So about Physx...

[Espionage724]

I have a motherboard with a single PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot, and I only plan on using my Radeon HD 5570 in it for now.


In the past, I was interested in games that took advantage of Physx, specifically Unreal Engine 3 games.

So here is some questions:

1. Should I get a dedicated physx card (from Ageia I think) or a Nvidia card and dedicate physx to it?
2. Are there any dedicated Physx or nvidia GPU's that are PCI only?
3. Is having physx provided from the dedicated card or a Nvidia GPU worth it? I have a Phenom II X3 (unlocked to X4).
4. Is there anyway to have Physx on an ATI/AMD GPU, or to use OpenCL?

 

[bystander]

Your main GPU will not have enough power to drive the extra graphics associated with PhysX. I wouldn't get a dedicated PhysX card.

Also, most Unreal Engine 3 games do not take advantage of GPU Accelerated PhysX. Just because an engine is capable of using PhysX doesn't mean its going to take advantage of GPU accelerated PhysX. Most the time they just have it run on the CPU.

 

[mohawkade]

Actually, you won't get any acceleration with an ATI card. PhysX is strictly Nvidia only, you can still run it on a software level (CPU acceleration), but not on a hardware level (GPU acceleration).

There are no Nvidia PCI cards that will support PhysX.

Your options are:

1. Get an Nvidia GPU, Geforce GTX 200 series or higher.

2. Get a new motherboard to accept an extra GPU for Hybrid PhysX, will require an Nvidia GPU, Geforce 9800 or Higher for dedicated PhysX.

3. Get an Ageia PPU (cheapest option) off an empty PCI slot for PhysX acceleration.

(Note: Ageia PPUs will not support PhysX engine v2.8.3 or higher, meaning it will not accelerate game like Mafia II or Metro 2033.)

 

[Espionage724]

So, would trying to seek hardware Physx really even be worth it? I don't really have plans on buying a Nvidia card (AMD fan ), and my CPU I believe is plenty powerful enough (Phenom X3 720 unlocked to X4).

 

[jyjjy]

Unless you specifically plan on playing the handful of games that can utilize GPU accelerated Physx a lot I would say no, it's not worth it.