"NVIDIA PhysX Ready"

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,329
709
126
We have been hearing a lot about ATI and AMD's partnership with their Dragon platform, Nvidia hasn't been standing still. They figure that with the proper implementation, their GPUs coupled with a Lynnfield CPU and a P55 chipset-equipped motherboard will offer a price / performance ratio far above that of anything AMD / ATI can offer at this point. Nvidia calls it "The Power of 3". This may seem like a bit of an idle boast but they have been making some massive inroads with SLI licensing for nearly all of their premier P55 board manufacturers. Indeed, nearly every single performance-oriented P55 board we have seen so far has included an SLI bridge.

However, there is more to Nvidia's claim than SLI.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com...p55-ftw-preview-3.html

I guess this explains that?
 

dadach

Senior member
Nov 27, 2005
204
0
76
will they finally fix the absurd situation where 2 gpu in sli + 1 separate physx card outperforms 3 gpu in sli when physx is enabled :D

"By now you should all know that PhysX is here to stay and considering the list of games which will be released in the coming months with PhysX support, we can't see why you would want to turn a blind eye at this point. "

this, however, is nice...
 

SirPauly

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2009
5,187
1
0
It was good to see the Sli licensing here for more affordable platforms, imho!

 

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
5,957
7
81
How can nvidia claim this as their platform when 2 of the 3 parts in the power of 3 aren't made by them?
 

SirPauly

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2009
5,187
1
0
It would be nice to see how these different platforms would compare from a performance/value stand-point -- if one can get by semantic points-of-view, hehe!:)

 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
I thought you didn't have to have a SLi-ready motherboard to be able to use the second slot for a PhysX card? (like a 9600GT with a GTX260)
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
64
91
Originally posted by: Fox5
How can nvidia claim this as their platform when 2 of the 3 parts in the power of 3 aren't made by them?

Synergy baby, syner the g to the y. Its a paradigm shift I tells ya! :p :laugh:
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,219
56
91
Originally posted by: dadach
will they finally fix the absurd situation where 2 gpu in sli + 1 separate physx card outperforms 3 gpu in sli when physx is enabled :D

"By now you should all know that PhysX is here to stay and considering the list of games which will be released in the coming months with PhysX support, we can't see why you would want to turn a blind eye at this point. "

this, however, is nice...

I wasn't aware that was a situation that needed fixing.. Why not just buy what's faster? Instead of Tri-SLI, use SLI and a third GPU for PhysX. Sounds cheaper.

I use a GTX295 (essentially GTX275 SLI) and an 8600GT for PhysX. Very good combo.

 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
I may have to grab a cheap 9800 series card for PhysX when I build my next machine.
 

Creig

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,170
13
81
Originally posted by: Keysplayr
Originally posted by: Creig
Huh? I thought that Nvidia already called the "The Power of 3" a combination of SM3.0, HDR and SLI.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/powerof3.html

So now they're rebadging catch phrases as well as video cards?

Hehe, you really have a problem with this company, don't ya. :laugh:

It's all pretty funny. And it's all good.

I simply found the parallelism amusing, that's all. :)
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,219
56
91
Originally posted by: Creig
Originally posted by: Keysplayr
Originally posted by: Creig
Huh? I thought that Nvidia already called the "The Power of 3" a combination of SM3.0, HDR and SLI.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/powerof3.html

So now they're rebadging catch phrases as well as video cards?

Hehe, you really have a problem with this company, don't ya. :laugh:

It's all pretty funny. And it's all good.

I simply found the parallelism amusing, that's all. :)

It is amusing. As long as they keep pushing technologies the way they have been, they can keep me laughing all they want with their naming schemes. :thumbsup:
 

Syntax Error

Senior member
Oct 29, 2007
617
0
0
Gotta admit, Nvidia's marketing team probably gets a bigger budget than their R&D and driver programming teams! :roll:
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
12,085
2,281
126
I got PhysX working in the Arkham Asylum demo with a main ATI card and my 8800GT for PhysX. I had to fake a connection to a monitor and use old drivers but it worked. I also tried with the CPU and it gets pretty slow even at "normal" PhysX effects BUT the CPU is not being fully utilized (about 50% of the 4 cores).
 

