PhysX + ATi Question

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iDenTiTy

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OK here's the deal..

I have an ASUS P5NE-SLI board - quite cool. :)
I have a Geforce 8800GTS - quite nice. :)
I would like to get an ATi 4850 - cool. :eek: :)

I would like to know if it is possible to have BOTH the Nvidia and ATi in my machine (NOT SLI'd). :confused:

My idea is to have the ATi as the primary display card, and use the Nvidia for PhysX in games... :cool:

Is it possible? And oh - I'm using Vista Ultimate x64... :o
 
I will wait for the modded driver which will enable hardware PhysX for 4850....
 
cyberarmy said:
I will wait for the modded driver which will enable hardware PhysX for 4850....
Click to expand...

That would be cool. BUT:

I already have an 8800GTS, and would like to use it maybe.

Besides if a card has to do BOTH (physics and graphics) - then it has to balance/split the workload in the pipelines, thereby lowering the FPS...

SO I would like to use both, but for different reasons...

If it makes any sense...
 
Why does he need to waste money if he can do the same thing with his 8800GTS?

Identity, this would be a good experiment ;)
 
well... I don't see why though, just buy another 8800gts and there you go, massive performance, physX and all at the same cost of a new card... I'm sure the 8800gts is the same price as the 4850, and btw, having 2 cards will unleash huge power
 
scotty777 said:
well... I don't see why though, just buy another 8800gts and there you go, massive performance, physX and all at the same cost of a new card... I'm sure the 8800gts is the same price as the 4850, and btw, having 2 cards will unleash huge power
Click to expand...

Yip. Same price, but better than 2x 8800GTS.

Besides, I might aswell make use of it...
 
just buy another 8800gts
Click to expand...

This has some disadvantages.

1. You need a beefy PSU.
2. You need an expensive SLI motherboard.
3. There are a few instances in which SLI doesn't work 100% with certain apps and certain drivers.

If you already have numbers 1 and 2, then it's not so bad... But this is why I would personally rather buy a Radeon 4850 or 4870 than another Geforce 8800 GTS.
 
1x4850 is better than 2x 8800GTS (pure graphics performance) and he'd still need to dedicate 1 8800 GTS to PhysX.

Anyways, whatever the reasons; There is no harm in trying.

I know you can run 2 gfx cards side-by-side without SLI, but I'm unsure of how windows handles it.
 
Can be done have 2 cards in the same PC
Only one driver can be installed at once. there-fore one card will run and the othwer wont...? just a logical guess :)

I think you have to have Nvidia drivers installed with PhysX drivers to enable PhysX in games so can't realy be done as you have to have ATI drivers installed to yse ATI card.
 
Last edited:
Glordit said:
Can be done have 2 cards in the same PC
Only one driver can be installed at once. there-fore one card will run and the othwer wont...? just a logical guess :)

I think you have to have Nvidia drivers installed with PhysX drivers to enable PhysX in games so can't realy be done as you have to have ATI drivers installed to yse ATI card.
Click to expand...

I understand your reasoning...

However, if I install the nvidia card by "updating driver" through device manager - referencing the .inf, without installing the control panel.

So I would therefore have ATI and CCC and Nvidia installed without control panel... doesn't the physx driver just look for the relevant .inf?

:confused:
 
iDenTiTy_CRiSiS said:
I understand your reasoning...

However, if I install the nvidia card by "updating driver" through device manager - referencing the .inf, without installing the control panel.

So I would therefore have ATI and CCC and Nvidia installed without control panel... doesn't the physx driver just look for the relevant .inf?

:confused:
Click to expand...

mmm I see, well it's worth a shot! :D so just get Windozzz to see the Nvidia physX part and not the actual nvdia display drivers!
 
I think it should be possible to have 2 different makes of VGA cards installed at once, but I'm not totally sure how Windows will react to it. I read in a newsletter that nVidia cards also have some restrictions on 2 different card generations at once in a system.

Good luck and let us know what happens :)
 
Not that won't work unfortunately. 1. PhysX only works on G92 based GPUs and nwere so far (that is 8800GT 8800GTS 512, 9800GTX/+ GTX 260/280/290)
If you do have a 8800GTS 512MiB already, then just get a second one. That config is faster than any single card out there. (9800GX2, GTX280 and 4870 included)
You'll have plenty of graphics power and some to spare for physX

Don't mix the AMD and NVIDIA card if you can help it.
 
ShockG said:
Not that won't work unfortunately. 1. PhysX only works on G92 based GPUs and nwere so far (that is 8800GT 8800GTS 512, 9800GTX/+ GTX 260/280/290)
If you do have a 8800GTS 512MiB already, then just get a second one. That config is faster than any single card out there. (9800GX2, GTX280 and 4870 included)
You'll have plenty of graphics power and some to spare for physX

Don't mix the AMD and NVIDIA card if you can help it.
Click to expand...

I'm waiting for the official driver enabling G80 cards...

I only have the one 8800GTS 320 XXX, PhysX doesn't work in SLI yet.

I will try with a 2900XT today and let you guys know. Not the PhysX though...
 
2900XT today is no good :( wouldn't bother really as 3870 will give you better performance.
 
I assume he can source (borrow or has one lying around) a 2900XT for testing purposes ...
 
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