Hey everyone, Me and a friend of mine both play Warmonger but he has the physX card and he says i should get one that it really makes that game run faster and that it looks amazing.i'm also going to buy UT3 this week. will this card really make a difference to either game and if so do these cards require other hardware upgrades to my pc and is it actually worth buying the card?
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PhysX Card
- Thread starter XanaX050
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If you're a gamer at heart and you consider your gaming rig to be complete, it's a definite yes.
IMHO a PhysX card should be a complement to a gamers system not an upgrade.Think of it as a soundcard.While most people are pleased with onboard soundcards some like me would never be satisfied and purchase good soundcard.Same apply to PhysX cards, if you have say a 7900GS card I would buy an upgrade... then consider a PhysX card.
IMHO a PhysX card should be a complement to a gamers system not an upgrade.Think of it as a soundcard.While most people are pleased with onboard soundcards some like me would never be satisfied and purchase good soundcard.Same apply to PhysX cards, if you have say a 7900GS card I would buy an upgrade... then consider a PhysX card.
grandmasterub
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again the price to performance depends on whats already in your system. If you're running a good graphics card already then the answer is most likely yes its worth it (assuming you like good fps and eye candy). If you are running a mid range card it might be more worth it to put the money towards a better graphics card.
D
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NO.
InorganicMatter
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A PhysX card is a nice toy if you've got the GPU power to drive it. Personally, between a PPU and GPU, I'd upgrade my video card first, if I didn't already have a really good one, then get a PPU.
AeriaGloris
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I bet if this wasn't in the PPU section the poll would be 90+ % NO.
Yeah, it's a little biased. Kinda like going onto the AMD section and asking "which is better, AMD or Intel"
I would say "yes" to this if they had a PCI-E solution out. I just can't see a regular PCI device being a good investment ontop of a technology that already has a shaky start.
ive been considering getting one of these on and off for awhile now...
with my rig in sig....would it be worth it, for the most part on newer games i run at 1280x1024....and only newer games are supporting this anyways...
at 150 its not a bad price anymore and isnt breaking any wallets
with my rig in sig....would it be worth it, for the most part on newer games i run at 1280x1024....and only newer games are supporting this anyways...
at 150 its not a bad price anymore and isnt breaking any wallets
R
ring.of.steel
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at $100 it would be a good buy
This answer is really simple...
You say you play Warmonger and UT3. If you want to use the physx enhancements from either game then yes. If you don't want the enhancements and don't care about the possibility of physx maps being unplayable, then no.
I played the UT3 Physx levels w/o the Physx card enabled and it was not worth doing...for example, once the tornado kicks in you might as well forget it if you don’t have the card. With the card, the tornado level plays like any other. I haven't tried Warmonger w/o the card yet but I can vouch it plays well with it.
Although there is one last question you have to ask yourself. You say a friend already has the card & I would assume you probably play with/against him/her. If you want to play on the Physx made levels then the answer is a resounding yes.
IMO, This is the section to ask the question... even if the answers might be weighted towards it. The PPU owners keep an eye on this section and have a tendency to defend it, however there have been ex-PPU owners that felt the PPU just wasn't worth it. But what other place would you ask the question? Another section where the majority of the users never personally seen one in action which base their comments on solely what they heard from others? I believe it's always better to hear what the users have to say about an item. They have a tendency to see both the good and bad points of a product.
One last thought... Keep in mind that you are creating more particles with the PPU, which means that there are more things to render. If your GPU can't keep up with the rendering now, it's only going to get worse when rendering heavy PPU intensive maps.
You say you play Warmonger and UT3. If you want to use the physx enhancements from either game then yes. If you don't want the enhancements and don't care about the possibility of physx maps being unplayable, then no.
I played the UT3 Physx levels w/o the Physx card enabled and it was not worth doing...for example, once the tornado kicks in you might as well forget it if you don’t have the card. With the card, the tornado level plays like any other. I haven't tried Warmonger w/o the card yet but I can vouch it plays well with it.
Although there is one last question you have to ask yourself. You say a friend already has the card & I would assume you probably play with/against him/her. If you want to play on the Physx made levels then the answer is a resounding yes.
IMO, This is the section to ask the question... even if the answers might be weighted towards it. The PPU owners keep an eye on this section and have a tendency to defend it, however there have been ex-PPU owners that felt the PPU just wasn't worth it. But what other place would you ask the question? Another section where the majority of the users never personally seen one in action which base their comments on solely what they heard from others? I believe it's always better to hear what the users have to say about an item. They have a tendency to see both the good and bad points of a product.
One last thought... Keep in mind that you are creating more particles with the PPU, which means that there are more things to render. If your GPU can't keep up with the rendering now, it's only going to get worse when rendering heavy PPU intensive maps.
