dedicated card still means large fps hit?

El Nacho

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how much of a hit should I expect when using a dedicated card?

Currently playing mafia II (though I have metro 2033 and batman to test with) and I get ~50 fps with max settings @ 5760x1080. Installed at 9600gt to try out physx and dropped to ~35. little reading showed the card may not be beefy enough, so I picked up at 450. That got me maybe 2 fps at best.

Am i missing something or is this expected?

i7@ 3.8
6gb of ram
sli 460 @ 800/2000
 
i think i read somewhere that only a few games get a gain from physx but i think the 9600gt would be slowing down 460's
 
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/physx_good_company.html

These are the only games that use PhysX, and Mafia II is not on the list. I will also echo what mannyman said, that 9600 was definately slowing down the 460s. Remember, a computer is only as fast as its slowest component.

Not sure why it doesn't list it there, but mafia II does use phaysx http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_new.html

Maybe I worded my post oddly? I used a 9600gt first, saw bad fps, switched to a gts450 and still saw bad fsp.
 
think so. I used the check box in the nvidia control panel. MSI afterburner confirms a load is being put on the card.
 
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/physx_good_company.html

These are the only games that use PhysX, and Mafia II is not on the list. I will also echo what mannyman said, that 9600 was definately slowing down the 460s. Remember, a computer is only as fast as its slowest component.


Quickly glancing at that list, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Mirror's edge are also missing. Fail list is fail.

Odd, you'd think being on nVidia's site it would be complete.
 
Remove the card and see what you get. If you get higher fps without it then you know a gpu can't do SSE X86 instructions as fast as a cpu and a cpu can't do X87 instructions as fast as a nvidia gpu. To be precise a cpu are awful with X87 instructions.
 
I am not an nvidia guy, or have used physX, but that GTS 450 should be enough. It appears to have the performance of a GTX 260, and as a dedicated physX card it should have more than enough processing power. The GTS 450 has 192 Cuda cores, and the GTX 460 has 336. I would check drivers, and your configuration. If it comes down to it, you may have to try it with physX on and off, and with the GTX 460 alone, and even the GTS 450 alone, and see what your frame rates are respectively.
 
I've read that the physX in Mafia II can be brutal on cards when maxed out. I haven't had a chance to get through that game yet (working through Batman and Metro right now), but in the research I did, there's some files you can remove that give physics to the clothing the characters wear that will increase performance greatly. Might want to look into that. I can tell you that with my sig rig, I get an avg of 47fps in the Batman benchmark. Installing a 9800 GTX netted me a solid 60fps in the benchmark. Both times with everything maxed out in settings @ 1920X1200. I could turn down physx, but I like it in this game. :D
 
Remove the card and see what you get. If you get higher fps without it then you know a gpu can't do SSE X86 instructions as fast as a cpu and a cpu can't do X87 instructions as fast as a nvidia gpu. To be precise a cpu are awful with X87 instructions.

Just for a base line, I tried it out. I let the sli 460's handle phsyxs. ~31fps.

So if I turn on physx, I loose a good 40% performance. I give it an under powered card, I gain 5 fps. I give it a card that should be just fine and I gain 7fps. You would think adding a dedicated card would negate most of th performance loss.

EDIT: Just did quick test with everything either off or at its lowerst. That got me 55fps. Somethings off.
 
There has to be a driver or some other issue going on. With physX off you should get much higher than that with dual GTX 460's. If the dedicated card has enough power for the instructions you should be running just fine, so check everything you can.
 
Just for a base line, I tried it out. I let the sli 460's handle phsyxs. ~31fps.

So if I turn on physx, I loose a good 40% performance. I give it an under powered card, I gain 5 fps. I give it a card that should be just fine and I gain 7fps. You would think adding a dedicated card would negate most of th performance loss.

EDIT: Just did quick test with everything either off or at its lowerst. That got me 55fps. Somethings off.

download Nhancer. Then fine tune the profiles. Remember is a game don't use physx you won't get anything. It has to contain X87 code for the gpu to do it.
Then you can also try and install cuda.
 
This is normal. PhysX adds a lot of extra objects for the main GPU to render so it will run slower than PhysX being disabled. Mafia II is particularly bad about this. Enabling PhysX (even with a dedicated card) places a high load on the CPU.
 
Does that motherboard change the amount of lanes that goes to each card based on the amount of cards in the system? If it does could that be causing a drop in the performance of some of the cards. I know that even down to PCIE x1 theres still a decent performance but does Physx change that?
 
Does that motherboard change the amount of lanes that goes to each card based on the amount of cards in the system? If it does could that be causing a drop in the performance of some of the cards. I know that even down to PCIE x1 theres still a decent performance but does Physx change that?

lanes got nothing to do with the performance of Pci-e
 
the reason that you are seeing a drop if FPS while using physx is more than likely due to the fact that in Mafia II and other games, turning on physx actually cause the game to render more objects, smoke, clothing, explosives effects. I would say try dropping the res a little bit or getting a little faster set of cards to push the game I use a dedicated 460 for physx and a GTX 480 in mafia 2, All settings on high includin physx, at 1920*1080 I get just about a constant 60-70 fps
 
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