Mix and Matching ATi and nVidia?

[Drewbo]

Hey, I'm in the process of ordering a new PC from the friendly people at OCUK, however I'm hit by the sudden decision that maybe PhysX will play an important part in my gaming.

I've never had a PhysX enabled system, as I've always favoured ATi cards, for pricing reasons and personal preference.

The problem is, I want to be able to use PhysX whilst simultaneously having an ATi main card. I've heard that you can use a secondary nVidia Graphics Card as a Dedicated PhysX card, however I'm not sure whether you could do this with an ATi main card.

So my question is, would this be possible?

I'm not too fussed about price here, I just wanted a PhysX option whilst still having ATi, and it seems nVidia have monopolised it by buying the company that came up with it. Though as a side note - advice on this matter is always appreciated, I'm not a huge tech buff, just a gamer.

 

[RavenXXX2]

Yeah you can get hacked drivers that enable Nvidia cards to be used as physx cards alongside an ATI main card, these will need to be constantly be updated when required.

 

[Cycrow]

u can run a dedicated physX card along with ATI.

there are plenty of guides on how to do it if you look around.


however, theres not that many games that use it, and those that do, do really use it all that well tbh.

if you have the money to spare and play one of the few games that might benefit, then it might be ok, but otherwise, i wouldn't bother

 

[Drewbo]

I'm just really curious, I had money to burn so I thought I'd grab a 5970, but then wanted to push my gaming that little bit further. I've never really experienced PhysX, and I figured it'd be an interesting jump, even if it were only barely noticeable - an improvement of any degree is still an improvement.

So hacked drivers? I'm assuming that's deadly to the Warranty and such?
Doesn't sound altogether trustworthy either.

Is PhysX something that companies will be exploring in the future? If so I'd grab a cheap yet PhysX compatible nVidia card just to do a bit of futureproofing.

Or do you guys think its a waste of time altogether?

 

[RavenXXX2]

Hacked drivers will have no issues regarding warranty, as for physx, IMO it's a waste of time and a Nvidia gimmick, best just leaving it alone as TBH it's not worthy.

 

[Drewbo]

Fair enough, thanks for your help guys.

 

[honosuseri]

Asus is making a new crosshair IV mobo called the xtreme. This has a hybrid chip which will allow you to use ati and nvidia cards together (think of it as hybrid xfire-sli). It was previewed back in may but not heard much since.

If you have the money to spend on high end kit then wait for this mobo...just a thought

 

[coupe69]

Asus is making a new crosshair IV mobo called the xtreme. This has a hybrid chip which will allow you to use ati and nvidia cards together (think of it as hybrid xfire-sli). It was previewed back in may but not heard much since.

If you have the money to spend on high end kit then wait for this mobo...just a thought

MSI have already got their "Big bang Fusion" board that uses the "lucid chip" so you can use Nvidia and ATi cards together, it's been out for some time and from what I've read it's a complete and utter let down.

Overclockers sell it here, waste of time and money imo.

 

[Jay85]

The "hacked" drivers will not need to be updated aslong as you stick to a set of drivers that you're comfortable with. Obviously you'll need to install both nvidia and ati drivers and i'm guessing you'll be using windows 7 to allow this.