Dedicated Physx Card

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elock37

New Member
I saw this discussion in the "Best Gaming Computer" thread and got thoroughly confuzzled. I've upgraded my computer and I'm relatively handy with it but I don't know much about the technical computer (sockets, cables, etc.)

The discussion was running an HD 5970 with an 8800GT as a dedicated physx card. Does this mean that all of the game physics is handled by the 8800GT? How is this setup and how does it work? Any and all details would be greatly appreciated as I'm trying to build my knowledge.

Thanks
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Oh lord haha. No this isn't for me. My current setup is a Dell 600XPS from 2002 (I think) that I put a GeForce 6800 Ultra in and called it a decent rig.

Dual Core 2.3ghz, 2GB DDR2 Ram, Stock Mobo, PSU, and the rest. It's a Dell: it runs and its not bad, but it isn't anything like the custom rig I'd like to make.

I was wondering for my future build (in the next 3 months) what a dedicated physx card could do for me. More broad knowledge about how it works. If you need an example, feel free to make on up.
 
well the physx card will help in games that will utilize it. at the moment, there aren't too many games that will really benefit. one current game is batman: arkham asylum. an upcoming one is mafia ii. having a physx card will allow your main card to only be used for other things while putting all physx work on the dedicated card.

there are a couple of combinations you could do. the first is nvidia card with a dedicated nvidia physx card. i haven't tried this way myself but i do believe there is an option in the nvidia control panel to have the second card as a physx card.

the second combination is an ati card with an nvidia card. right now, nvidia has their drivers set up so that they won't run with an ati card. like i said in the other thread, there is one newer driver that will work without any hacking. those are the 257.15 drivers. all other require hacking, but going into that would probably close this thread. google is your friend there. the benefit of this combination is you can have the benefits of a newer ati card (low power usage, dx11, eyefinity, etc.) while having one of the things nvidia has that ati doesn't: physx. i'd check out some comparisons of the games that support it and decide for yourself.

you could get a dedicated physx card for probably some $50 or so.
 
Thanks for this.

Well I'll definitely be putting my computer together before I think of adding a physx card and I think most of my games won't need a physx card (SC2, new CoD (if it doesn't suck...), dual client EVE Online). I could probably run just with a 5870 or maybe a 5770.
 
elock37 said:
Thanks for this.

Well I'll definitely be putting my computer together before I think of adding a physx card and I think most of my games won't need a physx card (SC2, new CoD (if it doesn't suck...), dual client EVE Online). I could probably run just with a 5870 or maybe a 5770.
Click to expand...

no games "require" a physx card, it just helps offload the cpu in some games and provide some extra "eyecandy" in some as well.
 
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