faxon

Platinum Member
May 23, 2008
2,109
1
81
Originally posted by: thilan29
I got PhysX working in the Arkham Asylum demo with a main ATI card and my 8800GT for PhysX. I had to fake a connection to a monitor and use old drivers but it worked. I also tried with the CPU and it gets pretty slow even at "normal" PhysX effects BUT the CPU is not being fully utilized (about 50% of the 4 cores).

would be interesting to see how your system would perform if you upgraded the CPU to a 955 and OCed it to the 64bit OS limit. would probably be twice as fast
 

akugami

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2005
6,210
2,552
136
While the clash in marketing with the "Power of 3" catchphrase is amusing, it's irrelevant to nVidia's claims of superior performance. But speaking of superior performance and advancing technology, what the heck is new here? This campaign seems more like a marketing blurb than any real advance in technology.

I think this is just an expansion of previous licensing where nVidia allowed SLI on Intel chipsets so it's not exactly anything new, aside from the recycled catchphrase. I also hate to sound negative but this seems like a Plan B in case they are unable to come to a licensing agreement with Intel to produce motherboard chipsets for future Intel processors.

I personally think that the Intel vs nVidia lawsuits and counter lawsuits will result in a large cross licensing agreement between the two. nVidia holds many GPU patents and it's almost impossible for Intel not to run into one or two of them while developing Larrabee and nVidia wants to retain the ability to produce motherboard chipsets because that'll be a huge revenue stream loss for them.
 

Nemesis 1

Lifer
Dec 30, 2006
11,366
2
0
Well next month ATI launches DX11 . Lets see how power of three holds up. Once ATI has CL to run Havok physics. Man NV bads mouth Intel than they Talk like its there GPU that makes it all happen . LOL Soon to be nomore.
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,219
56
91
Originally posted by: Nemesis 1
Well next month ATI launches DX11 . Lets see how power of three holds up. Once ATI has CL to run Havok physics. Man NV bads mouth Intel than they Talk like its there GPU that makes it all happen . LOL Soon to be nomore.

C'mon dude. You know that's not what this thread is about. You want to talk about Intel, or ATI's DX11 on OpenCL, by all means, start OTHER threads about it. ;) :thumbsup:

Otherwise, you'll have to add #5 in your sig definitions for "Nemesis".


/nem"euhsis/, n., pl. nemeses /-seez'/.

#5. dee.rayles.threhds.

Please dont. :D
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
12,085
2,281
126
Originally posted by: faxon
Originally posted by: thilan29
I got PhysX working in the Arkham Asylum demo with a main ATI card and my 8800GT for PhysX. I had to fake a connection to a monitor and use old drivers but it worked. I also tried with the CPU and it gets pretty slow even at "normal" PhysX effects BUT the CPU is not being fully utilized (about 50% of the 4 cores).

would be interesting to see how your system would perform if you upgraded the CPU to a 955 and OCed it to the 64bit OS limit. would probably be twice as fast

Well...it's at 3GHz right now. I can do 3.2GHz but have to up the voltage to 1.45v at which point it's just diminishing returns...I play my games at 1920x1200 anyway so hopefully I'm more GPU bottlenecked. I doubt it would be much faster though.
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,329
709
126
Apparently the 'Power of 3' changed overnight, from;

PhysX + Lynnfield + Windows 7

to;

NV GPU + Intel CPU + Intel motherboard

http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3623&p=2

Still, this pretty much confirms the PhysX lockdown in the future, regardless of the motives (be it technical or econimcal)? So much for "open to everyone".
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,329
709
126
And it's clear that NV raised a white flag to Intel, at least for the time being. And Anand, no surprise, likes it. (and doesn't forget a jab towards AMD) :D
 

akugami

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2005
6,210
2,552
136
Originally posted by: lopri
And it's clear that NV raised a white flag to Intel, at least for the time being. And Anand, no surprise, likes it. (and doesn't forget a jab towards AMD) :D

I don't think there's anything to hate. At the same time, aside from nVidia allowing other chipsets to utilize SLI (software/driver issue and not hardware), it just feels more like a marketing campaign than any real announcement of anything innovative.
 
Nov 26, 2005
15,197
403
126
I've fell out of the PhysX loop not too long after I bought my Asus PhysX P1 card. Didn't really notice much performance gaming in UT3. I had it combined with an ATI 4870... since then, I've taken the card out. Is this card going to be worth hanging on to?