• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Radeon 5850 with NVIDIA card for Physx. Worth it?

EGuitarStar

EGuitarStar

EGuitarStar

Soldato
Joined
23 Dec 2009
Posts
3,301
Location
Earth
I am getting my Sapphire 5850 on Saturday and currently have a ZOTAC 8600GT which has served me very well over the past 2 years, although with a noisy fan.

Getting back to my question I am aware that I will be able to run the 8600GT for Physx within games along side the Radeon 5850. Essentially, I want to know is it really worth it?
 
Officially what you want to do isnt possible anymore, however there are workarounds to make it work

But with an 8600GT you'll see worse performance than if you stuck with just the 5850
 
Thank you both for quick replies.

I think I will give it a try and see what gains I see with a single 5850. Area512003, those are some fairly good gains. From your results it appears it is very much worth it.

Since I cannot sell the 8600GT for much these days and my other machine is not used for gaming at all. I will make use of it. I will also replace the HS on the 8600GT because the fan is noisy and I cannot control its speed. Thinking of putting a passive cooler on it.

Will post results on Saturday or Sunday.
 
I gave it a go with an 8800GTS 320mb and the performance wasn't exactly stellar. It's Nvidia's pet gimmick IMO.
 
555BUK said:
Does this really make any noticeable difference in games?
Click to expand...

Please correct me if I am wrong here but as far as I know the ATI does not have any dedicated Physx processor and as such uses the GPU to calculate Physx which will of course ruduce the FPS by a tiny amount. Now, offloading the Physx to the NVIDIA card which has a dedicated processor for this it should make a small difference.

Also area512003 appears to have seen some fairly good gains using the NVIDIA as a dedicated Physx card.
 
Physx is pants and hardly any decent games support it, the FPS hit is ridiculous even when you have top card doing the physx, it's Nvidia's way to milk you even more.
 
EGuitarStar said:
Thank you both for quick replies.

I think I will give it a try and see what gains I see with a single 5850. Area512003, those are some fairly good gains. From your results it appears it is very much worth it.

Since I cannot sell the 8600GT for much these days and my other machine is not used for gaming at all.
Click to expand...

I did find that certain games like Mirrors Edge worked better with the physx card in and it was great in Vantage.

I had 2 x 8600gt in SLI so like you I have kept them for a bit of physx fun! :D
 
Last edited:
RavenXXX2 said:
Physx is pants and hardly any decent games support it, the FPS hit is ridiculous even when you have top card doing the physx, it's Nvidia's way to milk you even more.
Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying but I will rather not let my 8600GT just sit and eat dust if I can make use of it I will. I am sure anyone in the same situation would do this if the gains were worth it.

I do really wish that Physx was not proprietary this is what hurts us all. I like what I am reading about open CL. I hope it takes off. Open standards are the way forward.
 
EGuitarStar said:
Please correct me if I am wrong here but as far as I know the ATI does not have any dedicated Physx processor and as such uses the GPU to calculate Physx which will of course ruduce the FPS by a tiny amount. Now, offloading the Physx to the NVIDIA card which has a dedicated processor for this it should make a small difference.

Also area512003 appears to have seen some fairly good gains using the NVIDIA as a dedicated Physx card.
Click to expand...

Nvidia cards run the PhysX off the GPU, which is perfectly suited to it. With an ATi card, the PhysX runs on the CPU which gives you poor performance or doesn't run at all.
 
;) For your eyes only then, lots of good that is.

Please note that this result does not comply with the rules defined in the Driver Approval Policy for 3DMark Vantage and will not be visible on default result search on the ORB or on the Hall of Fame. Please ensure that you are using approved display drivers and system software versions provided with 3DMark Vantage or use the "Disable PPU" option.
Click to expand...
 
Physx is dog (or wolf!) poo. Sell the 8600 and go out and get drunk with your mates on the cash.

Then enjoy some stellar gaming on the 5850.
 
wolvers69 said:
Physx is dog (or wolf!) poo. Sell the 8600 and go out and get drunk with your mates on the cash.

Then enjoy some stellar gaming on the 5850.
Click to expand...

The best response so far :D

I don't want to sell it because the memory is getting old and I occassionaly do see green artifacts and I wouldn't want to go through the hassel of selling on bayE and having to refund again and getting negative feedback.

I wonder if my pub will take it as part exchange for some pints :cool:
 
area512003 said:
I did find that certain games like Mirrors Edge worked better with the physx card in and it was great in Vantage.
Click to expand...

Mirror's Edge was just a showcase game to highlight nVidia's Physx, very few other games needs Physx as much as Mirror's Edge for the visuals.

If the 8600 with the annoying noisy fan bothers you - dump it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom