GTS 250 512MB vs 1GB for dedicated PhysX

I have installed my EVGA GTX 250 (675mhz core / 512mb)... just barely. Those jerks decided to put tall screws on the BACK of the PCB. I had to bend the card to fit it under my GTX 480. LOOK AT THE BACK OF THE CARD BEFORE YOU BUY. Make sure it doesn't have giant screws or you'll barely be able to fit it under another card.

Anyway, I went with EVGA because I read a handful of reviews where the small heat sink on the Galaxy GTS 250 was loud and inefficient and prone to memory errors. The EVGA did not have similar reviews.

SLI GTX 480 + GTS 250 dedicated to PhysX running on a 1kW PSU: That must be cutting it close. I bought this card exclusively for Mafia 2. 3D Vision Surround and PhysX on high... the anticipation is killing me. The demo comes out tomorrow!
 
Waiting for what your results are going to be. I am doing a "review/benchmark" on an ATI 5870 crossfire setup with different classes of Nvidia cards used for Physx. I will be running an ASUS P7P55 WS motherboard with i7-860 processor. Can you also do a benchmark with Batman? I will do one with Mafia 2.

My benchmark review is to determine what Physx card to use with what rendering setup and if there is a bottleneck where and why. I will be going from 4870 to 5870 to 5870 in Crossfire combined with a 512kb 9600GT, a 1GB 9800GTX+ and a 1GB GTX 460 for Physx.
 
I dont think RAM size much affects Physx after the 256MB mark...so 512MB or 1GB is more than enough...which ever is cheaper honestly.
 
JoeUser said:
I dont think RAM size much affects Physx after the 256MB mark...so 512MB or 1GB is more than enough...which ever is cheaper honestly.
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I agree with him. I highly doubt you need a gigabyte of PhysX RAM. Any physics processing you are going to do probably doesn't need that much buffer space. Save your money.
 
The fan on my EVGA GTS 250 died roughly twenty hours after its initial installation. I returned it to MicroCenter and, based the nearly immeasurable difference it provided in Mafia 2, I will not be replacing it.

Thank you for your input!
 
slapping a 9600gt in with my 5850 more than doubled my average framerate in Mafia II w/ physx on high. so I ordered a gts 250 to see if that improves things :)
 
How many users actually have a separate physX' card in their system? I've only operated with a single GPU... This area is all new to me.
 
Is a typical GTS 250 short enough to not block a GTX480 fan? Newegg has width at less than 8 inches (ZOTAC 512MB $85 AR) so it should be ok. Does anyone know if it appeciably elevates temps/noise in such a configuration where it will be directly below a GTX480? I mention noise because you hear a lot of people saying stuff like SLIing GTX280's next to each other doesn't raise temps that much, when in reality the top card goes in to leaf blower mode to make that true. I don't want two cards sandwiched, but if it's not end to end maybe it's ok.
 
I am curious if you really see an improvement with a card for a dedicated PhysX? I have an old AMD X2 3800, and I think 2 GTS 250's in SLI might just be a waist for that chip, ie bottlenecking on the old girl and here socket 939. Wondering if maybe PhysX is a viable alternative to SLI?
 
CustomModAddict said:
Wondering if maybe PhysX is a viable alternative to SLI?
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To achieve a more playable game? No, not at all. PhysX is going to decrease your frame rate.
To make the game more pretty? Yes, PhysX will certainly do that. If you're looking at GTS 250's in SLI, I'd say conserve your resources for AA/AF and pass on PhysX. PhysX is just icing on the cake and I'd only recommend it on a dedicated GTS 250 when paired with SLI GTX 460's or better.

My experience, in this thread, was because of an issue with the game. I'm going to give PhysX another chance one day. I'm just waiting for a $50 GTS 250.
 
I'm wondering if a lower end Fermi board would be a good PhysX dedicated board...

Like - say - a GTS450 or maybe even a 768mg GTX460, seeing that they can both be had for ~$130 now...
 
I 'was' running a 320mb 8800GTS for dedicated Physx. It improved Mafia 2 easily but my temperatures on my GTX 285 were far from worth it.

If you want to spend the extra on a low end card for physx then go for it, just make sure its not a Dual-Slot sized graphics card.
 
greeneye said:
I 'was' running a 320mb 8800GTS for dedicated Physx. It improved Mafia 2 easily but my temperatures on my GTX 285 were far from worth it.

If you want to spend the extra on a low end card for physx then go for it, just make sure its not a Dual-Slot sized graphics card.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with a dual slot board, if you have a large enough case, and a mobo with lots of space :p
 
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