Dedicated PhysX Card

Der-PC-Mann

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I'm planning on using my 550Ti (current card) with my new 560Ti and using the 550Ti as a dedicated PhysX card. I've been doing some research into it, as the whole thing has greatly interested me, but I'm wanting to know what your opinions are on the matter. Has anyone had any success with it? Various places online say it's a good thing and does work, but not worth it, if you're buying a card solely for this purpose. When I do set that up, I can post some benchmarks if anyone is curious.
 
I've never seen it done so I"m going to remain nuteral. However, I would like to see benchmarks when it's done!
 
Its alright, not that great IMO. When I did have a physx card, I only used it when I play Batman: Arkham Asylum. However, when I was done playing with Batman, I took the card out as it was drawing a bit more power than I wanted (wanted to reduce electricity bill) and also everything in my case went up 5c-10c depending on what I was doing.

The only reason I see to use a physx card would play games that support physx (though the recent Batman games are the only ones worth it), or if you use other physx based softwares (such as benchmarks).

Oh, the way I had it set up was a AMD 5870 as my main card and a 8800GT as my dedicated physx. I had to use modded drivers, but they worked out fine.
 
Depends on the game. The 550 is overkill just for that cause. I never really saw a huge difference when I went the way of your setup. A few frames at max. Then again, that was years ago. Things may have changed now.
 
Ah, thanks for the input, guys!

Mac, a dedicated PhysX card is an nVidia card solely dedicated (hence the name :p) to running PhysX within the supported games; this would, in theory (and apparently in practice) reduce the load from the main graphics card(s) and allow for that card(s) to deal with the rest of the more important stuff, essentially improving performance with all PhysX games. It's possible to have SLI with a DPC as well, which is also a plan of mine.

Rohan23, I know the 550Ti is overkill as a DPC. :p I just don't want it to go to waste. :| I have a kick-ass motherboard with plenty of PCI-E ports, so I figure it's about time I took advantage of this.

I'll definitely do some benchmarks with that, when I get my new card. :) I've started making "DTM Gameplay" videos on my YT channel (link at bottom of the post) and so, I might as well add a video regarding this DPC thing.

Cheers, again.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DerTeufelMann?feature=mhee
 
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OK, just got the new Corsair TX750 PSU and the Twin Frozr II OC 560Ti GPU, and have my 550Ti as the DPC, so I'll be getting in some benchmarks and videos. (the latter I'll have on YT, at some point) Just checking everything out, and so far it's absolutely insane! I did go on Batman Arkham Aslum with maximum normal settings, v-sync, 8x AA, and PhysX to the max; it was totally flawless, and looked sooooooo kewl! I've never seen PhysX quite like that before. :)
 
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*sighs*

Well, I've learned some depressing stuff:

a Dedicated PhysX Unit appears... shit.

I gained no FPS in Mirror's Edge, Metro 2033, or Batman Arkham Aslum. I'm very disapointed, because, in theory, this seemed like a no-brainer.

I guess you could say that a dedicated PhysX card, as an idea, is a misnomer? Either way, it sucks.

All I've achieved is a lot more heat, and a fair bit of extra power consumption. Thank God I didn't decide to buy a separate card.

There's not much point in showing you my findings, but here:

The following FPS is the average value, and the values were taken either from the game's benchmark feature or Fraps' benchmark feature within 30 seconds of the same scene, both with and without the 550Ti set as the dedicated PhysX card.

Batman - Arkham Asylum
----------------------

With DPC = 60
Without DPC = 60

Metro 2033
----------

With DPC = 73
Without DPC = 73

Mirror's Edge
-------------

With DPC = 91
Without DPC = 113


Mirror's Edge is a weird one: I was stood at the same spot with a lot of fancy PhysX fog on the screen, and it appeared to gradually grow over time, creating more and more fog, but the increase in fog because unapparent after the initial fog had filled up. The FPS started dropping 1 by 1 for quite a while, before completely clearing; whether this is a safety measure to ensure the FPS doesn't go too low, or whether it's a bug, I'm not sure.

In a nut-shell, PhysX should be left on the main card(s).

It's just a shame that I now have a pretty sweet 550Ti card that's gonna go to waste; guess I'll have to flog it. >.<
 
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*sighs*

Well, I've learned some depressing stuff:

a Dedicated PhysX Unit appears... shit.

I gained no FPS in Mirror's Edge, Metro 2033, or Batman Arkham Aslum. I'm very disapointed, because, in theory, this seemed like a no-brainer.

I guess you could say that a dedicated PhysX card, as an idea, is a misnomer? Either way, it sucks.

All I've achieved is a lot more heat, and a fair bit of extra power consumption. Thank God I didn't decide to buy a separate card.

There's not much point in showing you my findings, but here:

The following FPS is the average value, and the values were taken either from the game's benchmark feature or Fraps' benchmark feature within 30 seconds of the same scene, both with and without the 550Ti set as the dedicated PhysX card.

Batman - Arkham Asylum
----------------------

With DPC = 60
Without DPC = 60

Metro 2033
----------

With DPC = 73
Without DPC = 73

Mirror's Edge
-------------

With DPC = 91
Without DPC = 113


Mirror's Edge is a weird one: I was stood at the same spot with a lot of fancy PhysX fog on the screen, and it appeared to gradually grow over time, creating more and more fog, but the increase in fog because unapparent after the initial fog had filled up. The FPS started dropping 1 by 1 for quite a while, before completely clearing; whether this is a safety measure to ensure the FPS doesn't go too low, or whether it's a bug, I'm not sure.

In a nut-shell, PhysX should be left on the main card(s).

It's just a shame that I now have a pretty sweet 550Ti card that's gonna go to waste; guess I'll have to flog it. >.<

Lol, Isn't that basically what I said? If you aren't using any programs that uses physx, then you won't get any benefits.
 
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