PhysX needed?

[Night-Stalker]

I just sold my beloved EVGA 8800 GT OC to a friend that needed it. I picked up a 5850 just now and realized that i no longer have physx support. Do i really need it for games these days? The only game that i might still play that needs it would be NFS Shift. And if i do need it, a GT 220 should be enough just to process physx right? I could just use my 5850 for graphics and a cheap GT220 for physx. But then if i do that, would my motherboard (P5Q Deluxe) split into 8x/8x? Will it bottleneck my 5850?

 

[jyjjy]

This can be done but you need to use hacked drivers;
http://www.techpowerup.com/105329/Hack_Released_to_Enable_PhysX_on_Windows_7_with_ATI_GPU_Present.html
Unless you are actually using the cards in SLI/crossfire(totally impossible) I believe your 1st PCIe slot should remain at x16. I wouldn't worry about PhysX too much personally. The only game I've seen where it makes a real difference is Batman: AA and that was mostly a design choice.

 

[Maziar]

I wouldn't do it really.
Because PhysX doesn't make difference in most games,there are few title which benefit from it like Batman but with the cost of significant FPS loss compared to when PhysX is not used.

 

[bystander]

I wouldn't do it really.
Because PhysX doesn't make difference in most games,there are few title which benefit from it like Batman but with the cost of significant FPS loss compared to when PhysX is not used.

If he's using a 2nd nVidia card as a dedicated PhysX card, it will cost very little FPS.

I personally just did this recently by sticking in an old 8800GT and it's working out great as a physX card with my 5870 for doing the rendering.

Here is a benchmark using a dedicated PhysX card in batman http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/batman-arkham-asylum,2465-8.html

As far as needing a dedicated PhysX card, you don't and there aren't a lot of games using it. I did find out that the latest patch of Sacred 2 did add it, and it's not very playable without the dedicated physX card, but there aren't a lot of games using it, and it's mostly fluff things that it adds.

 

[maxiim]

PhysX is a load of crap that nvidia used to sell their cards. Imo it never mattered at least not at this point in time anyway.

 

[Night-Stalker]

Thanks guys. That will save me a good $60 or so.

 

[MEgamer]

well phjysx is getting more popular, i mean physx in arkham asylum, was amazing

im sure i heard ati trying to implement it to or at least be able to run physx games

so it will become more mainstream im sure of it,

but watever ure thoughts may be, the least i can say is be ready for it.