Physx, is it worth it?

[dacca]

So I have just got my hands on a saphire 6970 (for 210 ) I have found online that there is a patch that allows you to use a nvidia card with an ati card and have it as a designated physx card. My question is, is it worth it?
my rig

phenom 2 980
Saphire 6970 (not overclocking)
4 gb crucial ballistix (upgrading to 8gb corsair dominator)
ocz 700w modxstream (upgrading very soon to xfx black edition 850)
gigabyte ga-ma790gp-ud4h

Thinking of potentially getting an 8800gtx for the physx if it is really worth having, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also the one other thing I was wondering is, is there any danger in using this mod? could I fry my motherboard or anything? If there is even the slightest risk I won't be doing it.

 

[gnomio]

Google list of physx enabled games.
Then look at how many of them you are currently playing a lot.
Then decide if its wort it or not

 

[pell380]

here is a list of physx games

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


there are few of them i but i prefer to have physx in expensive cards but not in the low ones

 

[dacca]

Hmm the only 1 I play is metro 2033 really. maybe not worth it then unless this tech will be around for a long while maybe? think I will just be happy with my 6970 for the time being then

 

[dacca]

also, what I meant was, does it make a noticeable difference in gaming? will I go wow, im glad I forked out the money for that designated physx card, or will I just be wondering what the difference is?

 

[gnomio]

Hmm the only 1 I play is metro 2033 really. maybe not worth it then unless this tech will be around for a long while maybe? think I will just be happy with my 6970 for the time being then

See. Not that difficult decision to make.

also, what I meant was, does it make a noticeable difference in gaming? will I go wow, im glad I forked out the money for that designated physx card, or will I just be wondering what the difference is?

About a 5 to 10fps increase in that one game you like playing. Minus the money spent, extra heat and power usage and it = to?

 

[secolliyn]

Gnomio Makes a great point for the boost your going to get i wouldn't do it.... i was faced with that same question a while back and i decided against it as well. If you notice the PhysX will be off loaded to your CPU witch is more than capable than handling it

 

[jaguarskx]

here is a list of physx games

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

None of those games interest me so I guess no Physx for me.

 

[dacca]

Thanks guys I love this community, so helpful every time

 

[sidnitzerglobin]

I've been debating this myself

There are 3 titles on that list that interest me and I've got a spare 8800GT collecting dust at the moment and a PCIe x16 slot to spare.

Still not sure if it's worth the hassle/power consumption though.

 

[17seconds]

also, what I meant was, does it make a noticeable difference in gaming? will I go wow, im glad I forked out the money for that designated physx card, or will I just be wondering what the difference is?

Depends on which game you're playing, but with Metro 2033 you won't notice much difference. Particles and debris fly off the walls when you shoot at them. For me, the more visuals the better, but I would only recommend it for you if you play Mafia 2, Unreal Tournament 3, or any of the Batman: Arkham games. In fact, I wouldn't even bother with any of those games without GPU physx enabled.

 

[wolfram23]

also, what I meant was, does it make a noticeable difference in gaming? will I go wow, im glad I forked out the money for that designated physx card, or will I just be wondering what the difference is?

As someone who's done it... no. I played all the decent PhysX games in about a month and that's it. No more. PhysX is rarely used anymore. Batman gets a little bit of cloth physics and some papers fly around the ground. Metro 2033 gets a little more smoke. Mafia 2 actually had a lot of PhysX, that was cool. Tons and tons of particles and such. Mirror's Edge only used it for cloth, really. Cryostasis did make good use of it with water physics, but it actually wasn't all that impressive in the end. All it really added was more water droplets that could interact with objects.

I'd say it's only worthwhile if you already have an old Nvidia card laying around or can get one for a super low price, and plan on trying out all those games.