PhysX Support: Coming Soon To A GeForce Near You

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Dark Pulse

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Sep 12, 2004
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Sure, we've all seen that PhysX cards can increase framerates in UT3, there's the PhysX map pack that was released, and we've also seen that PhysX support is in nVidia's latest GPUs, such as the 9800 GTX+, GTX 260 and GTX 280. But did you know that eventually this support will be added to all GeForce 8/9 series cards? Apparently so:

The really good news: PhysX for the GeForce 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, and GTX 260/280 cards will be enabled by the ForceWare 177.39 driver, timed to launch with the GTX+. And NVIDIA says it will gradually roll out PhysX support to the full GeForce 8/9 line.

I have an 8800 GTS 640, and while my framerate in UT3 is great, even more is certainly never a bad thing. :)
 

nELsOn

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Aug 18, 2005
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so, do i get that right - even geforce 8 series cards are already equipped with physx stuff, it just wasn't unlocked through the driver yet? or how is this gonna work?

anyway, i sure hope these new drivers don't freeze the game like some other newer nvidia drivers did for me. after trying some i had to go back to 169.28 to be able to run the game at all...
 

Dark Pulse

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Sep 12, 2004
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so, do i get that right - even geforce 8 series cards are already equipped with physx stuff, it just wasn't unlocked through the driver yet? or how is this gonna work?
To quote Wikipedia:
In February 2008, nVidia bought Ageia and the PhysX engine and is integrating it into its CUDA framework, which already has multiple drivers for Linux, effectivly rendering the PhysX add-in card redundant.With Intel's cancellation of Havok FX, PhysX is currently the only available solution for physics hardware acceleration.
So long story short, nVidia bought out PhysX, and is implementing the PhysX code on their GPUs, since all a PhysX card really is is a GPGPU. Only GeForce 8s and up support CUDA, and no ATI card supports them, so anyone using a Radeon will still need a PhysX card in order to use hardware-accelerated PhysX.

No doubt this is a very smart move by nVidia - why buy a videocard and then drop another $100 on a PhysX card (Which will take up an extra slot) when you can just get a all-in-one solution?
 
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Dark Pulse

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Sep 12, 2004
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No word on that yet, but I doubt nVidia would go that route, since a PhysX card is about $120, and another videocard that's worth a damn will be at least $80 more.

Time will tell. Right now it's fully enabled on the 9800 GTX+, GTX 260, and GTX 280, and those are all single-card solutions.
 

MonsOlympus

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May 27, 2004
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Well I did hear that with some of the older GPU's physX was actually causing worse framerates since the graphics card has to render more. Dunno how true that is but it makes sense I think, like sure the PhysX can pump out 10,000 more physics objects or something but its not the card which has to take care of the rendering.

I think tying the physics and graphics together is a very smart move for performance reasons. Also though what the graphic card does in some instances isnt that different to physics like for eg, lighting being part of physics. It just opens the door I think to the physics being more integrated with the graphics pipeline since it could be limited or slower when done offboard :cool:

Then again when you look at sound its part of physics also but offboard tends to be the better option for audio, dedicated cards certainly have their uses but only time will tell which directions things head in. The CPU can handle sound, physics, AI and graphics with the right API's so you just never know :)
 

Sk.7

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Jan 31, 2008
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Now all I wonder how this will work when you have for example:

GX2 SLI = 4 GPUs + 1 PhysX

WHICH CARD WILL ACTUALLY DO THE PHYSX AFTER THE UDPATE??? :confused:

I can only guess that pluggin' out PhysX could only make better overal performance after the new drivers because standard PCI slots have poor memory handling on nForce chipsets (see the cause of X-Fi issue) and PhysX could be better done in-GPU then...?! :(
 

Mr. UglyPants

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Aug 22, 2005
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Wait... so my 8800 GTX with an update by Nvidia will have that stuff activated without me needing to buy a newer card?
 

Ignotium

Que hora es?
Apr 3, 2005
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well, i remember reading one helluva extensive review to the Phsyx cards on some Physx capable games, and while it did had better physics and stuff, the frame rates were worse cause there was much more shrapnel and dirt and destruction to render than without the enhanced physics, so.... yeah the card does all the calculations of the collision for the CPU and stuff, but the GPU will have to render all these new items nonetheless, so, more work for the gpu

right? lol
 

-=WolverinE=-

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Apr 16, 2006
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Along with the "enabled" driver based PhysX, you'll have better frame rates in other games. That's something nVidia did some time ago, but unfortunately they do it rarely...

Edit: I forgot to add that you can still play the PhysX UT3 mod without that card, but with very bad frame rate after 10 min of playing (with the old drivers).
 
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Quaglax

May the funk be with you...
Apr 25, 2006
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So.....I have an 8600 GTS.....I understand that card is part of the "8" series...so does that mean I will get this too?
 

Sk.7

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Jan 31, 2008
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So.....I have an 8600 GTS.....I understand that card is part of the "8" series...so does that mean I will get this too?

Yup your VGA has 32 unified shaders and this update is exactely for VGAs with the Unified Shader Architecture (which nVIDIA actually calls CUDA or something) so you'll be able to enjoy the supported games with more complex badass particle-effect-powered explosions :D
 

Derdak2rot

DVD2r
Jan 8, 2005
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8800 GTS 320/640 /8800 GTX -- G80 ---> not yet compatible
8800 GT/GTS 512 , 9800 GTX -- G92 ---> compatible

works here on my system win xp/dx9c .

i got serious boost with that driver on my GTS 512 , no more stuttering on GOW , and physx supported :D

if you have a G92 chip , download the 177.39 drivers , unzip it in a folder and replace the NVdisp.inf with the one attached to this post .. then install the drivers.
install then Ageia physx system drivers , 8.04.25 and the latest 8.06.12 ;) ( google is your friend ;) )

physx enabled on geforce \o/
 

«:MX:»MadSniper

I didn't survive SuperCrash '08: The BuF
Jan 22, 2008
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Sweet! I've always been pissed that I was going to have eventually pump out another 100 bucks or so to get the Ageia crap, but because I have an 8600, I'll get PhysX activation now! This is some of the most exciting news I've heard in a while.