Hybrid PhysX: working but not ideal

[wuyanxu]

after tweaking and restarting all afternoon (and mowing the lawn) finally got hybrid PhysX working.

Hybrid PhysX is where ATI card does the rendering, a dedicated nVidia card (usually a single slot, lower end card) does the PhysX.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/wuyanxu/th_2658816a.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/wuyanxu/2658816a.png)

problem is that the game i was trying to get working, cannot work on this setup because it is not a PhysX title, :cry it uses CUDA for extra water and explosion effects. Just Cause 2 require rendering to be done on the GPU for CUDA effects to work.

but NFS Shift working perfectly with PhysX effects. :clap

im not sure if it's worth the idle power increase (5870's advantage in idle power is out of the window now) would be great if i can trade this gtx260 for something like 9600GT or GT240.

[.Alan.]

Well looking on Wikipedia I've only got three games that support Physx so I don't think I'm missing much.:p
I assume you had the GTX260 before you bought your 5870.
What happens when you're playing a game that doesn't use Physx, does the GTX still run at full whack?

[wuyanxu]

What happens when you're playing a game that doesn't use Physx, does the GTX still run at full whack?

very good question and based on nVidia drivers for dual-monitor setup, Yes. which is very unfortunate and makes the 28w 5870 idling feel useless :( what's funny is that the most powerful card idles at ~45c, but the useless card idles at 60c.

i upgraded from GTX260, still yet to sell it, so i thought might as well put it to use while waiting for a buyer.


so, after fiddling all afternoon, i only have 1 minor PhysX game installed. NFS Shift only has a few more sparks on collision, you are not meant to collide in a race anyway! although i can install Batman AA but not much replay value in that.

may i ask what are your PhysX enabled games?

[Iaink]

how much are you selling for?

[.Alan.]

may i ask what are your PhysX enabled games?

Just noticed I've got 4 not 3.:o Assuming the list on Wikipedia is correct.

I've got Batman AA aswell and Mass Effect, Unreal Tournament 3 and Shadowgrounds survivor.

[wuyanxu]

how much are you selling for?
it's up on Bit-tech for-sales, if you go there. £95 at the moment, but a reasonable offer is always considered.

Mass Effect doesn't have PhysX, don't remember seeing that option at all.

[.Alan.]

it's up on Bit-tech for-sales, if you go there. £95 at the moment, but a reasonable offer is always considered.

Mass Effect doesn't have PhysX, don't remember seeing that option at all.

I'm only going by the list on Wikipedia. I'm running a HD5770 so its academic anyway.

[Iaink]

you have PM :)

[marsey99]

ghost recon aw2 is one of my faves with physx, so is metro 2033.

[wuyanxu]

i played a bit of Batman AA and found GTX260 GPU usage to be 20% to 30%. that is about 60 shaders if the percentage works like that.

therefore 9600GT that has 64sp is not a very good card as dedicated PhysX card, it will be limiting when more demanding games come out.

been looking at 8800GS (96sp), GT320 (72sp) and 8800GT(112sp) on flea bay. with GT320 as my target because it's got tweaked power circuitry for lower power consumption.

[El Wayneo]

Edit: Heres the chart thread.

http://forums.aria.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17015

[El Wayneo]

Is there a guide for doing this.

I have a HD5750 on a DFI X38 mobo, 2 x 16 PCI-e.

So can i add the 9600GSO i got as a Physx card?

[wuyanxu]

yeah, decided to test the game after seeing that article from Toms Hardware.

http://physxinfo.com/news/942/hybrid-physx-mod-1-02-195-xx-drivers-and-win-xp-support/
scroll down for all the instructions.

for the secondary monitor bit, i find simply using that free VGA port on the monitor works great.

just saw update 5.... going to try it out now.

[Jamie]

I'm hiding an original PhysX card with my 5870, only have UT3, but may try to get NFSS to see what the effects are.