I payed $100 bucks for my card late last year. The games that I got it for are out now and I have to say I am not too impressed with the technology. There are more "ooohhs and aaahhs" but that is it. Def not worth it in my opinion. I think we are way past "The Killer App" for this card. It had potential, but it lost its fizzle IMHO.
Heather Taylor
Velocity Micro Customer Experience Specialist
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It's worth it if you're going to play more than one game that has PhysX compatibility, I suppose. In the beginning there were three or four games that had any use for the card, and so I've been quietly sitting back and waiting to see if the technology was going evolve or fall flat. So far...meh.
Pirates of the Burning Seas is PhysX ready--I am really thinking that if the success of that particular MMORPG (Everquest 2 with pirates) skyrockets, we may well see a fresh glut of games that support PhysX.
Pirates of the Burning Seas is PhysX ready--I am really thinking that if the success of that particular MMORPG (Everquest 2 with pirates) skyrockets, we may well see a fresh glut of games that support PhysX.
Paulo Narciso
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Pirates of the burning sea don't support the ppu, only software physx.
I don't know why these threads pop up so often. A little research would yield the obvious answer to this year old (or so) question. The fact of the matter is that the PhysX card really isn't worth it at the moment. There are no applications that really make good use of it. If you have Tri-SLI, your watercooled, you've got a high end processor, enough fast RAM, and everything else you could possibly want and you have room left over in your case, sure why not? But other wise it is little more than a gimmick at present.
It's good hardware. It is interesting technology that is being way-under utilized. Until that changes there is no reason to purchase one.
It's good hardware. It is interesting technology that is being way-under utilized. Until that changes there is no reason to purchase one.
UT3 engine build could be the change. But change take time.
Lot of games going to use the new build of UE3.
Might be some of them will support PPU.
Also the mod community could push it a bit more in the near future.
Dev's aim more on online FPS shooters.
A mod team, is free to do what effer idea and Total conversion. Whithout what publisher want to give green light to, where Profiessional dev's ar depending on.
Using PPU in a good intergral way in a game concept.
Somewhere in the near future a nextgen PPU must come out to keep it going in the bussness.
Lot of games going to use the new build of UE3.
Might be some of them will support PPU.
Also the mod community could push it a bit more in the near future.
Dev's aim more on online FPS shooters.
A mod team, is free to do what effer idea and Total conversion. Whithout what publisher want to give green light to, where Profiessional dev's ar depending on.
Using PPU in a good intergral way in a game concept.
Somewhere in the near future a nextgen PPU must come out to keep it going in the bussness.
I don't think your being fair to the OP. This is not a year old question as he was questioning about 2 games that were recently released (both of which support the PPU). I can understand (and to a point agree) with your comment if the OP posted "Is the PPU worth is for games in general" w/o mentioning any games, but he did mention 2 specifically.
Unfortunately though, I do agree that the cards are underutilized. But I feel this is a chicken/egg effect... Everyone wants PPU acceleration...but nobody wants to buy the first version without games that use it, and nobody make games for it because nobody bought it. This isn't entirely true because there are games for it, and there are those that own it... but that seems to be the general mentality.
Dew itt right
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Well, my PPU is on the way so I can't speak from first hand experience but from what I've found in my digging...
(A) The performance & usefulness has gone WAY up! With the release of warmonger and UT3 the card has real relevance that it didn't have before. If you dont have a PPU, check out some of the new physx game footage at youtube - the physics are amazing!
(B) The price has come WAY down. I believe these debuted around $300 if I remember correctly. I just picked up a used BFG physx card here for $75 shipped! Or you can pick them up new for less than $100 after MIR.
Now if you still don't agree with me, watch THIS Cellfactor video and tell me if you think $75 spent anywhere else in your system could enable you to do that! Physx offers an enhancement in an area so specific that no other component upgrade can reproduce it. Especially for $150 (new,retail) or $75 (used)...
(A) The performance & usefulness has gone WAY up! With the release of warmonger and UT3 the card has real relevance that it didn't have before. If you dont have a PPU, check out some of the new physx game footage at youtube - the physics are amazing!
(B) The price has come WAY down. I believe these debuted around $300 if I remember correctly. I just picked up a used BFG physx card here for $75 shipped! Or you can pick them up new for less than $100 after MIR.
Now if you still don't agree with me, watch THIS Cellfactor video and tell me if you think $75 spent anywhere else in your system could enable you to do that! Physx offers an enhancement in an area so specific that no other component upgrade can reproduce it. Especially for $150 (new,retail) or $75 (used)...
They were released at $300.00.
Dew itt right
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My bad, thanks for the correction.
And for what it's worth, I think this is the PERFECT place to get poll info like this simply because it is more like to be seen by physx card owners. I'm tired of people who've never even tried physx or SLI ripping on them simply because of reviews they've read or whatever the popular opinion is. While physx and SLI are definitely not the best case scenario for some people, there are many out there who benefit greatly from these technological outcasts. My mid-range SLI setup suits my needs and preferences perfectly and I'm pretty eager to get my physx card installed.
