Dedicated GPU for PhysX

[Jon_New]

Hello everyone,

So my computer spat out its last breath recently, so I decided to purchase a new rig. I was planning to use this for gaming & work (so coding and such). I have listed below the build I have; I was curious if it would be worth my time to use a GPU dedicated to PhysX. If so, what would I need to be useful. I have a 8800GTS 640MB from my old Desktop (I was using a Laptop for the past few years). It feels like a waste to let it collect dust if I could use it. Just curious as I have never used a multi GPU setup before, and from my understanding with PhysX the secondary GPU can be slower without impacting the primary GPU.

i7 3770K
MSI Z77 Mpower
Corsair Hydro H100I
Corsair Vengeance Black 32GB
Intel 330 Series 240GB SATA3
XFX PRO1050W Black Edition
MSI GeForce GTX 680 Twinfrozr 1124MHZ 4GB
All packed in a Cooler Master Storm Trooper

All my data is stored on my local Raid 5 Server, so opted for a smaller SSD. Plus I have plenty HDD's lying around.

Thanks for any input,

Jon

 

[JJ1217]

It would definitely be faster if you just let the 680 do the PhysX by itself. Therefore it wouldn't have to wait for the 8800GT to do its processing and other things.

 

[photonboy]

Agreed.

They TESTED different card configurations and discovered that if an ADDON PHYSX card was too slow, the game actually ran SLOWER.

You'd probably need a GTX660 or greater to prevent a slowdown.

*My advice:
If a game can't maintain 60FPS on HIGHEST SETTINGS with PHYSX enabled then don't use PHYSX. PHYSX is addon eyecandy that often adds little but can seriously drop the frame rate (i.e. Mafia 2.).

Borderlands 2 is one of the exceptions but then you don't require an addon card for that.

Other:
Batman Arkham City has serious stuttering issues. The ONLY solution for smooth game play is this:
1) disable DX11 features, and
2) disable PHYSX

Neither feature adds that much most of the time, but the game is far, far smoother when disabled (tested on i7-3770K, Asus 680 TOP, 16GB 2133MHz).

 

[Jon_New]

Best answer selected by Jon_New.

 

[Jon_New]

Thanks for the input!