5870 with a 9800gx2 for physx?

[skrewler2]

I have a 5870 in an asus p6t. I want to add my old nvidia card, a 9800gx2 to use for physx. Is this possible?

 

[Gateway2000]

It is my understanding that Nvidia shuts down physx if it detects a non-Nvidia card on the system.

 

[zerocool84]

Yes you can but Nvidia made it a huge hassle to do it cus they disabled it in newer drivers. Here's a link to a place where you can see a workaround.

http://www.gamephys.com/2010/02/22/ati-nvidia-physx-catalyst-10-2-fix-dual-display-fix/

 

[ViRGE]

Note that a dual GPU card isn't exactly a great fit for this task. PhysX only operates on 1 GPU, so the second GPU on that card is burning up power doing nothing. You may be better off selling the card and using the cash to buy a different single GPU card.

 

[toyota]

like ViRGE said, you would be better off selling that dual gpu card and getting something more efficient for physx. a 9800gt or gt240 would be excellent choices for physx.

 

[MadJackalIto]

Is this possible?... ehhh... I say: definitive NOT, Option: you can sell your 9800gx2 and if possible buy a second card (if you have a good PSU)...

 

[MadJackalIto]

double GPU in one board is not much efficient for physics and need a lot o power.

 

[skrewler2]

thanks for the replies. Actually my 9800gx2 I always had to run in single gpu mode because otherwise it got too hot and i bsod'd.. i guess this was a common problem. I'll follow your guys advice and sell it for a single gpu solution.

also have a question regarding just cause 2. I read that this game uses CUDA. Would an nvidia / ati hybrid system take advantage of cuda?

 

[toyota]

thanks for the replies. Actually my 9800gx2 I always had to run in single gpu mode because otherwise it got too hot and i bsod'd.. i guess this was a common problem. I'll follow your guys advice and sell it for a single gpu solution.

also have a question regarding just cause 2. I read that this game uses CUDA. Would an nvidia / ati hybrid system take advantage of cuda?

no because you would need an Nvidia gpu running graphics to use those features in the game. dont worry about because those two Nvidia specific settings dont really do much except lower the fps.

 

[Dark Shroud]

PhysX hardware decoding in general is over hyped. It’s just used for eye candy and unless you have a beefy SLI set up it’s going to kill FPS. Sometimes it does that in a noticeable way.

Most games right now do not take advantage of more than 2 cores. So if you have a quad core you should be able to let the CPU run PhysX without issue.

IMHO When your main card is an ATI (like mine) it’s now a waste to buy a Nvidia card for PhysX. I don’t feel that I should have to jump through hoops to get PhysX running after I’ve bought the capable branded hardware. I’m not going to reward their bad behavior. I was going to buy a BFG GTX 260 for PhysX & Cuda then Nvidia did what they did.

 

[skrewler2]

PhysX hardware decoding in general is over hyped. It’s just used for eye candy and unless you have a beefy SLI set up it’s going to kill FPS. Sometimes it does that in a noticeable way.

IMHO When your main card is an ATI (like mine) it’s now a waste to buy a Nvidia card for PhysX. I don’t feel that I should have to jump through hoops to get PhysX running after I’ve bought the capable branded hardware. I’m not going to reward their bad behavior. I was going to buy a BFG GTX 260 for PhysX & Cuda then Nvidia did what they did.

What else are $500 graphics card for other than eye candy?

I'm just going to RMA this 9800gx2 cause it has overheating issues anyways. Hopefully I'll get a 260 or some single gpu solution back.