2x6870 CrossFire, which used nVidia card to get for PhysX?

I will tell you it will not be a huge improvement I had an old 8800 gt and added it to my system with a 5850 and did the mod for physx I was not impressed and removed the 8800gt and dropped my temps by 15 degrees.

Well the one above me may have had an issue but the 8800gt/9800gt is just perfect for the job. Single slot and only uses 30w at idle. Physx really doesn't tax it hardly at all and the highest that I have seen it go was just under 50% I am using it with my gtx 460 as a dedicated card and in physx games it does carry it's weight.

single or dual slot is not an issue, it's going into the bottow PCI-E 4X slot on my mobo. should i be concerned about not having enough power from my PSU? i read that the XFX 750W Black Edition is very good tho...

i just want the extra physx effects.

i've read this here

does this mean that physx 3.0 will make physx cards obsolete? will this affect only new games?

also, does this mean that games can have great looking physics effects without using PhysX, instead using the CPU?

if you want to go really as high as you can without wasting too much money on it, I'd get a gtx 260, but like people said an 8800 gt or better will do the job, but since you already have lots of money invested in graphics you might as well get a gtx 260 off ebay for like $80, that is, if your psu can cope with all 3 gpus

Here ya go

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/batman_arkham_asylu...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/batman-arkham-asylu...



That's a bit old, so I'd guess today's equivalent would be the Gt430

great, this page pretty much answers my thread, many thanks!

a question: would i be able to play dx11 games on dx11 settings with physx on if my physx card is only dx10?

ehh Id go a little higher than that if you don't want frames to drop down near 30, overall the best would be getting a 8800 or 9800 gt for cheap off ebay

The GT430 is crap, I spent two months researching and looking around Before buying the dedicated card that I got now. The GT430 isn't worth the cost plus a used 8800/9800gt is cheaper and a lot more powerful. With the older cards the core and shader clocks are not linked and the core can be down clocked next to nothing while sparing more power for the shader which is only what you want. Only consider the gt 430 on these grounds, limited space, very very limited power, very limited cooling and airflow in the case. There are green editions of the 9800gt that do not require a 6pin cable for power but you can try getting a 55nm version and flashing it for lower clocks and run it without the cable making a green edition on the cheap. Any thing more than a G92 or GF106 is more or less a waste unless for those who already own a GT200a/b. G92 hands down and it is worth it trust me as it can really take the load of your cpu in physx games while having other uses outside gaming such as folding home and being able to encode video content on the dedicated card. Such as converting high ress videos to ipod format and it saves a lot of time vs any cpu. Physx when on the cpu is like gaming on a single or dual core when in some situations and settings.

^+1 agreed

sounds good, but i still have this question: would i be able to play dx11 games on dx11 settings with physx on if my physx card is only dx10?

btw i didn't say that i'm planning to buy a GT 430, i just meant that the page i linked to was helpful in showing the difference between different cards for physx. i actually had my eye on the GTS 450. if i can play dx11 games (on dx11 settings) with a dx10 physx card, then i'll get a 9800GT as you recommend  

btw does the amont of ram matter? is 512mb ok or should i look for 1gb?

Yes, physx is not dependent on that api. Physx is it's own api and will not affect DX11 compatibility as that will be only run on your main cards while the 8800gt/9800gt will not be visible to the games while the nvidia driver takes care of every thing else. Get the community patch for the nivida drivers and you are set  

please answer my final question - ram 512mb or 1gb? i found a 9800GTX+ 512mb, gonna call the guy if i don't need 1gb!

btw i also found a lot of 9800GT 512mb, what should i get?

physx barely needs 256mb so 512mb is more than enough  

ok, that's what i found too while impatiently googling this topic. alright, so 9800GT vs 9800GTX+: the GTX+ has a higher sharder clock, but also higher TDP... hmm... i guess i'll call a bunch of people and go with the best deal? will physx make it run at full load btw?

You want to shoot for a GTX 260 or higher, although the 8800GTS and above as shown below are good enough.
By the way, the review link shows how to enable a dedicated PhysX card on an AMD system.

By the way, what PhysX games do you play? This is always a good question, since some people get confused about PhysX and what games support it.


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-physx-hack-a...

This review is showing that the GT 430 as a PhysX card is only slightly better than a GT 220. Combined with the chart above confirms that a GT 430 is not a very good PhysX card:


http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-r...

Don't listen to him unless you have the room and the power for such a card plus it is likely to cost a lot more unless you are able to shop on ebay. Also your setup is already going to outperform the quoted config in the chart above. The 9800gtx is a ok card but again only go for it is something that you want. Personally a 9800gt is just right for the job and can give massive increases in performance even for a all nvidia system. Also don't bother listing to people who only quote chats. I have done dedicated cards before on my own nickle and dime so I know what I am talking about.

Now a second is only again quoting charts. -_-

thanks! i mentioned the games i want to play: batman arkham asylum and mafia II.

room is defninitely not a problem and i think i should have enough power. i don't pay for electricity, so that really doesn't matter.

GTX 460 (main card) avg load in Mafia 2 is 60% while avg load on the 8800gt dedicated card is 15-20% with peak around 40%. Only consider a more powerful card your budget allows for it and there is a want. The 8800gt is the sweet spot for dedicated physx. A 9800gtx will get little bit higher fps and the same continues up to a gtx 260 any thing more and you are wasting your money. I am going to be honest that I do belive that nvidia has put a cap on the performance of physx based on the % of load on the gpu and that cap is around 50%. Fewer shaders with the same % load cap is less performance over all but with avg loads on a G92 with the GT being around 15-20% in mafia suggest that it is more than enough for the job for a long time. Metro still sees great gains with a 8800gt/9800gt as a dedicated card. You may still be able to find a video on youtube showing just how much performance it can add to a high end setup let alone any other. The comparison is with two GTX 480 in sli and a dedicated card vs normal gtx 480 alone.

5fps are you kidding or just a douche?

Just about every cpu on the market struggles to run physx along with every thing else and a 8400gs used to be able to run it. These games are a lot more demanding than games of the past.