PhysX - Coming To A GPU Near You!
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Nvidia is preparing to roll out full support for hardware accelerated physics on its high end graphics cards including the 9800 & 200 series. New beta drivers which enable this functionality can now be found using the advanced driver search tool. Version 177.39 installs PhysX drivers that will enable the graphics card to emulate Ageia hardware. Physics acceleration is part of Nvidia’s new CUDA initiative aimed at convincing gamers that graphics hardware is more capable and valuable then CPU’s. Games of note that currently support PhysX include Gears of War, Mass Effect, Rainbow Six Vegas, and Unreal Tournament 3. The list of supported titles is expected to grow exponentially as Nvidia rolls this feature out to older hardware in the coming months.
Installing beta drivers is risky business, and for most games the payoff just isn’t worth the risk. But for savvy users who wish to push ahead anyway Nvidia has partnered with Midway to take full advantage of PhysX acceleration in Unreal Tournament 3. To see PhysX is all it’s glory, users must download and install the Extreme Physics Mod from its nzone gaming site. The Extreme Physics Mod makes Unreal Tournament 3 the first title to offer unique game play to owners of compatible hardware. A complete list of titles that support PhysX can be found on Wikipedia, however, aside from Unreal Tournament 3 the benefits at this point should prove to be little more then a slightly easier ride for your CPU.
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blackdog
July 02, 2008 at 2:30pm
I modded the inf file and have them running on my 8800GT and they work fine, noticed a 3 - 5 % increase but thats without doing much tweaking.
usp211816
July 01, 2008 at 6:11pm
PhysX is about as usefull as 6 cores
if your running the "special" versions of those games on that card yes it runs faster.
like the idea of CUDA though why buy a beter cpu when i can slap in a better gpu and kill 2 birds with one stone.
think ill wait a few months see if it files before i buy.
if all else fails...
chris.peplin
June 30, 2008 at 8:09pm
I haven't really seen a good answer to this - why does it make sense to add to the workload of my already pummeled 8800GT, by processing physics as well as graphics? When will these drivers support running two cards to do these two tasks?
horzo
June 30, 2008 at 9:22am
Nvidia has always said that CUDA drivers will be released for the 8-series cards, but that newer hardware will be supported first. This hasn't changed.
Note above: "The list of supported titles is expected to grow exponentially as
Nvidia rolls this feature out to older hardware in the coming months."
Fenthic
June 29, 2008 at 9:50pm
That was the impression i got as well when it was first talked about. That everything from the 8800 series on up was going to work. But now anything i read is 9800 and up. Oh well not many games use it now anyways and i bet it still wont catch on mainstream by the time i upgrade my system next year.
pepper_roni
June 29, 2008 at 8:00pm
I had thought that the 8 series would have physics support to? Oh well. :(
digital demon
June 30, 2008 at 8:42am
"The list of supported titles is expected to grow exponentially as
Nvidia rolls this feature out to older hardware in the coming months."I'm assuming that "older hardware" means the 8800 series.
Justin.Kerr
June 29, 2008 at 9:21pm
From what I understand the 8 series WILL eventually get PhysX support. For obovious reasons, they are concentrating on the high end stuff first.
johnny3144
June 30, 2008 at 8:20am
not just perfomance wise... they are basically the same core, the G92. i really don't see the difference between 8800GTS(G92) and 9800GTX.... other than the second 6 Pin PCI-E power connector.
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