PhysX Dedicated Card Questions

[coolitic]

I currently have a GTX 950 which I plan to use as a dedicated PhysX card after I get a GTX 1080. First of all, it should perform fine in a PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, correct? Also, in order to save power, can I underclock it's core, shader, or memory clock?

 

[atomicWAR]

yes you can but if you are using it for physx you probably don't want to. GPUs running Physx do better with higher core clock then lower core clock say with more cuda cores. I find the GTX x50 series a good fit for dedicated physx cards and run them myself. Keep in mind though the frame rate increase at best will be about 20% more likely less and thats only in GPU intensive games that are near maxing your GTX 1080. Otherwise the benefits will be small/non-existant

 

[Epicness937]

i would simply test the card with and with out the physx card in your system on the 1080 because the 1080 may be to fast and simply waiting for the 950 to load all teh stuff it needs to meaning that the physx card is slowing your system down
i for one am guessing that it will help as i ran a gtx 760 with 2 970s and it helped but thats just a guess

 

[coolitic]

I was asking which of those 3 i WOULD be able to underclock without performance penalties.

Also, the card will work fine in a 3.0 x16 slot that runs at x4 speeds correct?

 

[Epicness937]

I was asking which of those 3 i WOULD be able to underclock without performance penalties.

Also, the card will work fine in a 3.0 x16 slot that runs at x4 speeds correct?

memory is the only one you most likely can without a proformance loss
but im not 100% sure as im not the worlds foremost expert on physx

 

[17seconds]

The x4 slot is fine. I think it should pair nicely with the GTX 1080, but I wouldn't downclock by much as that should directly impact the performance boost.

But the first question is, what GPU accelerated PhysX games do you intend to play?

 

[coolitic]

I play lots of games, and I know at least a few that make use of heavy physx effects.

But you know what, I can always check GPU and FB usage in the more intensive games in order to get the right clock speed.

 

[17seconds]

Just wanted to make sure that you played games where it will make a difference. Some people get confused as to what games support GPU PhysX.

 

[atomicWAR]

I was asking which of those 3 i WOULD be able to underclock without performance penalties.

Also, the card will work fine in a 3.0 x16 slot that runs at x4 speeds correct?

as epic stated maybe the memory but that would be it. Lowering the shaders and core clock would absolutely kill performance for physx. Vram can't say for sure my guess is it will impact it as well but it would be the lesser evil of the three as it were.

I like you run a lot of physx heavy games. If your maxing out graphics (ie max graphics settings with heavy Ansostropic filtering and Anti-aliasing...say 16x by 8x manual or in game settings) and heavy physx you could get that 20% frame boost I was talking about.

 

[Karadjgne]

I'm a little puzzled. I honestly can't think of any single game at 1080p that'll max out a gtx1080. So I'm assuming you are running a higher resolution? And as far as I can figure, the physX capability of a 1080 is far beyond the capabilities of the gtx950. At 1440p, my guess would be that adding the 950 might show an improvement, it might not, but at 4k my guess would be the 950 would be a detriment as downclocking anything on the 1080 to sync with the 950 is not going to be in its best interests with such a parity between gpus. If the physX card was more powerful, a 780 or 970 for instance, I'd say go for it, even a 960 would be better, but I'm just thinking the 950 just won't cut it .

 

[Epicness937]

I'm a little puzzled. I honestly can't think of any single game at 1080p that'll max out a gtx1080. So I'm assuming you are running a higher resolution? And as far as I can figure, the physX capability of a 1080 is far beyond the capabilities of the gtx950. At 1440p, my guess would be that adding the 950 might show an improvement, it might not, but at 4k my guess would be the 950 would be a detriment as downclocking anything on the 1080 to sync with the 950 is not going to be in its best interests with such a parity between gpus. If the physX card was more powerful, a 780 or 970 for instance, I'd say go for it, even a 960 would be better, but I'm just thinking the 950 just won't cut it .

kind of what i said before but a test with and without the card in a physx game is the only way to know for sure

 

[coolitic]

I'm a little puzzled. I honestly can't think of any single game at 1080p that'll max out a gtx1080. So I'm assuming you are running a higher resolution? And as far as I can figure, the physX capability of a 1080 is far beyond the capabilities of the gtx950. At 1440p, my guess would be that adding the 950 might show an improvement, it might not, but at 4k my guess would be the 950 would be a detriment as downclocking anything on the 1080 to sync with the 950 is not going to be in its best interests with such a parity between gpus. If the physX card was more powerful, a 780 or 970 for instance, I'd say go for it, even a 960 would be better, but I'm just thinking the 950 just won't cut it .

Also plan to get a 144hz monitor, possibly 1440p, 😀

 

[Karadjgne]

Hah, figured. A gtx1080 is minor overkill at 1080p. It'll definitely do justice on a 1440p though.