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Dedicated Physics Card?

S

Silvers24

Gawd
Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Messages
514
So I got the 580, waiting for it to get here...crazy question...what would having a dedicated video card for physics actually do?
Should I try it?
Is there no need to do so with a 580?

Would a 7950 GTX work?

Or 8800 GTX

Is 700 Watt PSU to low to run two cards? (I use FSP Group)

Thanks. Otherwise I won't worry about it...580 is already a major upgrade.
 
Silvers24 said:
So I got the 580, waiting for it to get here...crazy question...what would having a dedicated video card for physics actually do?
Should I try it?
Is there no need to do so with a 580?

Would a 7950 GTX work?

Or 8800 GTX

Is 700 Watt PSU to low to run two cards? (I use FSP Group)

Thanks. Otherwise I won't worry about it...580 is already a major upgrade.
Click to expand...

Sorry but the 7950 doesn't qualify as a physx capable video card according to Nvidia's list. The 8800GTX will certainly work but it will consume a lot of power making it less than ideal as a secondary card. I'd say sell them off. Or see if you can trade the 8800GTX for say a weaker physx capable card + cash.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_gpus.html
 
Sell the 8800GTX for something like a GT240, GT430, or something. Should be plenty for PhysX, and it'll be much more efficient at it than the 8800GTX.
 
so what does the rest of your pc even look like? and afaik there is no such thing as a 7950gtx.
 
I'm also in the same boat as the OP...I have a GTX 580 on the way...I have a GTX 260 (Core 216) card that I can use for Physx...is this too much power, heat etc for too little of a gain?...I have a Corsair 850 watt PSU

also since I have an i7 980X, is it best to disable GPU PhysX altogether from the Nvidia control panel and have the CPU do the Physx?
 
polonyc2 said:
I'm also in the same boat as the OP...I have a GTX 580 on the way...I have a GTX 260 (Core 216) card that I can use for Physx...is this too much power, heat etc for too little of a gain?
Click to expand...
well with a gtx580 for your main card you need something about as fast as the gtx260 or faster to get the most use for physx. I would probably sell it though instead of fooling with a card like that for physx. a gts450 would be about equal while using much less power at both idle and in the few games where you need physx.

and hardware physx is made to run on the gpu not cpu. even though your cpu is fast even a gt240 would blow it away at handling physx. in fact many games will be barely playable if you let your cpu handle full hardware level physx effects.
 
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polonyc2 said:
I'm also in the same boat as the OP...I have a GTX 580 on the way...I have a GTX 260 (Core 216) card that I can use for Physx...is this too much power, heat etc for too little of a gain?...I have a Corsair 850 watt PSU

also since I have an i7 980X, is it best to disable GPU PhysX altogether from the Nvidia control panel and have the CPU do the Physx?
Click to expand...

Nvidia intentionally gimped CPU phsyx. So yeah if you're using the 260 for dedicated physx you will get much better results in games such as Batman:AA and Mafia 2. Remember the Physx 'boost' will only happen in games that utilize PhysX intensively. Your 850W is more than enough. The 260 might not be the most power efficient solution but it's quite good for PhysX processing.
 
cannondale06 said:
well with a gtx580 for your main card you need something about that fast or faster to get the most use for physx. I would probably sell it though instead of fooling with a card like that for physx. a gts450 would be about equal while using much less power at both idle and in the few games where you need physx
Click to expand...

vjcsmoke said:
Nvidia intentionally gimped CPU phsyx. So yeah if you're using the 260 for dedicated physx you will get much better results in games such as Batman:AA and Mafia 2. Remember the Physx 'boost' will only happen in games that utilize PhysX intensively. Your 850W is more than enough. The 260 might not be the most power efficient solution but it's quite good for PhysX processing.
Click to expand...

if using the 580 and a separate dedicated PhysX card would I really need a card about as fast as the 580?...why?...the dedicated PhysX card should have nothing to do with the main 580 as the 260's sole purpose is PhysX calculations...it's not like I'm using them in an SLI configuration where they need to match up
 
polonyc2 said:
if using the 580 and a separate dedicated PhysX card would I really need a card about as fast as the 580?...why?...the dedicated PhysX card should have nothing to do with the main 580 as the 260's sole purpose is PhysX calculations...it's not like I'm using them in an SLI configuration where they need to match up
Click to expand...

You are correct. Your PhysX card need not be nearly as fast as your main rendering video card because all it will be doing is calculating PhysX. Having the dedicated PhysX card will certainly boost framerates significantly in the games that will use it. The faster the physx card the faster the physics will be processed. Someone did a study on this once. The aforementioned GTX 260 card should provide a more than sufficient boost.
 
