PhysX setup

Hey guys,

I have a question about PhysX and its performance. I have an EVGA 9800GTX+ that I decided to throw in for PhysX the other day. After booting up, the Nvidia Control Panel gives me the option to dedicate it to PhysX rather than using my GTX 470 but I don't seem to be getting much performance increase in most games other than the ones that make full use of it. What I'd like to know is, do I have to install specific drivers to get more out of this setup or is this just a limitation to the games that I play? Is Arkham Asylum the only reason I should keep this card in or could I boost some frame rates in Crysis?
I found this guide on setting up PhysX: http://www.guru3d.com/article/physx-by-nvidia-review/3 but it seems to be a bit outdated.
Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks.

Your PhysX drivers are fine as is (you don't need to install anything else in your case). The lack of improved performance may be because of the processing difference between the 470 and the 9800GTX. Essentially, the 9800GTX can't perform anywhere close to the 470. Kind of like adding one more drop of water to an almost full bucket...not much gain in comparison.

You also have the issue of having the additional power being consumed and heat generated of having both cards. If it were me, I would pull the 9800GTX and keep as a backup GPU, install in another system, or sell it. Your call.

Good luck!!!

A 9800GTX+ is a 250GTS by another name...

The problem isn't the card. The problem is that he's expecting improvement in games without accelerated GPU PhysX support.

Batman AA will likely have an improvement, but Crysis does not use PhysX in any form or fashion. Most games listed as having PhysX do not utilize GPU accelerated PhysX either. There are only a few games in which it will help and you may not even own another other than batman.

If the game does not support GPU accelerated PhysX, that other card is nothing but a power drain.

Dude, UT3!

I definitely see improvement in Batman AA. I end up getting frame increases of 10-15 sometimes which I find to be a significant boost. If it's the that the only reason I'm not seeing any noticeable performance in other game is because of the lack of support for PhysX do you think that I should keep the card for the few games that might have it or just not bother with it at all. Also, I would appreciate it if you guys suggested some other titles that support PhysX.

Thanks

I would not put the card in the machine unless you are playing a PhyX game with GPU acceleration support at that time and only if that game is getting less than 50 FPS without the dedicated card.

Losing 10 FPS when you already have 70+ doesn't give any benefit if your monitors refresh rate is 60. I'm willing to play at 50 FPS to avoid the hassle of adding in the extra card, as 50 FPS is still very enjoyable.

There is nothing extensive to do with the physX card. You install it, without a bridge. Open up the Nvidia control panel, go to the PhysX/SLI and select the 9800GTX as the dedicated physX card.

It will work if you own one of the games with GPU accelerated physx support. Nothing else has to be done, other than turning it on in each game that has the option.

Mafia 2 and Metro 2033 are the latest PhysX titles. I would leave the card in as a dedicated PhysX card. The cost in extra power is negligible. In general, once you experience PhysX, there's no turning back.

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if anyone knows what the dedicated PhysX card does when not playing a PhysX game? Does it ramp up it's clock speeds as if it were rendering the graphics? Or does it just sit in it's idle state? For that matter, how much stress does rendering PhysX calculations put on a dedicated GPU?

The way it works for me is if I play Batman AA the PhysX card ends up working at about 5-10% usage, and temps stay about 40c. When playing a game that does not require it, it sits idle at about 36c. I have not seen any effect on my GTX 470's temps from installing the 9800GTX+, all temps stay the same. What I have noticed is a 5-10 fps increase now that I have installed newer drivers for the 9800 on pretty much any game. Bystander is right though, going from 70fps to 80fps isn't a noticeable difference but I don't mind keeping it in there because atleast I don't feel like its being wasted. By the way, in terms of power, my PSU is an 80+ Gold certified 1000W so it really doesn't affect me much.

You might as well count Apple in the mix as they have been that way since day one.

I have actually heard about a PhysX 3.0 update that is due sometime in the near future.

The $4/month is hurting you that much? That's not even enough for a McDonald's Big Mac combo.

It seems like the ONLY Nvidia drivers you should be running are the latest ones for your primary graphics card. The dedicated PhysX card will be using the latest PhysX drivers that are installed with the graphics drivers.

Actually it adds up when if you were to use your machine as mush as I do. Mine runs me $30-40 a month just to run for one rig thanks to my crt monitors and remember having savings when I had moved from a single x1900xt to a 3870 that used much less power. Monthly that was $5-10 and its adds up when one is living off student loans or in living in an area ware utilities are very high. I guess many of you here are not paying the bills or not home much but when things heat up during the summer every dollar counts when one is paying up to $200-275 a month due to running the A/C. What would you chose a nice cool house or one that is roasting with 30-35c room temp and rigs that are overheating.

It can draw up to 1000 watts, but likely draws more like in the 400 watt range or so.

The $4 a month I mentioned is a gross estimate, but it does include full gaming 4 hours a day/5 days a week on a GTX480 (per the guru3d website).

You likely just got updated drivers and they gave you the most recent for your 470. I do know there has been some large improvements over the last few months from personal experience. That or you just are having a placebo effect.

Those games do not have physX support.

I was talking about the total system wattage as measured from the wall socket. Here's an explanation from guru3d in regards to the highly factory overclocked Gigabyte SOC on a overclocked system:

Power consumption
Let's have a look at how much power draw we measure with this graphics card installed.

The methodology: We have a device constantly monitoring the power draw from the PC. We simply stress the GPU, not the processor. The before and after wattage will tell us roughly how much power a graphics card is consuming under load.

Our test system is based on a power hungry Core i7 965 / X58 based. This setup is overclocked to 3.75 GHz. Next to that we have energy saving functions disabled for this motherboard and processor (to ensure consistent benchmark results). On average we are using roughly 50 to 100 Watts more than a standard PC due to higher CPU clock settings, water-cooling, additional cold cathode lights etc.

Keep that in mind. Our normal system power consumption is higher than your average system.

GeForce GTX 470 SOC edition

Advertised GeForce GTX 470 TDP = 215W
System in IDLE = 187W
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 400W
Difference (GPU load) = 185 W
Add average IDLE wattage ~ 25W
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 210 Watt
Mind you that the System Wattage is measured from the wall socket and is for the entire PC. Below a chart of measured Wattages per card.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/giga [...] c-review/6

Guru3d recommends a minimum 550 watt power supply.

for nVidia AFAIK - SLI..
unless you want to go nVidia 3D..

Just tried it, it works, you can extend monitors off PhysX cards. Awesome.

Thanks anyways. Now if someone would just respond to this lol.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] w=0&nojs=0

Yeah you don't hear it much do you? Just wondering why some people are getting temperatures of 70c and I'm at a 23c.

LOL

Its just odd don't you think?? That's a BIG drop. Just look at this guy freaking out at 4:40.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC4 [...] re=related