm just now going back to ATI after a couple of years with nvidia and though the 4850 is a great value there doesn't seem to be much futureproofing for the cards other than folding.

This 4850 gets too freaking hot and begins to artifact at 75c in OCCT. Since it doesnt mess up in games I'm not worried cuz dealing with Sapphire RMA is too scary.

I'll just get a zalman for it or something, since it doesnt artifact when I put the fan at 100%
 
it shouldnt be artifacting till like 110 degrees, or do you mean the only time you've seen it artifact is in occt?
 
It only artifacts in OCCT and my first artifact will pop up at around 75c. The higher the temp the more artifacts pop up. If i can keep the temp lower I get no artifacts at all.
 
novadaemon said:
though the 4850 is a great value there doesn't seem to be much futureproofing for the cards other than folding.
Click to expand...

What is your criteria as to something being “future proof”? You seem to be placing a lot of value on PhysX in this regard. I’ve been a big proponent of PhysX (I had an Ageia card since early 2006, before they were released to the public) and it certainly is an exciting technology when implemented properly, but it’s not really something worth deciding a videocard purchase over.

On the other side of the coin, ATI cards have DirectX 10.1 support whereas Nvidia cards are DirectX 10 only. Not that that is very important either, but it is to say that both brands have their advantages when it comes to being "future proof".

This 4850 gets too freaking hot and begins to artifact at 75c in OCCT. Since it doesnt mess up in games I'm not worried cuz dealing with Sapphire RMA is too scary.
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Sounds like something strange is going on. My both of my 4850’s IDLE at 79C, and I have no artifacts in game. They can handle the heat.
 
It would be nice if they did - I couldn't get far into Mirror's Edge with physics on before the frame rate plummeted on a level. If anything, it'll be another couple generations before I expect to see something from ATI.
 
What is your criteria as to something being “future proof”? You seem to be placing a lot of value on PhysX in this regard. I’ve been a big proponent of PhysX (I had an Ageia card since early 2006, before they were released to the public) and it certainly is an exciting technology when implemented properly, but it’s not really something worth deciding a videocard purchase over.

On the other side of the coin, ATI cards have DirectX 10.1 support whereas Nvidia cards are DirectX 10 only. Not that that is very important either, but it is to say that both brands have their advantages when it comes to being "future proof".
Click to expand...

As far as being future proof is concerned, I mean having the option to use it as a PPU is a nice feature that Nvidia has that's all.

I dont like getting rid of hardware. I like to put it to good use, so when I upgrade if I can't use it as a PPU or in another rig then I only really have the option of using it for folding.

Sounds like something strange is going on. My both of my 4850’s IDLE at 79C, and I have no artifacts in game. They can handle the heat.
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I have the sapphire 4850 in which sapphire used a single slot cooler. The same stock one used on the 3850. I think a 79c idle is a bit high, but if yours work then it may be an issue I'm having.
 
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I have a 4850 in one system and a 4870 in another. The stock firmware on both cards runs the fans to idle around 80 and load closer to 85. His load is typical but it does drop off rapidly if you manually adjust the fan speed, run ATI Tray Tool, or modify the firmware manually.
 
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