The Dedicated PhysX card FAQ - Read this before asking any questions!

[erocker]

Sometimes it depends on the game. You will need to go in and delete certain physx.dll's once in a while to get it to work. Either way I would do the swap even if you don't plan on using the card for PhysX.

 

[Techtu]

the 8800GT is overall faster card

Yes I know it's faster I called the 8800GT newer didn't I? I also posted 2 threads, I also made more error's this isn't my morning so bare with me

But yes anyways I know it's faster, I've never had to bother before now though as always had NVidia as a main GPU so is it simple to get going and is the gains really worth the 8800GT with the added head and power over the 9500GT for the amount of PhysX games out there... either option has got be better than using my CPU for PhysX right?

 

[eidairaman1]

Yes I know it's faster I called the 8800GT newer didn't I? I also posted 2 threads, I also made more error's this isn't my morning so bare with me

But yes anyways I know it's faster, I've never had to bother before now though as always had NVidia as a main GPU so is it simple to get going and is the gains really worth the 8800GT with the added head and power over the 9500GT for the amount of PhysX games out there... either option has got be better than using my CPU for PhysX right?

8800GT is considerably better than the 9500 for PPU use, however power is the tradeoff

 

[Techtu]

I've just used the PhysX mod with my 9500GT, ran 3Dmark 11 and got the same score as I would without it? Used Furmark too which show's I'm only using the 9500GT? (I have nothing attached via display to that card).

 

[eidairaman1]

I've just used the PhysX mod with my 9500GT, ran 3Dmark 11 and got the same score as I would without it? Used Furmark too which show's I'm only using the 9500GT? (I have nothing attached via display to that card).

did you go into the NV COntrol panel and ensure that Physx was enabled on the 9500GT and not the CPU?

 

[Techtu]

did you go into the NV COntrol panel and ensure that Physx was enabled on the 9500GT and not the CPU?

No, I'm unable to enter the control panel unless I plug a monitor into one of the 9500GT's display ports.

Should I do that?

 

[eidairaman1]

No, I'm unable to enter the control panel unless I plug a monitor into one of the 9500GT's display ports.

Should I do that?

worth a shot but perhaps a program like rivatuner/afterburner should allow it

 

[Techtu]

Where would I look for this in AfterBurner?

 

[Techtu]

Where would I look for this in AfterBurner?

EDIT: If for example I do a run with 3Dmark Vantage and I look through the results and it says "PPU Disabled: true - PPU Used: false" does that mean my PhysX isn't working? :/

 

[brandonwh64]

Check with Fluid mark to see if physx is working

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/physx-fluidmark/

 

[Techtu]

Hmm, it's not working

 

[Random Murderer]

Hmm, it's not working

With Fluid mark you have to delete a few of its PhysX files. Not sure which, though a quick search(possibly in this thread) should tell you.

 

[Mathragh]

So has anyone been able to get this to work with windows 8?

I've tried a couple of months ago, but I couldn't get physx to use the card instead of the CPU.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

So has anyone been able to get this to work with windows 8?

I've tried a couple of months ago, but I couldn't get physx to use the card instead of the CPU.

I've had some luck with hybridiz mod off ngohq forum

 

[Mathragh]

I've had some luck with hybridiz mod off ngohq forum

Got borderlands 2 to work with my 8800GT with that mod! thnx alot for the tip

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Got borderlands 2 to work with my 8800GT with that mod! thnx alot for the tip

No problem I think it safe to say the mod method might need updateing as physx mod1.5 has limited usage now.

 

[Mathragh]

No problem I think it safe to say the mod method might need updateing as physx mod1.5 has limited usage now.

That's indeed the way it seems.

Also, would I be correct when I conclude that the 8800GT can't always keep up with physx in borderlands? I seem to get some slowdowns at busy scenes, but they appear to be less serious than the slowdowns I have on CPU physx alone.

 

[Random Murderer]

That's indeed the way it seems.

