PhysX and ATI

[destruktiveone]

Im considering buying an ATI 5870 with my new pc. The question i have is, If i were to ALSO buy a EVGA 9800 GT, Would i be able to run PhysX soley from that card, And use the 5870 to run the graphical side? I know they are different companies and that ATI does not support PhysX but its kinda a big deal breaker for me when buying a VGA. ANy help is greatly appreciated!

GeForce 9800 GT Superclocked Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130450

Radeon HD 5870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102856&cm_re=5870-_-14-102-856-_-Product

 

[destruktiveone]

Well see, At the moment i dont play many games as my GPU/CPU combo doesnt support many of the higher end games id like to play. I recently sold my xbox 360 so im trying to pick up the slack of it with my PC. Im building a new one from the ground up for overclocking/gaming. Id like the build to last at least 2 years, So on the safety side id like to be able to run PhysX games with an ATI card. I really dont want to spend the extra $100 for the card if it will just be a waste of time tho.

 

[hunter315]

you can do it using older drivers for nVidia, but im not sure if physX is worth dropping $100 on, if you have never played with it you wont miss it and most games dont support it anyway, so thats $100 for an added feature in only a few titles.

 

[destruktiveone]

I think ill just pass on the idea then. I wasnt aware that only a few titles really supported it. IMHO I thought basically ALL newer titles used it and without it, The games wouldnt be as good. I guess with the 5870 ill be gaining the advantage of DX11 over rolling Nvidia. Thanks for the speedy responses!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

See the story and link here which has it working on nVidias latest (195.62) drivers

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-ATI-physx-patch-gpu,8786.html

I'm not much of a gamer (1 maybe 2 games a year) though I was curious enough to play Batman when my son got a copy for XMas ..... I thought the effects were pretty cool. The impact is certainly noticeable when 1st turned on.....but turning it off after having it on leaves a very strong sense of something missing.

Other reading:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/batman_arkham_asylum_physx_performance/page2.asp

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/batman-arkham-asylum,2465-11.html

You don't need a 9800 GT.....a 220 for $65 is just fine.....(from the THG article linked above)

The good news here is that a GeForce GT 220 can be had for as little as $65 online, and as a dedicated PhysX card, it will guarantee that the High PhysX setting won't bottleneck performance. Even at 1920x1200, the GT 220 produced a minimum frame rate of 36 FPS as a dedicated PhysX card. Using more expensive solutions as dedicated PhysX processors didn't produce appreciably higher frame rates, so the GeForce GT 220 is a real PhysX champion for the price.

on a $600 gaming box, it might be hard to recommend a 10% increase for a dedicated PhysX card. On a $2k box, at 3% of costs .... if I had it in my mind to play 2 or 3 PhysX games, I think I'd have take the plunge. But I have to say, if you're a stop and smell the roses kinda guy, the PhysX visual features are quite stunning if you take the time to look at them. If you're a balls to the wall FPS player who rushes through every scene, ya might not notice it enough to make the investment worthwhile. So it's always going to be an individual decision which only you can make for yaself.

As for support, many games support PhysX . The majority do it software based letting your CPU do the work. The GPU hardware supported list is smaller.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_11_support
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX

 

[bystander]

I currently do this, but like hunter315 said, it is probably not worth buying a card just for this purpose. I had an older 8800gt laying around that was availible to be installed. It does look nice on the one game I have that really uses it, but it's not really a huge deal.

If you have an older card with PhysX, you might as well hold onto it for this purpose.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Patch is by GenL at NGOHQ;

http://www.ngohq.com/graphic-cards/16223-nvidia-disables-physx-when-ati-card-is-present-28.html#post82812

However like others said, unless you know of a game you want to play that benefits greatly from it (small number) then it would be better to use the money elsewhere.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Word is, going forwards, no Fermi cards will work doing this, but who knows, as fermi isnt here yet

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Word is, going forwards, no Fermi cards will work.

Fixed it for you.

 

[bystander]

Word is, going forwards, no Fermi cards will work doing this, but who knows, as fermi isnt here yet

Given that the word from Nvidia is that they plan to use Fermi only on the high end 300's, I don't expect anyone would be using the Fermi card as their dedicated physx card anyways.

 

[destruktiveone]

I think itll be a while before i get a fermi card anyway. lol The build im going for im HOPING will last me around 3 to 4 years.

i7 920 (plans to OC)
EVGA E758-A1
OCZ Gold 6GB DDR3
ATI 5870
Corsair 750W
Corsair Cooling Hydro Series (Against popular demand)
CM Storm Sniper