My primary card is now a 5770 1 gig, and my mobo is a 790X chipset. Is it possible to add my older 8800GTS in the second PCI xpress slot and use it as a Physx card? If so, then what nvidia driver version should I use?
I have doubts about hybrid physx too. i have the MB in my signature, asrock 870 extreme 3, wich has 2 x 16x PCi express (will run 8x/8x in crossfire). how about if i buy an Ati 5850 for the second a weak nvidia card for physx. will it affect my 5850 performance because i don't have two 16x/16x capable Pci express ports, or running thge second card just for physx doesn't use much bandwith. i read an article on tomwsharware that the video cards available untill today don't even use the full power of an 16x slot and that basicaly it runs with no performance loss in a 8x slot too. is that true???
Could someone please explain what physx is all about with regards to a second card? As of now, I have a single GTX 480, and when looking at the nvidia control panel or gpu-z it says physx enabled or physx on/off If my current card uses physx what is the use/benefits of using a second card for physx if my current one already does the job.
kanej, there is no "benefict". Except that your card will be more free (atm your card processes graphics+physx on the same card, with another card, your 480 would process graphics and the other the physx). But that card its more than enough to run any of the current games with physx+graphics. Also it runs physx faster than previous generations, so unless you are buying a 460 for physx, i doubt that you will even gain performance. apoklypse, the videocards NOWADAYS, like your 5850 i think they will lose performance at 8x. ANd i think the mobo goes 8x/8x if it detects other card, even if that card doesnt use anything.But better ask some1 else or google it .
@black_ice_spain , this article seems to say you are wrong about nowadays cards needing 16x slot for full power: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pcie-geforce-gtx-480-x16-x8-x4,2696.html as for the motherboard detecting and setting 8x/8x instead of 16x/4x or whatever when a second card is detected. i don't think it can do that, the MB can't tell if the in the second slot there's also a video card without a Crossfire bridge, and sice in this case the bridge is not used... as far as the bios knows it coult be sound card or a tv-tunner. http://physxinfo.com/news/880/dedicated-physx-gpu-perfomance-dependence-on-pci-e-bandwidth/ tests here say there is barely any difference if it connected in 16x 8x 4x or 1x...
Use latest 258.98 drivers and physx mod 1.04ff. They are available here => (manually copy it and add "ngo hq" (without quotes and spaces) before that as for some reason the link appears broken every time I post it) .com/graphic-cards/17706-hybrid-physx-mod-v1-03-v1-04ff.html VGA dummy tutorials available here. => http://www.geeks3d.com/20091230/vga-hack-how-to-make-a-vga-dummy-plug/ If you don't see the option to enable Physx in Nvidia control panel, just use the batch files to change settings (from the first link). It worked for me perfectly even though Nvcpl did not offer any option to enable physx. Run a physx app or benchie to see if its working. Use any working ATI drivers, no need to uninstall them. Just follow the instructions in the links. But I honestly don't see the point of running it. I did it out of curiosity. I ran physx on 9600GT while HD 5850 was the main card. Tell me how many games use physx? How many of them do you *always* play? If you mention CUDA based apps or raytracers, then GTX4xx products are the only capable cards. 8800 GT will give VERY bad performance compared to them. Also, it will increase power consumption a lot. Besides, you might even have your main card idle 2D clocks higher than usual as it will "think" that you have 2 monitors. It simply is not worth it. I ran hybrid physx for only 6 hours. Then I decided to remove 9600GT as it causes more hassle than the benefit it gives (even that being negligible).
Heya, I agree with you and thanx for the very informative reply! I also don't think its worth it anymore. I do hardly play Physx games and therefore, my 8800GTS will just sit idle most of the time, whilst drawing extra current from the PSU. I've decided to rather add a second 5770 in sometime soon.
