A dedicated physics card. Is it worth it?

So I'm currently using a 770 2gb and it's clear that the majority of new games coming out are very stressful on the GPU memory. I just ordered a 1060 6gb so I'm wondering if I should use my 770 for dedicated physics or does it even make a difference?

This is what I bought. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487280

 

For games that use Physx it would come in very handy, so yes, you should use it.Congrats on the new card.

 

It will give a very minor difference at best. Personally I would sell it and rather get something else for the cash. Or keep it for media PC to use with something like SVP.

 

Id say run some benchmarks... See if it actually makes PhysX Games run better.

 

I'm definitely going to run a ton of benchmarks when I get the 1060. I have all the batman games which have their own benchmarks using Nvidia's Physx so this should be fun. I just bought Arkham Knight and GTA V a few days ago and they look great, but the textures are horrible.

 

Sell 770 -> buy 1070.

 

Well I live in rural midwest of America so there's not a big market for old video cards. Yet I have fiber optic with internet speeds I've never seen.

 

No don't bother.
If anything sell 770 and then you'll have the money to buy a 1070.

 

I'm currently running a 980TI as a PhysX GPU with a 1080 Ti. The Batman series, can see a decent gain along with the Metro series and Borderlands. Any title that makes extensive use. It makes the difference between being able to run at 4K with all the eye candy and stay above a min of 60 FPS. For me. That's the real value of a PhysX GPU is in keeping the FPS from chugging during heavy PhysX scenes. A better min FPS and a more stable FPS. My personal take is you should try it yourself, and judge for yourself if it is worth it. If not, then it's just wasting electricity.

 

Well it turns out it really doesn't make much difference. I got the 1060 earlier today and started benchmarking with the 770 as a physx card. There was some decent improvement in some older games like Arkam City, Mafia 2, Metro 2033, but newer games like GTA V, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of Mordor, Arkaham Knight, really didn't see any difference at all. I think I'll keep it though and just use it for a backup card. As for the 1060, it was a very welcome upgrade.

 

Congrats again and thanks for the update!

 

Is this a joke post. 90 percent of games dont use phsyx

 

I don't know why they just don't kill it already. gl

 

It's not a joke, it's a valid question. I have no idea what percentage of games do and do not use Physx, but it was at least worth checking out.

 

My friend Im saying like it is, sorry to be harsh. Phsyx is dead, I don't know why they include it in drivers, You dont need it. UT4 engine doesnt use it,, war games dont use it,, FPS games and RPG games don't use it

 

After doing more benchmarks I'm getting like a 5-10 fps in some newer titles. I'm just gonna leave it in, it's not gonna hurt anything. I have more than enough space in my case, great airflow, and a 1000 watt power supply.

 

PhysX is hardly dead. It's very much alive in fact. It's just that instead of being hardware accelerated, it's being done primarily on the CPU. This will probably change in the future as DX12 games become more and more common and developers become more skilled at leveraging asynchronous compute. With async compute, it's possible for the GPU to calculate physics algorithms in the compute queue separate from graphics, without a hit to framerate.

 

The Arkham series, TW3, Borderlands, etc. will benefit a little. It's best to keep within the same generation of gfx cards tho, if you wanna run a dedicated card.

Spoiler

 

for the purpose of physix and those older titles that use it, you should install as well (yes both) the legacy-physics standalone software/driver. its on the nvidia page, it is for titles from 2009 and before

example, the original batman game uses that legacy type and does not use the new one

just trying to help you make the most of that video card as a physics card, install both the legacy and the current physic driver. the older one is designed to compliment the newer

I ised to keep a 5th card (1050ti) in my Quad Sli rig, just for that. The advantage was 1-6 fps in the games that used it since quad sli handled it well enough, I pulled it out, but for a while it was cool running quad +1

but for a 1-6 fps when i'm already getting 200, 300, 400fps, it didn't seem worth it.


The other consideration where it may have more impact is if you're running at 4k and then taking the burden of your primary card becomes more important.... or just buy 2 and SLI

 

Thanks for all the feedback. I've decided to just keep the 770 as a backup card. If you want a dedicated PhysX card it is best to go with the same architecture as your primary card.