PhysX - can I use an older nv pcie gpu?

[Malakai]

Hey I'm pretty sure the answer to this is no but I figured I would double check. Google and nvidia's website both didn't give me an ample explanation.

I have several 7k and 8k series nvidia cards on hand, me and my IRL friends PIF hardware between each other when we upgrade (pay it forward, ie give away what we are replacing) and I keep what is left over for backups and repairs.

I have a spare pcie slot and an 8600gt and 7800gt. Can I plug one of these guys in and use it for a physx processor?

If not, is it because I have an AMD mobo, my other video card is ati/amd, or is that just not how it works?

Thanks in advance. It would be pretty nifty to plug one of those old cards in and use it as a physx processor.

Sucks that nv bought out agiea and made it so only nv cuda could run the physx calculations. Im sure ati stream could do it as well. Would have been cool if my onboard hd3300 could be used as a physics processor too!
Tech using GPU's in CPU like fashion is still in its infancy, lots of room for cool stuff in the future. Just wish there was an open platform being used for this stuff instead of a bunch of closed source proprietary crap!

[Special7]

Has to be an nVidia 8 series card or higher with a minimum of 256mb.

[Malakai]

Has to be an nVidia 8 series card or higher with a minimum of 256mb.

Cool I have that!
Can it work in an amd board alongside a HD4830?

[nd4spdbh2]

i dunno.... try it... install the nvidia drivers and make the 8600gt run physx.

[>HyperlogiK<]

It will work under Windows XP or 7, not Vista because you can only install one set of gfx card drivers.

The 8600GT will probably work but from what I have read it will cause slowdown in some more PhysX heavy games. But overclock the crap out of it and it might be decent, hell if it's just lying around then why not do a pencil voltmod and rig up some ghetto cooling for the thing.

A Radeon 3300 would never have had the muscle to do PhysX, and the 128MB of memeory would be a problem too.

[Malakai]

The 8600GT will probably work but from what I have read it will cause slowdown in some more PhysX heavy games.


That sounded insane on first read, using it as a physx processor slows games down?!?! So I consulted sir google, and it's apparently true.

LOL thanks for the heads up. No need to waste energy trying. Heh heh heh

[jokers_greg]

That sounded insane on first read, using it as a physx processor slows games down?!?! So I consulted sir google, and it's apparently true.

LOL thanks for the heads up. No need to waste energy trying. Heh heh heh

Man, that is insane. Has anyone come across a good read about actually doing this? I will have a 9800 GT to use as my physx card most likely.

[>HyperlogiK<]

It's not insane, enabling a PhysX processor usually enables extra effects [it doesn't just render the same effects as the CPU version but on the GFX card]. These have some additional CPU overhead, so the game will run slightly slower regardless of the GFX card. But if the PhysX card is too slow to render the effects [as an 8600GT is in many cases] then the framerate is slowed because the CPU and GFX card are waiting for the PhysX card to perform physics calculations before they know what to draw.

Taking Mirrors Edge as an example you can click the 'PhysX card present' box in the config regardless of whether there is a card present. It just enables some extra effects, blinds, banners and tarpaulins in the levels. Without a PhysX card present, enabling this option slows the game to be almost totally unplayable on my Phenom 940 @ 4Ghz with 6GB of RAM, with a 9600GT as a dedicated PhysX card it slowed the game a little.

A heavily overclocked 8600GT might do it, and since you just have the thing lying around, why not? However an 9600GT is recommended as about the minimum for PhysX by a lot of people.

@greg, the 9800GT will be fine!

[jokers_greg]

It's not insane, enabling a PhysX processor usually enables extra effects [it doesn't just render the same effects as the CPU version but on the GFX card]. These have some additional CPU overhead, so the game will run slightly slower regardless of the GFX card. But if the PhysX card is too slow to render the effects [as an 8600GT is in many cases] then the framerate is slowed because the CPU and GFX card are waiting for the PhysX card to perform physics calculations before they know what to draw.

Taking Mirrors Edge as an example you can click the 'PhysX card present' box in the config regardless of whether there is a card present. It just enables some extra effects, blinds, banners and tarpaulins in the levels. Without a PhysX card present, enabling this option slows the game to be almost totally unplayable on my Phenom 940 @ 4Ghz with 6GB of RAM, with a 9600GT as a dedicated PhysX card it slowed the game a little.

A heavily overclocked 8600GT might do it, and since you just have the thing lying around, why not? However an 9600GT is recommended as about the minimum for PhysX by a lot of people.

@greg, the 9800GT will be fine!

That is cool indeed. I have Physx running on my GX2 right now, so it's a little slower than without PhysX. But as soon as I get the GT, I'll throw it in there and see if I get any nice gains.