980 Ti and Spare GTX 960 dedicated Physx card

[Sandman1424]

I have a spare 960 laying around is it a viable candidate for being a dedicated Physx card?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

There is no point to wasting a GPU for any PhysX; NVIDIA GPU, even by them-self can do the PhysX all on single GPU. Even a single 970 would be plenty to pull that off.

[_I_]

960 will not be able to keep up with the 980ti as a dedicated physx card
the 980ti si strong enough to do it by itself

[Alchemist79]

Haven't really looked into it, but it could be worth hanging onto for a DX12 dual gtx980ti/gtx960 gpu setup.

[Azza ☠]

If you have it spare and just lying around, give it a go.

Benchmark performance before and after. Also, take into consider the noise, heat, power and space required.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2668986/dedicated-physx-card-worth.html

[Bad 💀 Motha]

It's still hard to even really benchmark a "PhysX Only GPU" as you'd need to run something that uses that; most benchmarks never incorperated such tests.

However if you have games such as "Mafia 2", "Metro 2033" or "Metro Last Light"
Those are all PhysX enabled games that come with benchmark tool and or has in-game benchmark test you can run.

To use and/or test PhysX Only GPU; install and power the GTX 960 in 2nd available PCIEx16 slot (no SLI bridge) then in Windows, go to NVIDIA Control Panel > PhysX settings and select only the GTX 960 and Apply; making only the 960 be used for PhysX. If this GPU is not available from this listing, go to Manage 3D Settings > Global and change CUDA GPUs so the GTX 960 is the only one actively checked in the listing.

Then in-game, disable PhysX, then run your tests. Take down the results, then re-enable PhysX in-game (game restart might be required) and then re-test and compare results.

To further compare more (to see if the GTX 960 is even worth using) disable the GTX 960 in WinOS, then set the 980 Ti as PhysX; then redo all your tests again. This time the 980 Ti would be used for any PhysX and you can then compare all this data to that ran when the GTX 960 was being used for PhysX and see which GPU is doing a better job.

It used to be a good idea to do "dedicated PhysX GPU" but they've gotten so much better we just have not seen a need to do this any longer. Back when people moved to say GTX 570 or 580; it may have made sense to take an older GT 450 or GTX 460 and use for dedicated PhysX.

With a single 980 Ti; and the newer games no longer using PhysX; you may find that such a GPU can easily max out older titles such as I mentioned above in here; all while doing the PhysX rendering ontop of what it already has to render game-wise.

[Lord Flashheart]

It depends on your setup
I have:

i7-3770k @ 4.4 Ghz 16GB RAM
overclocked MSI gtx 970 for graphics
gigabyte gtx 670 for physx/flex (old GPU)
1080p 144 Hz gsync monitor

I like to play games with physx. With a dedicated card it means I can use the main GPU for maximum performance in terms of frame rates and using Nvidia DSR for better graphics quality. It is game dependent what I decide to do.

You should test performance both with & without the dedicated card.


I think if you like playing a lot of physx games then I suggest keep it initially.
Physx and graphics can be done on the same card but not efficiently.

I understand with physx performance its about cuda core cound and their speed. (1024 of them at 1100 Mhz) I doubt using the gtx 960 will be a bottleneck as a dedicated physx card.

Buying a card as dedicated physx may not be that great an idea but if you have it already and it improves performance then I say use it.

[Sandman1424]

Originally posted by Bad-Motha:

It's still hard to even really benchmark a "PhysX Only GPU" as you'd need to run something that uses that; most benchmarks never incorperated such tests.

However if you have games such as "Mafia 2", "Metro 2033" or "Metro Last Light"
Those are all PhysX enabled games that come with benchmark tool and or has in-game benchmark test you can run.

To use and/or test PhysX Only GPU; install and power the GTX 960 in 2nd available PCIEx16 slot (no SLI bridge) then in Windows, go to NVIDIA Control Panel > PhysX settings and select only the GTX 960 and Apply; making only the 960 be used for PhysX. If this GPU is not available from this listing, go to Manage 3D Settings > Global and change CUDA GPUs so the GTX 960 is the only one actively checked in the listing.

Then in-game, disable PhysX, then run your tests. Take down the results, then re-enable PhysX in-game (game restart might be required) and then re-test and compare results.

