NVIDIA Physics and AMD Video?

[runt]

Ok,
I have an AMD HD4830 video card right now (that I want to keep). Does anyone know if there will be a problem if I add a GeForce 8400GS video card to do physics processing (i.e. I want the cheapest method I can to play the currently locked levels on Crazy Machines 2). I am going with a friend to Micro Center today as his PC took a crap on him and I can get a 256MB 8400GS for $27.99 + tax. I figure this will be the cheapest way for me to get physics processing since I can't see spending $100 on a dedicated physics card.....

 

[Nosenuggets45]

Well that 8400 might be sort of useless for physx. In a dedicated physx GPU test, I read that the 9600gt is really the bare min. to fully handle physx.

 

[Mackowitz]

With Vista you can only have one graphics card driver. Since the CUDA/Physx is part of the nVidia display driver, I am pretty sure it won't work at all in Vista. I think XP lets you install different drivers to drive different monitors - so it may work in XP, but I have my doubts.

 

[runt]

Well that 8400 might be sort of useless for physx. In a dedicated physx GPU test, I read that the 9600gt is really the bare min. to fully handle physx.

Ok, so save up and get a better card. Guess that means waiting longer for the levels, oh well.

 

[evilsofa]

The 8400GS renders PhysX so slowly that it drags down the rest of the system, cutting FPS by as much as 50 percent. The minimum cards that should be used for PhysX is the 8800GT, 9600GT or 9600GSO.

In WinXP, you could run ATi and nVidia cards at the same time. In Vista, you absolutely cannot (many people have tried many things with no success). In Win7, you will be able to do that again, but it did not work in the beta.