Can Intel HD graphics be used as a dedicated Physics Processor?

etrnlxdarkness

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Feb 5, 2012
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Ok. This might be a silly question but the answer might potentially save me a hundred bucks or so on this new build. I will list the specs first.

Intel Core i5 3570k (I will OC)
ASRock Z77 Extreme6 1155
2 GIGABYTE GV-N660OC-2GD GeForce GTX 660's
PC Power and Cooling MK2 1000w PSU
2 Corsair Force 3 120gb SSDs (1 for Windows 7 and one for Games)
1 SanDisk 32Gb SSD for Windows Caching (yes this is overkill but it does work well)
1 Seagate 2Tb 7200 RPM Drive
16gb Corsair Dominator DDR3 1866
Corsair H80 Liquid Cooling System or the Noctua NH-D14. Not sure yet.
ASUS VG Series VG278H Black 27" 2ms 3D Monitor and a 24" Samsung SyncMaster Secondary Monitor
Corsair 600T White Graphite Case (Her choice. She wants to paint a design on it.)
2 LG DVD-RW Drives (Cheap and they don't stick closed after a while like others)


This computer is for my wife. She plays allot of games that use Nvidia Physics such as Alice: Madness Returns and Borderlands 2 as well as BF3 and the upcoming Medal of Honor Warfighter. These are the only important ones right now.

This machine will play all these games without an issue. But my question is this. Can I use the onboard Intel graphics 4000 as the dedicated Physics GPU instead of adding a third card to run physics? I know I may not need one at all with the two 660s but I would like to have it anyway so she can play on high or ultra graphics while still getting 120 FPS or better for her 3D Monitor. I'd rather not drop the extra cash on 670s. That's a bit much.

If I need to I can slap an old EVGA 560 Ti 448 core Classified Ultra from her old machine in it to run Physics but I was going to keep those three old cards together and sell them as a set since they are all the same.

Any idea's? Also anyone is welcome to give feedback on the build. This will be my 82nd custom build and I always like to hear what others think. :)

Thanks,
James
 
Solution
No, Physx is only supported by Nvidia GPU's.

As a side note I'm not sure any card can run some Physx effects at 120 fps. Running Physx will force your fps down to the level that the second GPU can process the effects. Even if you had a 680 as a dedicated Physx processor I don't think it can process the effects at 120fps.

Check Nvidia's website, for a lot of Physx games they show benchmarks and what fps to expect from different GPU setups.

chugot9218

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From what I have understood by posting about PHYSx is that you do not need a dedicated card for it, it just has that as a capability. If you SLI 2 660's you should have more than enough power to max out settings and PHYSx.
 

joedjnpc

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No, Physx is only supported by Nvidia GPU's.

As a side note I'm not sure any card can run some Physx effects at 120 fps. Running Physx will force your fps down to the level that the second GPU can process the effects. Even if you had a 680 as a dedicated Physx processor I don't think it can process the effects at 120fps.

Check Nvidia's website, for a lot of Physx games they show benchmarks and what fps to expect from different GPU setups.
 
Solution

etrnlxdarkness

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Yea it is just an added capability and not a requirement. I'm just worried that in some games there won't be enough headroom to keep that 120 FPS min for the monitor to perform its best. Basically this is a "just-in-case" question. If there is a chance I can not use it ass a dedicated Physics Processor then I will hold onto one of the classi ultras just to be safe.