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PhysX is overrated. Just use that beastzilla of a video card you got and be done with it. Your rig will run cooler and the differences are very minor. Yeah it looks good on 3dmark vantage but real word apps, meh.
 
vjcsmoke said:
Nvidia intentionally gimped CPU phsyx. So yeah if you're using the 260 for dedicated physx you will get much better results in games such as Batman:AA and Mafia 2. Remember the Physx 'boost' will only happen in games that utilize PhysX intensively. Your 850W is more than enough. The 260 might not be the most power efficient solution but it's quite good for PhysX processing.
Click to expand...

so in your opinion is it worth it?...or should the 580 be 'good enough' for PhysX as well...meaning is the extra heat, power etc worth it for what might be minimal gains in most games?...only PhysX-heavy game I play is Batman: Arkham Asylum but don't know what upcoming games might put it to good use...havn't heard of any major PhysX titles coming out...seems like PhysX is fizzling out

EDIT: thanks Hedghawg71
 
The number of big physX heavy titles is limited, true. But having the dedicated physX card can give you a 10fps or more boost in the games that do use it. So I disagree that it doesn't make a difference but you do have to weigh that against the additional heat and power usage. It's really your call. Even SLI configurations have been shown to benefit from a dedicated Physx card. But is it totally necessary? No. It's a luxury but it would boost performance in Batman AA, etc.
 
polonyc2 said:
if using the 580 and a separate dedicated PhysX card would I really need a card about as fast as the 580?...why?...the dedicated PhysX card should have nothing to do with the main 580 as the 260's sole purpose is PhysX calculations...it's not like I'm using them in an SLI configuration where they need to match up
Click to expand...
sorry I wasn't clear. I was saying that a card as fast as the gtx260 or better is needed to get the most out of physx.
 
Alright guys, thank you for the input.

I won't be selling my 8800GTX I was mainly curious as to the possiblites.
I plan to stick the 8800 GTX in my second computer to upgrade it from the 7950 GT whatever you wanna call it.

So i'll have a 7950 lying around as a backup.

I was thinking of using one or the other as at least a test, but since it doesn't qualify for me ill leave it at that.

580 is enough for me. I don't do that much to require a dedicated gpu for physix.
 
If you really love playing Sacred 2 or Cryostasis, fuck yeah, use a dedicated card!!!!
 
Silvers24 said:
Alright guys, thank you for the input.

I won't be selling my 8800GTX I was mainly curious as to the possiblites.
I plan to stick the 8800 GTX in my second computer to upgrade it from the 7950 GT whatever you wanna call it.

So i'll have a 7950 lying around as a backup.

I was thinking of using one or the other as at least a test, but since it doesn't qualify for me ill leave it at that.

580 is enough for me. I don't do that much to require a dedicated gpu for physix.
Click to expand...
Looks like you have a good head on your shoulders, the 580 will be PLENTY fine.
 
If I were to use a GTX 260 as a dedicated PPU card would it have any negative effect when I'm playing games that don't support Physx?...would I have to manually disable PhysX each time for those games?...has a dedicated PPU been known to cause any issues?
 
polonyc2 said:
If I were to use a GTX 260 as a dedicated PPU card would it have any negative effect when I'm playing games that don't support Physx?...would I have to manually disable PhysX each time for those games?...has a dedicated PPU been known to cause any issues?
Click to expand...
there is nothing to disable in non physx games. it will still consume idle power. just make sure that it is actually down clocking properly so as not to waste power and create unnecessary heat.
 
1) Rob bank
2) Get 3 x 580
3) Run dual 580 graphics and 580 physx for physx games
4) Run triple crossfire for non physx games.

QED...I mean, DUH.
 
*SOB*

My daddy always said I would fail.



Looks like gtx280 still shows some improvement over 260 from a recent Toms article...which is done with an AMD primary gpu so not 100% apples to apples I guess? The question is...will physX get more complex as coders learn to utilize it better...hence making the headroom of a 280 or even another 580 worthwhile? OR Will physX be fading away by then do to less proprietary implementations we are already seeing...and even with an open physics model what kind of HP will be required and could you utilize any second card?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-physx-hack-amd-radeon,2764-8.html


As for my experience...I was running a 9600gt for physX with a x2 4800 or something AMD primary gpu setup, (Don't really remember), when I was playing Batman AA, and though WAY better (speed wise) than no physX card it was still a little slow for me on max physX and I ended up playig mostly with physX off..

So for me it is all or nothing...no reason for an irritating semi physX experience...go with as big bad ass physX card as you can or don't bother....I am not running a physX card right now and I am not missing it...the rob a bank scenario is probably what I would do if I were stinking rich and didn't have a family. (And I guess I would just have to get a new mobo and psu too! ;) )
 
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Comte said:
I thought it was fail because you cant run crossfire with two Nvidia cards...
Click to expand...

Well I use a Asus motherboard. Technically it only supports crossfire (Or so I am lead to believe)
But at the same time apparently I can use a trick to make it run sli.

But, fortunately, I won't have to worry about that. Single GPU leading the way! lol
 
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