Integrated graphics and PhysX Question

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
bdiddytampa

bdiddytampa

Honorable
Dec 2, 2012
1,012
0
11,660
My laptop is an MSI Ghost Pro, 1080 version with a Haswell i7-4710HQ, 16GB RAM, and a GTX 970m. (Such a great laptop btw, top notch) The processor has integrated graphics, and in Nvidia's settings for PhysX you can choose what runs PhysX or select auto to let it do it for you.

My question is that it auto selects the Intel HD 4600 for PhysX. Is that my best option? I'm not a fan of selecting CPU because it can bog it down, but that's another option, or just have the 970m run PhysX.

What's my best option? I'm not necessarily attached to PhysX, it is what it is, adds a few cool effects to the games that support it. I thought Borderlands 2 made good use of it... anyway, is Intel HD 4600, CPU, or the dedicated card be the best setting for PhysX in my situation.
 
Solution
photonboy
PhysX should be set to AUTO SELECT.

Typically, PhysX on the CPU runs too slow and bogs down the system.

*There may be an issue with the NVidia settings whilst the iGPU is the primary GPU. Since you can toggle between NVidia and the Intel GPU (NVidia Optimus to save power) it may be that the NVidia driver doesn't show "auto select" or the NVidia GPU for PhysX when the iGPU is being used.

If in doubt try running WINDOWED mode for an NVidia game and see if the settings change, and also disable PhysX in the game to see how much the FPS changes. PhysX is often too demanding to be of much value anyway.

Some games are not even on the Optimus list so run on the Intel iGPU by default thus run slow. I think there's a way to show the NVidia...
Sort by date Sort by votes
bdiddytampa

bdiddytampa

Honorable
Dec 2, 2012
1,012
0
11,660


That was my feeling as well, since it's Nvidia's tech. I'll test each one and come back with the results.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
photonboy

photonboy

Titan
Jun 20, 2006
21,567
13
85,015
PhysX should be set to AUTO SELECT.

Typically, PhysX on the CPU runs too slow and bogs down the system.

*There may be an issue with the NVidia settings whilst the iGPU is the primary GPU. Since you can toggle between NVidia and the Intel GPU (NVidia Optimus to save power) it may be that the NVidia driver doesn't show "auto select" or the NVidia GPU for PhysX when the iGPU is being used.

If in doubt try running WINDOWED mode for an NVidia game and see if the settings change, and also disable PhysX in the game to see how much the FPS changes. PhysX is often too demanding to be of much value anyway.

Some games are not even on the Optimus list so run on the Intel iGPU by default thus run slow. I think there's a way to show the NVidia icon when the game launches to ensure it's working, and if not you can manually add a game (or application that benefits) to the Optimus list.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
bdiddytampa

bdiddytampa

Honorable
Dec 2, 2012
1,012
0
11,660


Sorry, slipped my mind, mixed results.. some areas the CPU did a better job frame rate wise, and on and on. Lesson #1, it doesn't use the integrated GPU for Physx, only choices is CPU and GPU. I noticed almost no difference between the 2. Some areas were better with one than the other and likewise. (Going by using FPS as a metric). The best option between all imo, set auto. Nvidia does a good job of delegating. I got more consistent results using auto, rather than one over the other. :-/
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Deadly Mak

Commendable
Jul 10, 2016
78
0
1,640
What i find weird is auto should have been the default setting. MSI somehow changed the default to CPU in all of their laptops. Wouldn't there be a good reason from MSI for doing this? Especially since MSI designed these laptops for gaming.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
bdiddytampa

bdiddytampa

Honorable
Dec 2, 2012
1,012
0
11,660


Mine defaults to auto when I install a new video driver usually
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom