PCPOP.com website has published a bunch of benchmarks where GT 240, low-end 40nm GPU from Nvidia, is used as dedicated PhysX card alongside with GTX 260. System used for tests.

Performance with PhysX content, running on dedicated GT 220  (marked yellow on graph) is compared  to a single GTX 260,  calculating graphics and PhysX effects simultaneously (marked green).

Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Cryostasis

Star Tales

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Recently, bunch of PhysX related articles have emerged on several chinese websites, like yesky.com or EXPreview.com. They all have similar structure and idea – benchmarks of Nvidia GPUs vs ATI GPUs in games with hardware accelerated PhysX content. Typical result is looking like this..

.. and can mislead inexperienced user – “How can it be, that low-end GT240 outperforms hi-end HD5850 ?! Is GT240 better thus ? I’ll buy it as Christmas present instead“. Answer is simple – in ATI’s case supplementary PhysX content is calculated on CPU, while accelerated on GPU in Nvidia case. Therefore, playing with extra GPU PhysX effects enabled on ATI GPU will result in low fps regardless what setup you have – old X1800XT or two HD5970 in crossfire.

Appropriate Nvidia GPU – it’s the only way currently to enjoy games with GPU PhysX support. Is it worth ? It’s up to you to decide. And don’t forget compromising solution -  officially unsupported, but popular Hybrid PhysX systems.

Related articles: EXPreview.com | yesky.com | beareyes.com.cn |  sanhaostreet.com | vga.zol.com.cn | mydrivers.com

It seems that today Hybrid ATI+NV PhysX systems (ATI GPU for graphics, Nvidia GPU for PhysX) are even more popular than Ageia PPUs in their time. Not officially supported (and chased) by Nvidia, such configurations are possible using custom patch.

This time, our colleagues from PCgamesHardware.de have published results of Hybrid PhysX tests in Batman: Arkham Asylum built-in benchmark.

To built a Hybrid PhysX System, you’ll need mobo with two PCI-E slots (regardless to SLI/Crossife support; PCI-Ex8/x4 is enough for PhysX), appropriate Nvidia GPU (something like 9600/GT240), Win XP/Win 7 OS and PhysX mod 1.02, which you can download here.

Installation instructions – Link#1 | Link#2 | Link#3 (Please note that most of them refer to old PhysX mod 1.01 – use 1.02 mod instead, download link above) | Link#4 | Link#5 (video guide) | Link#6 (Italian video guide) | Link#7 | Link#8 (detailed) <- it’s recommended to start from newer links.

Using a mid- or low-end GPU as dedicated PhysX card is quite popular idea today (even among ATI owners), while PCI-E bandwidth requirements for dedicated PhysX GPU are not absolutely clear. Everyone knows, that x8 and even x4 would be enough, but what about PCI-E x1 ?

PCPOP.com has published article today, that investigates PhysX performance of GTX295 + 9800GT setup, with 9800GT used in PCI-E x1/x4/x8 cases (unnecessary pins were taped).

And, surprisingly, even PCI-E x1 usage isn’t affecting performance as much as it should at a glimpse.

You can read rest of the article here

BTW, users with old mobos (or lack of free full scale PCI-E slots) are asking sometimes – “What if I just put my old 9600GT in PCI-E x1 slot ? Would that be enough for PhysX ?“. Now they have some clarity. Of course, mechanical “adjustment” will be needed to make it fit, that can result in GPU/mobo malfunction, so we don’t recommend even to think about it until you are clearly sure.

InsideHW has published fine article about hardware PhysX acceleration, with some benchmarks included.  Games (Batman Arkham Asylum, Darkest of Days and Mirror’s Edge) overview part isn’t much detailed, and only three GPUs were tested (GTS250, GTX260, GTX285), but this article is good read if you want to get in touch with current GPU PhysX posture.

