I'm going to be adding another EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Classified Ultra 3072MB to my system shortly running in SLi.
question is, would a dedicated Physx card be beneficial in games that support it?
I'm thinking about adding a GTX 460 for dedicated Physx. (decent price)
If one would help, would the GTX 460 give me better performance then letting the 2 580's do Physx?

In PhysX games like Mafia II or Batman AC, yes it can help if your graphics are maxed out. EX: high resolution, DX11 in Batman AC, etc.

The physX card should be dedicated to a standalone card. It you select one of the two in SLI, you can have some issue (by experience)
 
BTW, check PhySX page t osee wich game use it. Most of them don't use it.

Ok, I'll check out the list, I know I play about 4 or 5 games that i KNOW support it. I'm a little worried about my PSU if i go though with this tho

aboillot


Ok, I'll check out the list, I know I play about 4 or 5 games that i KNOW support it. I'm a little worried about my PSU if i go though with this tho

 
What PSU are you running?

EVGA_JacobF


In PhysX games like Mafia II or Batman AC, yes it can help if your graphics are maxed out. EX: high resolution, DX11 in Batman AC, etc.

 
^Yeah, what he said.  Hehe!!

THERMALTAKE TP-1000M 1000W R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153149
 
Running an
Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2Ghz @ 4.212Ghz
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB
ASUS Rampage IV Extreme LGA 2011
 
It's supposed to have 8 SLi power connectors, but I only count 6, (it does have 2 cables with 2 6x/8x connectors on it, but I'm not sure if that's safe to use on the cards

Well, the GTX 460 *may* be a bit of overkill for just PhysX.
 
Well, 'will' is more accurate.

I know its overkill for games today, but I'm thinking buy big now, dont worry about later.. thought about getting on of those cheap 2xx cards NewEgg has for like 60 bucks.. but I dont want to upgrade it anytime soon...
 
what would be a good card to use for Physx then?

aboillot


I know its overkill for games today, but I'm thinking buy big now, dont worry about later.. thought about getting on of those cheap 2xx cards NewEgg has for like 60 bucks.. but I dont want to upgrade it anytime soon...

what would be a good card to use for Physx then?

Gains from a dedicated Physx do scale with the power of the GPU used. Here's SLI 580's with a GTX 470 for PhysX. This is probably about the top of the envelope running dual SLI with a dedicated PhysX GPU
 
1920X1080, all in game settings maxed:
Single 580

580 with second 580 dedicated to PhyX

SLI 580's with PhysX on auto

SLI 580's with GTX 470 dedicated to PhysX

 
  IMO an GTX 550 would make a decent compromise. I had the 470 sitting around collecting dust. I wouldn't have bought one specifically for PhysX use.

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I think your post is the closest I've seen for information on PhysX scaling - I have spent a lot of time looking into this, without any good data on it.
 
Could you do a test with the 580, and second 580 dedicated to PhysX...to compare the results of the 580, with the 470 dedicated to PhysX?  The goal being to try to take the GPU out of the picture, but just see how changes to what card is used for PhysX impacts things.
 
(And I don't suppose you'd have any other cards to test alongside the 580 for PhysX usage?)

xanderf


I think your post is the closest I've seen for information on PhysX scaling - I have spent a lot of time looking into this, without any good data on it.

Could you do a test with the 580, and second 580 dedicated to PhysX...to compare the results of the 580, with the 470 dedicated to PhysX?  The goal being to try to take the GPU out of the picture, but just see how changes to what card is used for PhysX impacts things.

(And I don't suppose you'd have any other cards to test alongside the 580 for PhysX usage?)

I did that. It's the second one. The second one is a GTX 580 with the second one dedicated to PhysX. GPU PhysX scaling isn't the same as it is for GPU's. Pretty much anything above a 8800 Ultra (CUDA cores are what matter) is going to increase the frame rates. It also depends upon the title. Metro 2033, doesn't see much gain in FPS but runs much smoother. That title only averages between 15-20% usage on the PhysX GPU whereas other titles will utilize the dedicated GPU at 50% or better. I'll run some comparisons running Batman AC later.

Oh, duh - right, I missed that.  Somehow read that as 'SLI'.
 
Yeah, that could be useful to know.
 
Other question, though, was...any other nVidia cards to try PhysX with?  That scaling question would be killer to answer...I think this would be the first place to really tackle it.

yes in games that support it u do c an increase performance in FR and the 460 does a great job speaking from experience
 
GIGABYTE G1 Assassin X58 MB
EVGA GTX 580 3GB SLI @900, 1800, 1.100V
EVGA GTX 460 Physx
i7 990X @4.4 W/H100 cooler
Patriot Viper II ‘Sector 7, 12GB RAM @2002
Corsair AX1200 PS
WD 2 TB 6.0 GB HD RAID 0
Dell 24 UltraSharp 1920 X 1200
HAF X Full Tower
 

HeavyHemi

aboillot


I know its overkill for games today, but I'm thinking buy big now, dont worry about later.. thought about getting on of those cheap 2xx cards NewEgg has for like 60 bucks.. but I dont want to upgrade it anytime soon...

what would be a good card to use for Physx then?

Gains from a dedicated Physx do scale with the power of the GPU used. Here's SLI 580's with a GTX 470 for PhysX. This is probably about the top of the envelope running dual SLI with a dedicated PhysX GPU

1920X1080, all in game settings maxed:
Single 580

580 with second 580 dedicated to PhyX

SLI 580's with PhysX on auto

SLI 580's with GTX 470 dedicated to PhysX


IMO an GTX 550 would make a decent compromise. I had the 470 sitting around collecting dust. I wouldn't have bought one specifically for PhysX use.

 
Witch benchmark is this you use ?

Thanks for the info HeavyHemi! gives me something to think about when I bite the bullet!
 
If price isn't an option on the PhysX card, still check out the 550?

chillernr1

HeavyHemi

aboillot


I know its overkill for games today, but I'm thinking buy big now, dont worry about later.. thought about getting on of those cheap 2xx cards NewEgg has for like 60 bucks.. but I dont want to upgrade it anytime soon...

what would be a good card to use for Physx then?

Gains from a dedicated Physx do scale with the power of the GPU used. Here's SLI 580's with a GTX 470 for PhysX. This is probably about the top of the envelope running dual SLI with a dedicated PhysX GPU

1920X1080, all in game settings maxed:
Single 580

580 with second 580 dedicated to PhyX

SLI 580's with PhysX on auto

SLI 580's with GTX 470 dedicated to PhysX


IMO an GTX 550 would make a decent compromise. I had the 470 sitting around collecting dust. I wouldn't have bought one specifically for PhysX use.

Witch benchmark is this you use ?

That's Mafia II which uses APEX PhysX.