- June 19, 2012
- Written by Mark
-
Several months ago I announced that I would be building a dedicated PhysX test system for the site to test out Hybrid PhysX configurations and do benchmarking and reviews. This past weekend I finally got around to playing around to putting it together. I got it up and running with Windows 7 and the GT430 video card as the dedicated PhysX card. To test out the Hybrid PhysX I used GenL’s Hybrid PhysX mod v1.05ff along with the latest GeForce 301.42 – WHQL video card drivers and the packaged PhysX System Software v9.12.0213 with the XFX GT430 as the dedicated PhysX card. It worked with FluidMark 1.3.1 but not the newer version. I also could not get any of the games or demos to run with it. As of right now GenL has stopped updating the mod to work with the newest drivers so the latest stable drivers that work with v10.05ff are the 285.58 / 285.62 Geforce drivers and PhysX system software 9.11.0621.
This weekend I plan to try out the Hybrid PhysX mod with latest supported drivers that work so I can really do some testing and benchmarks so stay tuned!
Below are the specs for the dedicated PhysX test system. As i said before, i plan to upgrade it with newer hardware and get a second HD6950 for CrossFire + PhysX testing and more!
BIOSTAR A870U3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
1 x AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor
Cooler Master RR-910-HTX3-G1 130-Watt 92mm Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler
1 x XFX Double D HD-695X-ZDFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 Video Card
1 x OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5″ 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
1 x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
1 x Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Power Supply
XFX GF GT430 700M 1 GB DDR3 PCI-E Video Card
MSI GeForce GTS 250 Video Card 512MB
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- March 18, 2012
- Written by Mark
-
I am pleased to announce that GamePhys will soon have a dedicated test and benchmarking system for the site. This was a project I have been meaning to do since I started the site back in 2009 but never got around to it. The first phase of this project really got started this past Black Friday when I picked up several good deals on hardware and decided it would be a good time to move ahead with the project. I have now finished purchasing all of the hardware and plan to put it all together sometime this week.
I plan to start by doing basic guides and tutorials on how to setup dedicated PhysX cards and Hyrbid PhysX systems using the HD6950 with dedicated NVIDIA PhysX cards. As you can see, some of the hardware especially the motherboard is not exactly top of the line but will be perfect for doing basic Hyrbid PhysX setup tutorials and testing. I eventually plan to replace the motherboard and purchase another HD6950 for CrossFire setups with a dedicated PhysX card and then eventually do some real performance benchmarking with everything from different hardware configurations to overclocking! I also hope that the rumors are true that the upcoming NVIDIA Kepler/GK104 Will Have Dedicated PhysX Hardware so I can use this new system to test it out!
Below are the current specs of the systems inculding the two dedicated PhysX cards I will be using, the XFX GF GT430 and the MSI GeForce GTS 250.
BIOSTAR A870U3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
1 x AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor
Cooler Master RR-910-HTX3-G1 130-Watt 92mm Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler
1 x XFX Double D HD-695X-ZDFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 Video Card
1 x OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5″ 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
1 x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
1 x Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Power Supply
MYOPENPC DOMA Pro PCI Black Transparent Acrylic Open Computer Case
XFX GF GT430 700M 1 GB DDR3 PCI-E Video Card
MSI GeForce GTS 250 Video Card 512MB
- January 26, 2012
- Written by Mark
-
If you have been thinking about getting a cheap NVIDIA card as a dedicated PhysX card to go along with your AMD video card you may want to check out this HD 6970 + Dedicated GT 430 Hybrid Physx Mini Review thread over at hardforums. Hardforum member N1GHTRA1N has done a very in-depth review and benchmarking of his AMD HD 6970 with both a NVIDIA GT 430 and GTX 460 as dedicated PhysX card using the Hybrid 1.04ff patch. Several other forum members have added benchmarks from their hybrid PhysX setups and added more information. If you are using an AMD GPU and thinking about getting a cheap NVIDIA card for PhysX then i suggest you read through this entire thread, it has some great information.
