Nvidia Physx

c241g · 14 Apr 2010 at 16:10

Hi all,I need to know if physx is important for gaming.You could call me a "Nvidia Fanboy" as that is all I ever buy,At the moment I am planning to upgrade from GTX 260 to either an ATI 5870 or a GTX 470,but the new Nvidia cards don't impress me much.I have been trying to work out what physx actually is by watching a lot of youtube videos,but since ATI don't have physx then why is it that I see smoke,particles,sparks and ragdoll physics in ATI cards.I was just wondering what physx actually does since I see the same things on ATI cards.And will it affect my gaming experience much by just going with an ATI card,will I get all the goodness with ATI,or will I be missing certain visual effects of a game?

Can anyone suggest some basic examples.Thanks

Wizzkidy · 14 Apr 2010 at 16:15

some paper floating about in the batman game. a few extra sparkelies on some other games that I cant remember the name of.

Its hardly worth the fuss imo.

Rroff · 14 Apr 2010 at 16:19

PhysX is great... if anything used it...

Right now aside from metro2033 or if your still playing batman or mirrors edge theres really not much use for it and neither of those titles really used it enough to really really make it worth bothering with.

straxusii · 14 Apr 2010 at 16:21

It's almost irrelevant, a handful of games support it, probably about 3 good games.

apocReg · 14 Apr 2010 at 16:33

I disagree

Both Physx and CUDA certainly have there place. Batman with Physx and Just Cause 2 (gorgeous!) with CUDAfor example.

I'm not saying its the be all and end all of course and there isnt many titles out yet but i don't think they should be dismissed out of hand.

If only we could go into the future and see whether they catch on or not!? ... buy a lottery ticket while your there

Rroff · 14 Apr 2010 at 16:37

It'll be like the whole shader model thing, 3D hardware accelerators, etc. over again... couple of years or so down the line everyone will be hyping it up like the next big thing not realising we could have had it all 2-3 years ago and be onto something bigger and better.

Unfortunatly between consumer lack of interest or even negativity (can't really blame them as they haven't seen what its capable of) and developer/publisher reticence to take risks things will just drag along.

Phoenixdancer · 14 Apr 2010 at 17:10

If i used a 9800GT along side my 5970 could i use the 9800GT's cuda to speed up my 3d rendering on Maya??

straxusii · 14 Apr 2010 at 17:13

apocReg said:
I disagree

Both Physx and CUDA certainly have there place. Batman with Physx and Just Cause 2 (gorgeous!) with CUDAfor example.

I'm not saying its the be all and end all of course and there isnt many titles out yet but i don't think they should be dismissed out of hand.

If only we could go into the future and see whether they catch on or not!? ... buy a lottery ticket while your there

So buy a physx card when it has caught on then, physx support is close to non existent at the moment.

Liampope · 14 Apr 2010 at 17:14

c241g said:
since ATI don't have physx then why is it that I see smoke,particles,sparks and ragdoll physics in ATI cards.

Dont confuse PhysX™ with just plain old physics. There's nothing to stop developers implementing physics calculations/effects in games however they want, and they have been since the very dawn of video games, as you've observed. PhysX is just Nvidia's proprietary implementation of a way to get the GPU hardware handling physics calcs and taking the strain from the CPU. Ati will have their own implementation soon and which, if any, implementation will ever be widely supported in games is anyone's guess. All you're missing without Nvidia PhysX at the moment seems to be...

...dynamic paper. Woo :rolleyes:

c241g · 14 Apr 2010 at 17:33

Ok,Thanks for the help everyone.I'll go for the 5870 then

Duran · 14 Apr 2010 at 17:49

straxusii said:
So buy a physx card when it has caught on then, physx support is close to non existent at the moment.

its better than DX 11 support though

physx has its place and its not going anywhere anytime soon.

you sohuldnt care much about physx when choosing a gpu though.

straxusii · 14 Apr 2010 at 18:02

Duran said:
its better than DX 11 support though

I reckon not mate! There's probably more DX11 titles now than Physx, and god knows how many more slated for this year.

BaDBoY_uK · 14 Apr 2010 at 18:05

Buy a 5870 and a 9800GT and get the best of both worlds! I have

Bhamid · 14 Apr 2010 at 18:21

Didn't Nvidia block Physx on setups with ATI stuff?

AaronS · 14 Apr 2010 at 18:24

Bhamid said:
Didn't Nvidia block Physx on setups with ATI stuff?

You need hacked or old drivers..

If you have ATi, your PC can simulate PhysX in software mode, I was testing it out yesterday on my 5850 and it was pretty smooth until there is lots on the screen, if you have both try to find the hacked drivers

RavenXXX2 · 14 Apr 2010 at 18:42

I prefer your standard non propriety physics like in BC2, the kind of stuff that does not require you to go out and purchase another GFX card to run some poor effects that 100% of the time can be run on one GPU or even a quad CPU.

no_1_dave · 14 Apr 2010 at 20:00

Physx is nothing special.
I'd have gone ATI this time round but I use 3D Vision (which is awesome) so I went Nvidia!

Cycrow · 14 Apr 2010 at 20:00

straxusii said:
So buy a physx card when it has caught on then, physx support is close to non existent at the moment.

this was the problem with the original card. People wern't buying it until it caught on, but because no one was buying it, it could never catch on and developers wont bother trying to use it

tommybhoy · 14 Apr 2010 at 23:22

BaDBoY_uK said:
Buy a 5870 and a 9800GT and get the best of both worlds! I have

+1

AaronS said:
You need hacked or old drivers..

You should read ALL of this thread first before you try my method (as I got loads of stick from another poster).
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=16291265#post16291265

tommybhoy said:
http://physxinfo.com/news/2643/hybrid-physx-197-xx-drivers-and-physx-performance-fix/

Very easy to do, I use 5870 and 9800.
To get it to work with new 197 drivers installed, restart in safe mode, applythe GenL mod first.
Restart ( do not enable physx yet) then apply the containforum’s fix 1.01. (if it has been removed, get it from here
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ynigzjymwxz/Hybrid PhysX 197.13 Extended Display + Levity Phantom Fix V1.01.exe)
Restart then apply containforum’s fix 1.02
Restart then apply physx in Nvidia control panel.

Please note this was done with the 197.13's NOT the newest 197.45's

tommybhoy · 14 Apr 2010 at 23:26

Mafia 2 physx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcpEc6kC0HM&feature=player_embedded
Metro 2033 with hybrid physx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ssiks7idzU&feature=player_embedded