Also, would I be correct when I conclude that the 8800GT can't always keep up with physx in borderlands? I seem to get some slowdowns at busy scenes, but they appear to be less serious than the slowdowns I have on CPU physx alone.

8800GT is more than enough. I've used a GTS250, an 8600GT, and a 9500GT. None of them slowed down due to PhysX over-taxing the card.
Have you set PhysX to "High"(or "Advanced" or "Hardware", can't remember how it's named in Borderlands) in the options? And did you make sure to select the 8800GT from the nVidia Control Panel as the PhysX adapter? It seems to me you're still running PhysX on the CPU.

 

[Mathragh]

8800GT is more than enough. I've used a GTS250, an 8600GT, and a 9500GT. None of them slowed down due to PhysX over-taxing the card.
Have you set PhysX to "High" in the options? And did you make sure to select the 8800GT from the nVidia Control Panel as the PhysX adapter? It seems to me you're still running PhysX on the CPU.

Well, GPU-Z does show the 8800GT is under load (between 5 and 50%). Actually, I think the load on the 8800GT lessens when theres fps drops.

Not sure what's going on, but I suppose something might be off with all the dll's I need to either leave or move(according to the hybridiz mod tutorial).

Also when I try opening the control panel, it says i need to connect a display to the 8800GT, but whenever I do that, windows seems to go into an infinite screen initialisation loop and I get two flickering black screens with just the cursor.

 

[Random Murderer]

Well, GPU-Z does show the 8800GT is under load (between 5 and 50%). Actually, I think the load on the 8800GT lessens when theres fps drops.

Not sure what's going on, but I suppose something might be off with all the dll's I need to either leave or move(according to the hybridiz mod tutorial).

Also when I try opening the control panel, it says i need to connect a display to the 8800GT, but whenever I do that, windows seems to go into an infinite screen initialisation loop and I get two flickering black screens with just the cursor.

That is odd.
Have you tried any other games that utilize PhysX?
Deleting/moving some of the game's PhysX files may do the trick. I know with Mirror's Edge and FluidMark you need to do this.
Are you trying to play Borderlands 1 or 2?

 

[Mathragh]

That is odd.
Have you tried any other games that utilize PhysX?
Deleting/moving some of the game's PhysX files may do the trick. I know with Mirror's Edge and FluidMark you need to do this.
Are you trying to play Borderlands 1 or 2?

Borderlands 2.

It looks like its sending all the physx rendering data towards the 8800GT, but then discarding that and using the CPU anyway.

 

[Random Murderer]

Borderlands 2.

Should be plug and play.
You mentioned you tried plugging a screen into the 8800GT. Did you do that while in Windows or plug it in with the PC off then boot?

 

[Mathragh]

Should be plug and play.
You mentioned you tried plugging a screen into the 8800GT. Did you do that while in Windows or plug it in with the PC off then boot?

While in windows.

Supposed it was just plug&play. Edit: does the same when I turn off the PC, plug in the monitor, and then turn it on again.

I just compared the fluidmark scores i get when using GPU Physx with the scores i get using CPU. its 50 for GPU vs 22 for CPU, so its definitely working. I'll try putting all the dll's back except for the ones he somewhere states in his post. I might've just misunderstood the poster, his text is a bit fragmented =D

 

[Random Murderer]

Any luck?

 

[Mathragh]

Any luck?

sadly, no. I tried leaving as many Nvidia DLL's out as possible without preventing the game from running. To no avail. also tried running it with other combinations, same result.


I'm not exactly experienced with this, but could it be that only a part of physx is getting accelerated? I noticed that cuda wasnt ticked in the gpu-z window, while physx was. That, and that both the hybrid fix, and the borderlands map have references to cuda(so it must be important right?). One could argue that fluidmark could correctly work, while borderlands doesnt, because fluidmark doesnt use cuda?

I'll try and backtrack/redo my whole installation tomorrow(using the new beta catalyst huehue), unless I/someone come(s) up with another solution.