From N1GHTRA1N’s HD 6970 + Dedicated GT 430 Hybrid Physx Mini Review:
Overall the GT 430 matches up well and does allow you to enable Physx in Physx titles when playing with an AMD graphics card. There is a pretty big performance hit compared to having Physx disabled but in all cases frame rates were still playable. There is a pretty substantial upgrade when comparing Physx On with the GT 430 added, it made the difference of being playable or not. The GTX 460 does show it’s extra power compared to the GT 430, you will get a few extra FPS using the GTX 460, I noticed between 2-5 FPS increase in most games tested after “upgrading” to the GTX 460. It is also worth noting that the EVGA GTX 460 1GB FTW edition is heavily overclocked out of the box, I ran this card at the factory defaults of 850/1000 which may account for the additional FPS scored, as well as some of the additional power usage. I can only guess, but I would think using a stock clock speed GTX 460 would result in slightly low FPS and slightly lower power draw. There is potential that the FPS performance of a stock clocked GTX 460 could be identical to the GT 430, however the power usage will always be lower on the GT 430. Remember the stock speeds for a GTX 460 is 675/900 and the GT 430 I used is 700/800 which the GTX 460 I used is 850/1000.
With all things considering I think the GT 430 is a very good solution if you must have Physx support with a AMD card. The results are playable frame rates with Physx enabled, something AMD can’t do on its own. If you decide to go with a higher GPU like the GTX 460 you may get some extra performance, it is a very small 2-5fps but there is some performance increase. It is difficult to say if this is due to the extra clock speeds, 256-bit memory bus (compared to 128-bit GT 430), or the extra CUDA cores (336 vs 96). The bottom line is that I cannot justify the cost of a GTX 460 when you consider the minimal increase in performance compared to the GT 430, especially if you value power consumption and case temperatures. The GTX 460 will most certainly require extra power and generate extra heat, this costs you extra money on your electrical bill. The GT 430 is also available in a large variety of single card solutions, the GTX 460 does have some single slot designs but they are expensive and add extra heat due to a poorer cooling solution.
Source [Hardforum.com]
- November 6, 2011
- Written by Mark
-
GenL has released his Hybrid PhysX mod version 1.05ff for GeForce 285.xx drivers and PhysX System Software 9.11.0621. If you use an AMD/ATI graphics card but want to have GPU PhysX support for the latest games that support it you can use this mod to use a second cheap NVIDIA card to calculate the PhysX while the ATI/AMD card will be the main graphics renderer. Check out the official Hybrid PhysX mod thread over at the ngohq.com forums for more information. To see how this works check out the Sapphire ATI Radeon 5870 + 9800GT Hybrid PhysX setup Video and the GenL’s Hybrid PhysX Mod Running ATI HD4870 X2 EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX( Dedicated PhysX Card) that we posted about before.
From the NGOHQ.com Hybrid PhysX mod v1.03 / v1.05ff page:
1.05ff – 26/10/2011:
- added support for fixing new limitations introduced in 285.xx drivers and PhysX System Software 9.11.0621
- mod will now delete all application 3D settings profiles from NVIDIA Control Panel (prevents problems with known PhysX games)
- updated old patterns
* INSTALLATION STEPS (Windows 7):
1. Install the needed GeForce driver 256 package. Update PhysX SS (only 9.10.0223 or later) if needed.
2. Use the mod to patch all needed files and registry values automatically.
3. [optional] Use command line files to set a desired configuration.
* INSTALLATION STEPS (Windows XP/2003):
1. Install the needed GeForce driver 256 package. Update PhysX SS (only 9.10.0223 or later) if needed.
2. Use the mod to patch all needed files and registry values automatically.
3. Extend the display assigned to NVIDIA GPU. Or make sure it is extended already.
4. [optional] Use command line files to set a desired configuration.
* NOTES:
1. If you update PhysX System Software after using the mod, you should use it again to patch the updated PhysX files.
2. It is safe to use the mod several times – all needed files will be patched only once.
3. If you still have problems with fake displays and desktop extension, try to delete a fake display and create it again.
4. To let the mod correctly patch all needed files on x64 versions of Windows XP/2003, install KB942589 hotfix first.
Source ngohq.com
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