Batman Arkham Asylum

Darkest of Days

Mirror’s Edge

You can read rest of the article here

Question “How Ageia PhysX PPU can handle newest GPU PhysX titles ?” is still interesting for some people, ATI owners for example. NinjaLane has published PhysX Performance Tests – The way games should be played article, that includes benchmarks of old Ageia PhysX PPU card along with Nvidia GPUs.

While PPU is still good at Unreal Tournament 3 and Mirror’s Edge, it has insufficient power to run latest titles like Batman Arkham Asylum with smooth framerate.

You can read rest of the article here

Adoption of hybrid ATI + Nvidia PhysX configurations is growing day by day. We wrote recently about some benchmarks using hybrid PhysX setup, and now BodNara website has published an article, that is investigating perfomance in games with GPU PhysX support using ATI HD 4850/5750 + NV 9800GT configuration.

Test setup: Intel Core I7 860 CPU, Asus P7P55D Motherboard, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 32-bit Win 7 Ultimate OS, Catalyst 9.9 and ForceWare 191.07 drivers

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Two questions may bother some people, interested in PhysX nowadays  – “Are those hybrid ATI+NV PhysX configurations really working ?” and “How new GeForce GT 220 can perform as dedicated PhysX card ?“. User soothepain from coolaler.com forums has performed a bunch of tests, that can answer both of those questions.

System, used for benchmarks includes Intel Core i7 975 Extreme CPU, 6GB DDR3 RAM, EVGA Classified X58 Motherboard, ATI HD 5870 and Nvidia GeForce GT 220 GPUs running on Windows 7 RC7100 64-bit OS.

Three setups were tested:

Single GT 220 (Both graphics and PhysX processing)

Single HD 5870 (CPU is calculating all PhysX effects in this case)

HD 5870 for graphics + GT 220 for PhysX (using GenL Mod)

Test results:

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It’s disputable issue, is Batman Arkham Asylum that long-awaited killer-ap for hardware PhysX technology, but one is undoubtedly – supplementary PhysX effects are very well done, and can greatly increase overall game immersion level. Unfortunately,  heavy PhysX content requires appropriate Nvidia GPU, to help you understand which one – we’ve prepared an overview of PhysX benchmark articles, available on the web.

[17.09.09] Batman Arkham Asylum: PhysX or not PhysX by Revioo.com

Worth viewing article as it contains PhysX comparison videos, and benchmarks with variety of hardware (main – 9800GTX, GTX275, GTX280, dedicated – 8600GT, 9800GTX, GTX275)

[17.09.09] Batman Arkham Asylum Physx Preview by Chris Ray

This article is focused on multi-GPU (SLI, Tri-SLi, quad-SLI) configurations, and include some comparison PhysX screens too.

[21.09.09] Batman: Arkham Asylum – PhysX benchmarks with comparison shots and video by PCgameshardware.com

Contains comparison screenshots and video for in-game benchmark, and some perfomance testing for different PhysX settings as well.

[22.09.09] Batman Arkham Asylum — pořádná akce s PhysX by PCtuning

Massive and interesting overview – benchmarking results with decent amount of AMD and Nvidia GPUs, and even CPU influence tests.

[25.09.09] Batman nVidia PhysX Analysis by DriverHeaven

Probably, best article available currently. Decent descriptive part (videos included), and great benchmarking with various configurations (different CPU, varied PhysX GPU setups) tested.

[25.09.09] Optymalne karty graficzne do Batman: Arkham Asylum. PhysX, porównanie wersji PC, X360 i PS3 by benchmark.pl

Article with a small part related to GPU PhysX perfomance.

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User Keysplayr over at AnandTech forums is doing interesting research – he is testing recent hardware accelerated PhysX games (like Batman and Cryostasis) with various GPU configurations (single and different dedicated cards), trying to find out what GPU is best suited as dedicated PhysX accelerator.

Click to view Keysplayr’s article

Be sure to check it regularly, as more content is coming.

Discussion thread at AnandTech forums