ive been waiting to go with a single card for a while to try out using a physics card. question is, do i need one? #56 in the queue.
 
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not really. google phsyx games and see if you play any of those games. personally, i have no use for it.

No, you don't need one at all since Nvidia cards all support PhysX. The 580 is more than enough power.

Ditto

yes, i agree that the 500/600 series are capable of handling physics. but the the purpose of a physics card is to handle the lil extras while allowing your cpu and gpu to run wild.
edit. i have alice MR and batman AC installed

With the 680 you won't need a PPU. It won't run at full load in even the most demanding game. Plus, your CPU can handle the rest of the calculation needs.

Cyanide89


With the 680 you won't need a PPU. It won't run at full load in even the most demanding game. Plus, your CPU can handle it on its own as well.

CPUs cannot do hardware PhysX.  So in games like 'Alice' or 'Batman', either you've got a GPU that can do it, or you don't have the option.
 
That said, the 680 DOES have the capability to do it, so the question is just 'does having an add-on card do anything'?
 
Given previous tests, I'd say "sure".
 
Not a LOT, and by a GeForce 430 or so you are pretty much maxing out the amount of 'oomph' possible for PhysX calculations.  And the question really depends on how hard your primary GPU is working.  If, when running the game at the settings you want, it's only at 80% utilization or so (EVGA Precision can tell you)...then there is plenty of horsepower your main card is leaving on the table, where it could be doing PhysX calculations, so an add-on card will do nothing (or even potentially slow you down).
 
If your main card is AT 100% almost all of the time, well, then, obviously anything you can do to bring load off of it onto another card (dedicated to PhysX) is a good thing!

I didn't mean that the CPU handles PhysX, I meant it's powerful enough to handle the rest...
 
All in all. The 680 is fine to handle all the PhysX needs he may encounter.

Totally not needed. I used a single GTX 570 while playing Alice with everything turned up, never dipped under 50fps. Batman AC runs like crap regardless of whether you use a physX card or multiple GPU's. With SLI GTX 570's I was getting like 40fps with DX11 features on and you barely see the difference.

thanks all. i will wait then. after all im in no hurry. still at #56

Of course I have to spoil the party with pictures. Batman AA 1920x1080 all in game settings maxed. Game FXAA to high.
SLI 580's with GTX 470 dedicated to PhysX
 

 
SLI 580's with PhysX set to auto and the GTX 470 disabled:
 

 
Questions?
 

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I think you'd definitely get better performance, but only with certain titles...and out of those, mainly the Batman games. Even with dual 470s (which is SLI have almost identical performance with the 680), until one of the driver updates, having SLI disabled and the second card a dedicated PhysX card, I actually got a higher frame rate. However, with the humongous increase in CUDA cores with the 680, it may be a totally different story and handle Physx so efficiently that one card will do the trick w/ all settings maxxed.

tresnugget


I think you'd definitely get better performance, but only with certain titles...and out of those, mainly the Batman games. Even with dual 470s (which is SLI have almost identical performance with the 680), until one of the driver updates, having SLI disabled and the second card a dedicated PhysX card, I actually got a higher frame rate. However, with the humongous increase in CUDA cores with the 680, it may be a totally different story and handle Physx so efficiently that one card will do the trick w/ all settings maxxed.

True to an extent. Mafia II is another title that uses PhysX heavily. The perpetual issue with GPU PhysX is it requires the GPU to context switch between rendering and processing PhysX when you're not using a dedicated PhysX GPU. The Fermi GPU's are more efficient at doing this than the earlier generations. I've seen no comparisons or claims by Nvidia yet, that they have made PhysX processing more efficient this generation. At this point we can only guesstimate.

HeavyHemi


Of course I have to spoil the party with pictures. Batman AA 1920x1080 all in game settings maxed. Game FXAA to high.
SLI 580's with GTX 470 dedicated to PhysX



SLI 580's with PhysX set to auto and the GTX 470 disabled:



Questions?

thanks heavy for the comparison. seems i might be back on the market for a physics card. i was thinking about this forum members f/s post. the 250 is what caught my eye. http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1480493

HeavyHemi


Of course I have to spoil the party with pictures. Batman AA 1920x1080 all in game settings maxed. Game FXAA to high.
Questions?

Yeah try again with 8X MSAA PhysX isnt very demanding in Batman but other settings like DX11 and AA are.

blacksapphire08

HeavyHemi


Of course I have to spoil the party with pictures. Batman AA 1920x1080 all in game settings maxed. Game FXAA to high.
Questions?

Yeah try again with 8X MSAA PhysX isnt very demanding in Batman but other settings like DX11 and AA are.

As I said, all settings are maxed. FXAA on high is very similiar to 8XMSAA running up to 32 MSAA makes little difference. And I'm not sure you've actually run the game if you're saying PhysX doesn't put a major hit on FPS...Same settings SLI 580's the only change being PhysX disabled in game:
 

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HeavyHemi

blacksapphire08

HeavyHemi


Of course I have to spoil the party with pictures. Batman AA 1920x1080 all in game settings maxed. Game FXAA to high.
Questions?

Yeah try again with 8X MSAA PhysX isnt very demanding in Batman but other settings like DX11 and AA are.

As I said, all settings are maxed. FXAA on high is very similiar to 8XMSAA running up to 32 MSAA makes little difference. And I'm not sure you've actually run the game if you're saying PhysX doesn't put a major hit on FPS...Same settings SLI 580's the only change being PhysX disabled in game:

Way too much of a difference to be PhysX alone. I saw MAYBE 15-20fps difference in the average. Turning on DX11 features absolutely crippled the game though. I would run the bench again but I uninstalled the game.

blacksapphire08

HeavyHemi

blacksapphire08

HeavyHemi


Of course I have to spoil the party with pictures. Batman AA 1920x1080 all in game settings maxed. Game FXAA to high.
Questions?

Yeah try again with 8X MSAA PhysX isnt very demanding in Batman but other settings like DX11 and AA are.

As I said, all settings are maxed. FXAA on high is very similiar to 8XMSAA running up to 32 MSAA makes little difference. And I'm not sure you've actually run the game if you're saying PhysX doesn't put a major hit on FPS...Same settings SLI 580's the only change being PhysX disabled in game:

Way too much of a difference to be PhysX alone. I saw MAYBE 15-20fps difference in the average. Turning on DX11 features absolutely crippled the game though. I would run the bench again but I uninstalled the game.

Yet there it is. Same effect on Mafia II. PhysX can kill the frame rates in SLI depending upon how it's implemented. I could run this a dozen times and get the same results.