Physx on ATIs?

Shane

Shane

Super Moderator
Staff member
Just courius....we know Nvidia cards have Physx,But what exactly does ATI have?....Is it like built into the nvidia gpu chip itself or is it another chip on the card?
what about ATI>?

Im confused by this,maybe a noob question :D
 
Think there was a hack or something. You use to be able to run a ATI main card and a nividia card for Physx, but Nvidia blocked it in the newer drivers if it detects a ATI card. Go figure. But I think there is a hack for that too, lol. Thought about maybe trying it with a 8800GT i have.
 
i heard about this, but in all honesty what does physx do??

is it not just something that sounds cool but does very little?
 
sniperchang said:
I think ATI is working on something equivalent, but the name escapes me...
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From what I heard I'm pretty sure ATI cards have a PhysX chip on them. It is definitely not as good as having an nVidia card. That, or I may be confused and PhysX is just a piece of software for ATI cards.

In any case.....story time.

Take my 4870 with Mirror's Edge. There is a spot in the game where windows are being shot out and glass is flying everywhere. It was lagging like crazy. I looked in the options and saw PhysX was enabled. I disabled it and the game was smooth again.
 
Physx is only on nvidia cards, I have not heard of a hack until now, so go try it out. Physx is very cool, and can do a whole bunch of stuff, but its not really used too much.
 
voyagerfan99 said:
From what I heard I'm pretty sure ATI cards have a PhysX chip on them. It is definitely not as good as having an nVidia card. That, or I may be confused and PhysX is just a piece of software for ATI cards.

In any case.....story time.

Take my 4870 with Mirror's Edge. There is a spot in the game where windows are being shot out and glass is flying everywhere. It was lagging like crazy. I looked in the options and saw PhysX was enabled. I disabled it and the game was smooth again.
Click to expand...

That worries me. My current system runs Mirror's edge perfectly, but my very soon future build is gonna be a ATI (the 5870, best bang for buck right now). What do you loose when you disable physx? Is physx just a method to offload the gpu a bit, or does it add visual effects?
 
hmm,shame i dont have an extra pci-e slot on my mobo...because i have a a spare 8800GT that i could probably have shoved in for dedicated Physx using that hack.:cool:

Then again,would that hold back my 4890....it probably would.
 
Matthew1990 said:
ATI has some kind of physics engine, it aint as good as Physx, apparently. ATI sucks :P
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I agree. I really don't like ATI. I'm going to hold onto my 4870 for a little while longer after I build my new rig. Then I'm going abck to nVidia.
 
Ok, so i'm running 5870 and will i be able to run Physx if i add nvidia card? and also does it really matter what kind of nvidia card i add or it works with any card? Also suggestions for a card will be appreciated too.
 
Ati has HavoK and Bullet, they are going to be implemented once they gain some momentum. they did in star wars: the force unleashes but it was a horrible pc game, but a good console game.
 
funkysnair said:
i heard about this, but in all honesty what does physx do??

is it not just something that sounds cool but does very little?
Click to expand...

No it does a lot, for gaming and a TON for folding. PhysX basically uses the Cuda cores on the GPU too take over any physics calculations the CPU would have to normally do.

Ever see the difference in 3dmark Vantage CPU scores between someone that has ATI VS Nvidia with the same CPU? The person with a Nvidia card usually has double or triple the CPU score because the GPU is using PhysX to help the CPU out during the CPU tests.

So basically, if you have a slightly underpowered CPU, like an older Athlon 64 X2 at low clock speeds, you'd be better off getting a Nvidia card over an ATI. If you have a beast of a CPU, like an I5/I7, it won't make as much of a difference in gaming because the CPU is way plenty powerful enough but it still helps a ton with folding because that is so much more demanding.
 
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