And for what it's worth, I think this is the PERFECT place to get poll info like this simply because it is more like to be seen by physx card owners. I'm tired of people who've never even tried physx or SLI ripping on them simply because of reviews they've read or whatever the popular opinion is. While physx and SLI are definitely not the best case scenario for some people, there are many out there who benefit greatly from these technological outcasts. My mid-range SLI setup suits my needs and preferences perfectly and I'm pretty eager to get my physx card installed.
The "popular" opinion is that:
PhysX sucks...no matter what.
GPU-physics is brilliant...despite it's dead.
Quad-core is physics king...despite it can't match a PPU.
SLI/Crossfire is way better/cheaper/insert blurb than physics...despite the piss poor preformance/scaling.
Go against those (
/end of rant...
SLI and Crossfire are not cheaper than Physics cards. They are better if you have to choose one over the other in my opinion for the simple fact that SLI or Crossfire gives you more performance and eye candy in games than the PhysX card can.
I'm not saying there is no place for the PhysX card but software support definitely lags way behind the hardware at this point.
Higher res does nothing for my gameplay, sorry
There are more PhysX games than DX10 games...but people talk like it's the other way around...
Dew itt right
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Higher res does nothing for my gameplay, sorry
Higher resolutions, greater framerates, and more in game eye candy don't do it for you?
There are more PhysX games than DX10 games...but people talk like it's the other way around...
What does DX10 have to do with SLI? A multi-card high end GPU setup or something similar is a faster solution is faster for DX9 games and every other game as well. There are more games that will bennefit from a good higher end GPU setup than a PhysX card.
Dew itt right
2[H]4U
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He wasn't comparing physx to SLI, he was responding to the statement that physx is pointless because there's so little software support for it.
Besides, I agree with you that you'll definitly benefit more with SLI or with a better GPU setup. But in my case, I picked up a used physx card for $75 shipped. You can't quite get an SLI setup for $75 nor could you get any other system upgrade that would enable that kind of eye candy in select games.
I'm no software or gaming guru, but now that the Unreal Engine 3.0 supports physx, I'd assume more physx-enabled games will be coming out using that engine and I'd also assume that other engines may follow suit.
I hope so. It really is neat technology. If they ever produce the cards with passive cooling in a PCIe x1 form factor and kept the price down to around $150 or less, I can see them really taking off.
Dew itt right
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Well as far as PCIe is concerned, this comes straight from Ageia's FAQ page...
Also, I'm sure passive cooling is a definite possibility. There PCI cards use a 130nm process with a TDP of 30W or so. They've since come out with their mobile chip using a smaller die with a TDP of 10W!
Ageia FAQs said:
Also, I'm sure passive cooling is a definite possibility. There PCI cards use a 130nm process with a TDP of 30W or so. They've since come out with their mobile chip using a smaller die with a TDP of 10W!
"so changing the design to PCI Express would be simply to address slot availability on the motherboard"
This is exactly the point I've had in mind. Ageia really needs to address this if they want more people to buy these things. The people mainly interested in this product are going to have the rest of their slots dedicated to other hardware.
This is exactly the point I've had in mind. Ageia really needs to address this if they want more people to buy these things. The people mainly interested in this product are going to have the rest of their slots dedicated to other hardware.
They just need a killer game that really needs the PhysX cards to shine. Give people something more than extra particles and slightly nicer explosions and they'll buy it.
DX10/SLI are often used as "excuses" to why people want PhysX to fail.
Higher resolutions does nothing for me, it's all pinky-winky for me...but give me more physics and I'm game.
And I used DX10 as an example...of a technology, that actually gives nothing(less the PhysX)...but gets a lot of focus....for nothing.
I have no desire for the PhysX cards to fail. However in current games the PhysX card simply doesn't do enough for gameplay to warrant purchasing one. (Just my opinion.) Instead I'd prefer to fill my motherboards' slots with more useful cards that allow higher resolutions, more in game eye candy and faster frame rates.
It's well worth it if you enjoy waiting "just a few more months" for the latest and greatest game to support it, only to be completely disappointed and wait "just a few more months" for something else, only to be... This defines the entire 1.5+ year existence of the PPU and I don't really see it changing any time soon Most recently, pro-PhysX people had been saying "wait for UT3" and upon its release and realization that the game sucks it's now "wait for UE3 games." Wait, wait, wait, wait is about the only thing you'll hear when people try to justify it, with some "if you have a badass systems already it might slightly help your FPS" thrown in for good measure. Why not just wait until those awesome, super duper, ultra next gen, uber games are released to buy the PPU then?
Again I'd rather throw another graphics card in my box and get higher FPS a long with more AA and more AF. That makes the experience more enjoyable than the PhysX card does at present.