Integrated graphics and PhysX Question

[bdiddytampa]

My laptop is an MSI Ghost Pro, 1080 version with a Haswell i7-4710HQ, 16GB RAM, and a GTX 970m. (Such a great laptop btw, top notch) The processor has integrated graphics, and in Nvidia's settings for PhysX you can choose what runs PhysX or select auto to let it do it for you.

My question is that it auto selects the Intel HD 4600 for PhysX. Is that my best option? I'm not a fan of selecting CPU because it can bog it down, but that's another option, or just have the 970m run PhysX.

What's my best option? I'm not necessarily attached to PhysX, it is what it is, adds a few cool effects to the games that support it. I thought Borderlands 2 made good use of it... anyway, is Intel HD 4600, CPU, or the dedicated card be the best setting for PhysX in my situation.

 

[kaptainkuftic]

Try it out. Play a game for a few hours with the Physx on the gpu and a few hours with it on the cpu. Just pick which one feels the best. My guess would be the 970m will run Physx best, but give your options a shot.

 

[bdiddytampa]

Try it out. Play a game for a few hours with the Physx on the gpu and a few hours with it on the cpu. Just pick which one feels the best. My guess would be the 970m will run Physx best, but give your options a shot.

That was my feeling as well, since it's Nvidia's tech. I'll test each one and come back with the results.

 

[photonboy]

PhysX should be set to AUTO SELECT.

Typically, PhysX on the CPU runs too slow and bogs down the system.

*There may be an issue with the NVidia settings whilst the iGPU is the primary GPU. Since you can toggle between NVidia and the Intel GPU (NVidia Optimus to save power) it may be that the NVidia driver doesn't show "auto select" or the NVidia GPU for PhysX when the iGPU is being used.

If in doubt try running WINDOWED mode for an NVidia game and see if the settings change, and also disable PhysX in the game to see how much the FPS changes. PhysX is often too demanding to be of much value anyway.

Some games are not even on the Optimus list so run on the Intel iGPU by default thus run slow. I think there's a way to show the NVidia icon when the game launches to ensure it's working, and if not you can manually add a game (or application that benefits) to the Optimus list.

 

[renz496]

this only affecting games with advance gpu physx being use/implemented in the game (which is not many). with such games it is better to let nvidia gpu to handle the calculation.

 

[Deadly Mak]

I have an MSI GE62 2qf Apache pro with i7-5700HQ, 8GB RAM and GTX 970M and my default PhysX configuration is CPU too. There might be a reason why MSI is doing this.

 

[bdiddytampa]

The funny thing is there is a drop down menu, and it has auto-select, 970m, and CPU in the drop down. It only chooses the Intel when I hit auto-select.

 

[bdiddytampa]

gonna test all three in Borderlands 2, I believe it was pretty heavy on the PhysX effects if I remember correctly.

 

[Deadly Mak]

gonna test all three in Borderlands 2, I believe it was pretty heavy on the PhysX effects if I remember correctly.

Please do update us with your results!

 

[bdiddytampa]

gonna test all three in Borderlands 2, I believe it was pretty heavy on the PhysX effects if I remember correctly.

Please do update us with your results!

Sorry, slipped my mind, mixed results.. some areas the CPU did a better job frame rate wise, and on and on. Lesson #1, it doesn't use the integrated GPU for Physx, only choices is CPU and GPU. I noticed almost no difference between the 2. Some areas were better with one than the other and likewise. (Going by using FPS as a metric). The best option between all imo, set auto. Nvidia does a good job of delegating. I got more consistent results using auto, rather than one over the other. :-/

 

[Deadly Mak]

What i find weird is auto should have been the default setting. MSI somehow changed the default to CPU in all of their laptops. Wouldn't there be a good reason from MSI for doing this? Especially since MSI designed these laptops for gaming.

 

[bdiddytampa]

What i find weird is auto should have been the default setting. MSI somehow changed the default to CPU in all of their laptops. Wouldn't there be a good reason from MSI for doing this? Especially since MSI designed these laptops for gaming.

Mine defaults to auto when I install a new video driver usually