GTX 460 as Dedicated Physx

[widbays]

Hello…,

I just upgraded my EVGA 8800GTS with EVGA GTX 480 few days ago; the performance is beyond my imagination, no other words that I can think of to describe its phenomenal performance expect wow…., all my favorite games can run flawlessly on it. Therefore, I’m thinking to put one GTX 460 1MB as the dedicated Physx card, is it worth it to add? Would that improve the fps on every game?

Your opinion and suggestions are very welcome.

Thank you guys…

PS. I also upgraded my other peripherals such as MB with Asus Maximus III Formula, i7 860, Dominator GT 4GB 1600C7, Corsair HX1000W.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Why not just use your old 8800GTS?

 

[EXT64]

^+100

The performance benefits a 460 would give over the 8800 would be small and not worth the $200 or so.

 

[widbays]

To mousemonkey, the reason I don't use the 8800GTS for the Physx is beause I just want to keep up with the new form of GPU and as we all known that the 8800GTS GPU is way too old for current technology.

I'm expecting some degrees of improvement mainly on frame rates, but as EXT 64 said the GTX460 would give a small amount of improvement, that's why I have to think over...

 

[Mousemonkey]

The 8800GTS would be exactly the same as a GTX460 if used in the role of a PhysX card but hey, it's your money so spend away.

 

[widbays]

Well..., okey then I'll give a shot, I'll install the 8800GTS and see what happen. I'll let you know the result soon, thanks bro...

 

[notty22]

You can compare your results to this review.
http://www.techspot.com/review/312-mafia2-performance/page7.html

 

[widbays]

Awesome...thanks notty22. But like my previous post, I'll try to put my 8800GTS as dedicated Physx, and shoot...I forgot to ask mousemonkey or any of you, which slot do I need to put the 8800GTS the Red one which represent PCIex16 or the White one for PCIe x8?

Thank you all....

 

[Mousemonkey]

Put it in the x16 slot if there is room and enough airflow.

 

[notty22]

I got that your going to test with your 8800, why not thats free. There are other sites with physX reviews, where they also tested different dedicated physX cards, but I did not have them handy. So I gave you something, that you can at least compare.
Now you can simulate (maybe) and see what happens. I don't think you will ever get worse performance, but we shall see. Let us know.

 

[bystander]

There is definately room to improve over a 8800gts for physX support, but it depends on the game, and how much power it needs to do the special effects.

For most games out there today, the most I've heard needed for optimal physX is dark void, which recommends a 260 to get the job done.

A 460 may be overkill, especially if you don't play any of the games that have gpu accelerated physX. However, if it ever becomes more popular, they may start wanting more and more power.

From my experience, a 8800gts was not quite enough power to play Sacred 2 smooth with physX on, but a 9800gt was just barely good enough.

 

[nforce4max]

I have done this before and it isn't worth it for most games period as many do not benefit from this and worse you can lose fps by adding a second or third card. A GTX 460 for physx is one of the worst wastes of money and not just that but also a damn good card. The best is to go sli or nuke the existing card's shader and physx performance will improve greatly. If you still convinced that multy card is the way to go then that 8800gts is more than enough as a 9600/9800gt are the sweet spot for phsyx games as a dedicated physx card. You already own a GTX 480 and clearly have more money than sense. So you have a few choices you can take my advice as I already been down this road at my own expense and just use your 8800gts or overclock your GTX 480.

 

[widbays]

Okay guys, I did try my 8800GTS pairing with the GTX 480. I played roughly 1 hour on one of the 3D intense games, Crysis Warhead in 1600x1200 with full screen and no AA on my 24” Dell. The fps showed only a very little improvement, which about 3% compare with single GTX 480.

The average frame rates is about 53fps (using fraps) on 2 cards, while I got average 51fps on single card. So, the test wasn’t like I was expected, at least I know now that using 8800GTS as the dedicated PhysX card is not giving me a big contribution to the overall performance.

Well…in the mean time, I’ll sit on my comfy chair, have some beer, and enjoy playing games on my new card while keep watching for the price of GTX 460 or GTX 480 to drop a bit.

Once again thank you all for your support, I really appreciated…..thanks…..

 

[Mousemonkey]

Crysis Warhead does not use PhysX so the 8800GTS was not doing ah heck all.

 

[madass]

Crysis Warhead does not use PhysX so the 8800GTS was not doing ah heck all.

He's right.

Try Metro 2033.

Or The Mirror's Edge.

 

[widbays]

Ouch...., and I guess all my favorite games don’t support PhysX then (Call of Duty, Left for Dead, Assassins Creed). Well…my bad…since I don’t really like RPG type games, are there any shooter games that use PhysX? Please, let me know so I can run the test one more time.

 

[silky salamandr]

Or Mafia II.

Like everyone said, just use your 8800 and call it a day. Dont get too caught up in the hype of physx. Only a handfull of games use it anyways. Im running 460's in sli and just got done playing through Mafia II 2 weeks ago. I found an old 8800 lying around and threw it in just to see the big difference. It was actually slower than just running physx from my 460's. Its not a game changer so spend you money on something else.

 

[widbays]

Yeah…, I think you’re right, I think I just got too exited with the new card and need more power to get the job done. I guess I’ll stick with 480 for quite a while and may be spend some bucks to get an SSD.

Thanks for your advice….

 

[Mousemonkey]

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_physxgames_home.html

 

[widbays]

Best answer selected by widbays.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey