Hallo chaps, Im sorry if this has been covered before, but I was looking for some advice. I have just built my first new PC for about 7 years, and boy have things changed! But what I dont understand is this Physx business. Initially I thought that my geforce280 has physx covered so that was that sorted. However now Ive just read on this site of people using an older gfx card just for physx duties, so does that mean that even though my 280 is capable of physx-ing, Id be better off buying a dedicated physx card as well? And if so what would you reccomend? Please? Thanks for reading this, and thanks in advance for your answers. toodle-oo doktordoris
Hey guy, welcome to the world of modern game computing Unfortunately for you, you re-entered at a point when the GPU corporations are beginning to try new ideas out on us, the consumers. But to answer your question... If you don't plan on buying, or don't have many games that utilize the PhysX engine (Unreal Tournament 3, Gears of War, GRAW1&2, etc.) then your GTX280 should be more than enough to handle the physics calculations by itself. But, if you have a spare graphics card lying around (8 Series or better, of course) or just have to have the best benchmarks possible. Then using a separate card will in theory will improve your overall performance as the primary GPU (in your case the 280) will be free to process graphics while the lesser cards does physics. But it's all a matter of preference at this point.
Thanks chief, Iam somewhat keen on performance (thats why I spent 1800 quid on bits to build my new rig!) but it would appear you are suggesting there are better ways to increase performance other than getting a physx card? more mem perhaps? doris
More memory for you won't do much. Basically he's saying that the benefit you will see will be limited to physx enabled games, and won't help other games at all. And the benefit in those games will be very minor, considering the video card and processor you've got. Now that I see your PSU, I'm not wholly certain your PSU could manage a 280 and 8800? At any rate, it's just an extra strain on your PSU, and more power coming out of your wall, for very limited benefit in a very limited number of games.
