GT 220 good PhysX?????

[benson733]

Just picked up a couple of these because they are so cheap.

GeForce GT 220 2GB 128-bit DDR2

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187107


I got one for my brothers 5670 as a dedicated physX card and I got one for my gtx 570. Should this card do a fair job as a dedicated physX card? I have read mixed reviews around other site but what to see what the toms hardware community has to say about it.

Any input is appreciated...

 

[g00fysmiley]

220 is pretty weak for a physx card, i think the min reccomended is around a gts 250 for good physx performance, i think your 570 shoudl handle physx in most games just fine on its own

another issue is gonna be getting the 220 to act as a physics card when it sees a 5670 as the main gppu, nvidia cards don't liek this and you'll have to do some workarounds... btu it is possible

 

[jjb8675309]

like goofysmile said the 220 is a weak physx card, and a weak card in general, ive heard of people using a gt 240 physx but I would assume even that would only run physx on low-med, for high physx in batman aa it is recommended that you use a gtx 260 or better, not sure about other games but ther requirements are probably similar, for such a low end system physx should be no concern of yours not to mention every time you update your drivers you will have to hack it again so you can use ati main gpu and an nvidia dedicated physx, overall I would not even attempt it with a gt 220

 

[benson733]

Darn, should have looked into it a bit more in the first place. I guess their is no harm in trying it with my 570 and see. Its only 39.99 anyways and could easily resell it for the same price.

 

[nforce4max]

Honestly I believe that Nvidia made changes in recent drivers that capped how much on a percentile bases how much physx can use on a gpu and on weaker cards you will be downgrading. Return that extra GT220 or put it to use in some other way and look to getting a 8800gt as a dedicated card.

 

[jjb8675309]

yeah with a gtx 570 you will see no improvement in physx bc comparatively the gt 220 is extremely weak, you should be able to run decent physx settings with the gtx 570 alone, but I thought you said you have a 5670. If you really want as physx card go on ebay and try to snag a gts 250 or gtx 260 and you can proabably do this for around 50-60 dollars and that would be a much better solution then the crippled gt 220, imo

 

[jjb8675309]

Honestly I believe that Nvidia made changes in recent drivers that capped how much on a percentile bases how much physx can use on a gpu and on weaker cards you will be downgrading. Return that extra GT220 or put it to use in some other way and look to getting a 8800gt as a dedicated card.

yes a 8800gt would also make an excellent physx card

 

[jjb8675309]

you should worry about upgrading your main gpu before even considering physx I mean the level of performance from a 5670 is probably a bit less then a 9800/8800 gt anyways

 

[benson733]

Thanks for the reply's I have canceled the order and will be getting a better physX card for my rig. What would be the best options for my rig with the GTX 570?

 

[g00fysmiley]

a 450 or 260 both make excellent physx cards

 

[jjb8675309]

first what are your full system specs.... why would you want dedicated physx card if your going to buy a gtx 570, it should be able to handle all in one, but if you want a good physx card to keep up with your gtx 570, get a gtx 260 off ebay, even a 9800 gt would fair pretty well

 

[nforce4max]

The best in slot for a dedicated card is a single slot G92 with a single 6 pin power connector which means 8800/9800gt or slightly less than that would be a 8800gs or a 9600gso (G92) however the GTX 260 is the most you want to go as any thing over that will be wasting your money. You have to spend a lot of time on a subject like thing before making a choice on which card to purchase or to not buy one at all. Personally any thing under a 9600gt isn't worth it while a 8800gt is the best card to get for the job. If you feel that it is worth it a cheap used gtx 260 will be fine or a crappy gts 450. The GT240/GT430 isn't worth it due to cost and other factors.

 

[wolfram23]

I can honestly say my GT240 is an adequete PhysX card when paired with my two 5850s. In any game at highest PhysX settings, I never noticed a reduction in FPS due to PhysX with literally one exception, when a building exploded in Mafia 2. It caused a drop to around 20fps for 5 or 6 seconds as my card was bandwidth capped on the 4x 1.1 lane (P55 chipset, the 3rd PCIe 16 lane goes to the southbridge which doesn't have 2.0 support). Generally I monitored GPU usage after playing PhysX games and the average usage was less than 50%. It spiked to around 70-80% a few times in certain games which is the max for the limited bandwidth I can give it.

A GT220 tho, is a worse card and not really adequate I think. And ultimately to eliminate all PhysX acceleration bottlenecks you want around 100CUDA cores so a GTS250, GTS450 or any similar card would work.

My GT240 was $65 after rebate.

 

[jjb8675309]

do you guys think an 8600 gts 256mb would make any difference as a physx card with my 6870? I'm guessing thats a no?

 

[jjb8675309]

also does anyone have a link to how you go about patching the drivers to work with ati?

 

[wolfram23]

Patch here: http://www.ngohq.com/graphic-cards/17706-hybrid-physx-mod-v1-03-v1-04ff.html

I think I read the 8600GT is the absolute lowest/oldest card that PhysX would work on but it won't be pretty.

 

[jjb8675309]

thanks for the info I think I'll hold off then

 

[jjb8675309]

also does the memory size matter for physx, like a 8800gts 256mb vs a 8800gt with 768mb, or is it all about the sps?

 

[nforce4max]

do you guys think an 8600 gts 256mb would make any difference as a physx card with my 6870? I'm guessing thats a no?

I have tried that gpu as a dedicated card a year ago, it is not worth it unless you have little choice. Personally the lowest to go with would be a gt220 or a 9600gt but they are not really worth it unless you could land them like $20-30. GT430 and the GT240 is like $90 often so don't bother with them but hey a ancient Ageia PPU will still do better in physx than a i7.

 

[nforce4max]

also does the memory size matter for physx, like a 8800gts 256mb vs a 8800gt with 768mb, or is it all about the sps?

Only the memory type and the physical path matter in physx. Clock can have a minor impact but nothing that I would care to take notice.

 

[17seconds]

"What have we learned from this? Primarily, the GeForce GT 220, a card that doesn't appear to be very powerful on its own, becomes a force to be reckoned with as a dedicated PhysX processor, definitely offering the most bang for the buck when compared to more expensive GeForce models."
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/batman-arkham-asylum,2465-8.html

 

[17seconds]

"Even though the rendering horsepower of the GT 430 is light years ahead of the GT 220, the amount of additional performance you get from using it as a dedicated PhysX card is negligible at best. There is a slight improvement but if you are already using a lower-end card for PhysX processing, you won’t see a noticeable benefit from “moving up” to a GT 430."
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/36968-asus-geforce-gt-430-1gb-review-13.html

 

[iam2thecrowe]

bottom line is, you have a powerful gtx570, which should be able to play any game with physx without the need for a dedicated card. you would need at least a gts250/450 to see any benefit from a dedicated physx card compared to your standalone gtx570. A gt220 would probably give lower performance as a dedicated card than just using your single gtx570.

 

[wolfram23]

True but on his bro's PC he needs a card in order to have any PhysX. If he already has a 220 just go with it, to be honest the FPS is still going to be mostly limited by the main GPU anyway. But yeah I agree with a 570 I wouldn't bother with a 220.

 

[nforce4max]

I still stand by the 8800/9800gt as being the best card for the job as it's cost and power consumption is low. A GTS250 and a GTS450 will be a little much but unless you expect to get hit hard then go for them. The GT430 is junk over all. I spent two months before deciding what I wanted and if it was even worth it.

G92 gt +1