To further compare more (to see if the GTX 960 is even worth using) disable the GTX 960 in WinOS, then set the 980 Ti as PhysX; then redo all your tests again. This time the 980 Ti would be used for any PhysX and you can then compare all this data to that ran when the GTX 960 was being used for PhysX and see which GPU is doing a better job.

It used to be a good idea to do "dedicated PhysX GPU" but they've gotten so much better we just have not seen a need to do this any longer. Back when people moved to say GTX 570 or 580; it may have made sense to take an older GT 450 or GTX 460 and use for dedicated PhysX.

With a single 980 Ti; and the newer games no longer using PhysX; you may find that such a GPU can easily max out older titles such as I mentioned above in here; all while doing the PhysX rendering ontop of what it already has to render game-wise.

Thanks for the much needed assistance I'm going to give it go. I'll report back once everything is in order.

[Lord Flashheart]

One example of a gpu physics game. It uses something called flex, similar to physx. An nvidia card is needed.
My dedicated gtx 670 physics card works very well with it.

YouTube™ Video: Killing Floor 2 NVIDIA PhysX FleX GORE Montage(Ultra 60 fps) 

Views: 962

Killinf floor 2 gore montage with the new update Hope u like it :D

[[☥] - CJ -]

If you have a few PhysX games like the Borderlands series you could give it a try, assuming you have a Powersupply good enough to handle both.

But in the end PhysX SHOULD be better on the 980 Ti.

Going by your games list though you dont really have any games that make use of NVIDIAs PhysX that i can see

[Sandman1424]

Originally posted by ianm_ozzy:

One example of a gpu physics game. It uses something called flex, similar to physx. An nvidia card is needed.
My dedicated gtx 670 physics card works very well with it.

YouTube™ Video: Killing Floor 2 NVIDIA PhysX FleX GORE Montage(Ultra 60 fps) 

Views: 962

Killinf floor 2 gore montage with the new update Hope u like it :D

Nice

[Sandman1424]

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

If you have a few PhysX games like the Borderlands series you could give it a try, assuming you have a Powersupply good enough to handle both.

But in the end PhysX SHOULD be better on the 980 Ti.

Going by your games list though you dont really have any games that make use of NVIDIAs PhysX that i can see

I have a 1000w http://i.imgur.com/RrFKrS9.jpg
Gonna try fallout 4 with the 960 and 980 Ti

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Sandman1424:

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

If you have a few PhysX games like the Borderlands series you could give it a try, assuming you have a Powersupply good enough to handle both.

But in the end PhysX SHOULD be better on the 980 Ti.

Going by your games list though you dont really have any games that make use of NVIDIAs PhysX that i can see

I have a 1000w http://i.imgur.com/RrFKrS9.jpg
Gonna try fallout 4 with the 960 and 980 Ti

Fallout4 doesn't use NVIDIA PhysX

[banzaigtv]

PhysX runs like garbage in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel, even on a GTX 980. I had to run the game with PhysX on low to prevent heavy stuttering and lockups. Yes, I have once tried pairing a GTX 970 with a GTX 660 and noticed some improvement in Alice Madness Returns, but not the case in Batman Arkham City. Honestly, I would not fool with using another GPU for PhysX unless it's a GTX 970.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Originally posted by Bad-Motha:

Originally posted by Sandman1424:

I have a 1000w http://i.imgur.com/RrFKrS9.jpg
Gonna try fallout 4 with the 960 and 980 Ti

Fallout4 doesn't use NVIDIA PhysX

it does now according to what i read yesterday when i was reading up on FO4, they came out with a PhysX PC only patch at some point.

and theres people on youtube showing off the PhysX effects

[Azza ☠]

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

Originally posted by Bad-Motha:

Fallout4 doesn't use NVIDIA PhysX

it does now according to what i read yesterday when i was reading up on FO4, they came out with a PhysX PC only patch at some point.

and theres people on youtube showing off the PhysX effects

Fallout 4 Patch 1.3 - Adds NVIDIA HBAO+ and FleX-Powered Weapon Debris

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/hbao-plus/technology
https://developer.nvidia.com/flex

Not actually sure how Flex calculations will perform like on a dedicated card, they are however quite heavy processing.