Physics card + SLI ?

stix · 6 May 2007 at 16:08

Hi, i was wondering if it was worth getting a BFG Ageia PhysX Accelerator card for my system if it already has 2 x BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 in SLI .
Or would it deffo not be needed ?

killer_uk · 6 May 2007 at 16:10

The physics cards are rubbish. Don't get one and save your money. Simple as that

Egosh · 6 May 2007 at 16:17

deffo not needed..

glenimp617 · 6 May 2007 at 17:03

if u have the urge to spend some money, looking at ** spec I'd get another 2gb of ram and vista 64bit

Jaffa_Cake · 6 May 2007 at 18:06

I never even worked out what the Physics cards do... I never met someone who has one.. ever.

squiffy · 6 May 2007 at 18:11

Don't waste your money.

LoadsaMoney · 6 May 2007 at 18:51

As above, they are crap, utter *****, just go outside and throw your money up in ther air, or give it to the first random person you see if you want to throw money away, or better give it to charity, that would be better than buying one of those crap cards.

BlackDragon · 6 May 2007 at 19:22

You're better off spending the money on buying a better CPU to deal with the physics calculations than buying a Physics card, simply because those cards are too slow in kicking in and create a noticable slow down when they do. Plus only a few games support them, and those that do, it doesn't benefit much from it (only a few extra bits of flying debris).

Marky · 6 May 2007 at 19:41

It really isn't worth it yet to get a physics card. Not enough games use it, and you won't see that much of a difference with the games that DO support it!
SLI by far if you are getting either

Egosh · 6 May 2007 at 20:17

lets hope the first person he sees isnt loadsamoney since he already has loads of money..

stix · 6 May 2007 at 22:17

Egosh said:
lets hope the first person he sees isnt loadsamoney since he already has loads of money..

Lol.. Egosh.

Reason i asked is i havent heard much info on the physics cards and wasnt sure if they were any good or not so cool.. least now i know.. thx.

BlackDragon said:
You're better off spending the money on buying a better CPU to deal with the physics calculations than buying a Physics card, simply because those cards are too slow in kicking in and create a noticable slow down when they do. Plus only a few games support them, and those that do, it doesn't benefit much from it (only a few extra bits of flying debris).

I think the cpu will be ok, but sure i get the message on the physics cards... thx all.

quantumisation · 7 May 2007 at 10:18

I cant say ive owned 1 and what i've read doesnt justify me buying 1, but i bet everyone else commenting hasnt actually seen/owned 1 of these cards either.

p.s if you have 2 8800GTXs already you clearly have too much cash and i doubt any game will be slow with it

Pottsey · 7 May 2007 at 10:33

PPU’s are very good in the few games that support them as you get a large FPS boost and new effects. The problem is few games support them.

Look at your games unless you have PPU games you play a lot don’t get one. Everyone should really be asking you what games you play before saying if you should get a PPU or not.

"simply because those cards are too slow in kicking in and create a noticable slow down when they do."
Thats made up and not true. PPU boost FPS not slow down your system. 1 game out of all the PPU games has slow down and that slow down was due to a bug that has been fixed.

Participant · 7 May 2007 at 10:39

BlackDragon said:
those cards are too slow in kicking in and create a noticable slow down when they do

Pff, such absolute rubbish has rarely been spoken on this forum

.

a) They're faster than CPUs at physics calculations, way faster
b) They're not "slow in kicking in" nor do they cause the FPS do drop. This is one example from one game when the cards were first released.

Separate physics processing chips are inevitable, whether their form takes that of a separate card or whether they're built into the GPU / CPU.

quantumisation · 7 May 2007 at 15:29

i dont get way it has to be a seperate card, graphics card have their own processors already so why not just use it or add a 2nd processor on the graphics card? waste of material

Energize · 7 May 2007 at 15:44

quantumisation said:
i dont get way it has to be a seperate card, graphics card have their own processors already so why not just use it or add a 2nd processor on the graphics card? waste of material

Gpu processors are nowhere near as fast at making physics calculations, the same way cpus are usless for rendering video.

Participant · 7 May 2007 at 15:46

quantumisation said:
i dont get way it has to be a seperate card, graphics card have their own processors already so why not just use it or add a 2nd processor on the graphics card? waste of material

Cause they'd then be more expensive. It's a similar reason to why CPUs don't come with GPU chips built-in. It's separation and choice for the consumer.

Pottsey · 7 May 2007 at 16:24

“i dont get way it has to be a seperate card, graphics card have their own processors already so why not just use it or add a 2nd processor on the graphics card?”
A PPU has 12+ cores inside it. There’s not exactly tons of room to fit 12+ cores onto a 3dcard.

Sinny · 7 May 2007 at 17:16

if you watch the aegia physx cards on youtube they do show a better increase in fps for games that support them (if any) but the videos dont show any indication on what hardware it is running on, but im guessing the next nvidia cards will start including them as aegia are probably loosing money out of this.

stix · 7 May 2007 at 18:18

Im hearing more about these Ageia cards lately and thats why i posted this thread, but surely if a few games benefit from the card in helping to produce a little physics candy then probably a lot more developers will use it in the near future and there popularity will increase.
I guess we need to get some feedback from peepz who have installed this card along with a high end graphics card to see how there rigs performed in comparison .. before and after.