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.