dedicated physics worth it?

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Bigbacon

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thinking of finally doing a PC upgrade after like 2+ years. I am wanting to go with SLI again but thinking I would like to add a physics card this time as well just for fun.

Are they really worth it or do games really care? What would be a decent a single slot video card to use for one anyway?
 
Not worth it IMO. The only game I played where the PhysX was cool was Batman Arkham Asylum, granted it was very cool, but that's just one game. Metro 2033 supports PhysX, but it doesn't add any meaningful / noticeable effects to the game. Your money is better spent on two better video cards in SLI. Having a 3rd GPU set aside for PhsyX is only going to increase your power bill most of the time.
 
Since it has come out, I still have yet to see any story of real improvement other than 1 or 2 fps in some games. I agree with Zinn, it just increases your power bill.
 
PhysX is just another way for nvidia to sell you yet another graphics card (because 2-4 cards in SLI isn't enough, they wanna be able to sell you 5!).

Dedicated physics cards don't exist on consoles, so it'll never be relevant on the PC until the next console gen arrives, at least.
 
I was actually drinking the PhysX koolaid for a while but alas,I think its dead..SLI FTW,spend the extra $$ elsewhere in your rig.
 
If you want to be one of the cool kids, get one.

There are some games that support it, but the cost for another card isn't worth it in my opinion......and the games are lame that use it, excepting Batman and, actually GhostRecon 2 (which was a very good game,BTW.):D
 
Can you just go SLI and NOT have a dedicated PhysX card but rather two cards simultaneously computing physx?
 
Don't bother. Batman's the only game I have that uses it and oddly enough my 570 performs about 80% as well as having a dedicated GTS250.
I think Arkham City's the only major release likely to be using PhysX coming soon and we don't even have an absolute confirmation it will for sure.
 
I have a GTX 580 and it seems to handle the PhysX very well by itself on Batman. 60 fps with vsync at all times so far at 1920 by 1200. Just got around to re-downloading some games after all the new mb revision things I had to go through, reinstall mainly. Haven't had a chance to really test Batman and Metro much, playing witcher 2. Lucky if I get 40 fps in Metro even without PhysX.
 
i just got a second gtx460 and batman AA at 1080p with physx on normal i dont get close to maxing GPU with vsync on. i didn't have it turned on before with a single 460.

the differences are VERY minimal. the interactions between papers and smoke are about the only things you notice. the cobwebs and cape are different but didn't make me go oooooooOOo . some people enjoy it but, i would say to generalize it is considered not worth it.
 
The problem with Physx is that they can't make it actually affect gameplay (destructable walls or something) because the penetration is so low - so they are limited to making it look "prettier", which isn't enough to encourage users/developers to add Physx, which limits penetration, and on and on. Great idea - poor implementation. Would have been better to push an open standard that AMD could support as well, but that just isn't the Nvidia way.
 
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