Physx - To use or not to use?

Currently running SLI setup - sig.

I understand the whole point of Physx however notice it only runs in a few games and will only apply to games that actually utilise Physx.

If I am running SLI but with Physx 'Enabled' on one of my GPU's is it still going to use the processing speed when gaming on a non physx game solely because its active? Or does Physx only use the card when it is required.

I need to know as if there is no benefit of having it enabled then I might as well switch it off, and if its draining my FPS for no reason its going in the recycle bin.

Thanks

 

if you have physx enabled in your sli page and it's default settings, you are not dedicating an entire gpu to physx, so you will still benefit from sli. if you dedicate a card to physx, then sli will not work! this is not the default option however and is not recommended in most cases. The default option rather balances the load depending on what is happening.

having it on there is of no consequence due to the fact that all games which have physx have a toggle setting inside the menu. try and enable and see how it runs, if it runs too slow, then disable.

if a game uses the physx library, you cannot run it without physx installed. it's just like directx... if a game was developed using directx, you must have it installled if you wish to play.

you can however stop it from using graphics cards to run physx and just do the basic "cpu physx", while (usually) the least visually appealing, this will get you the most fps in games and (most importantly) will allow you to play the game.

 

Thanks I do have SLI running and have not set it up to run on a dedicated card due to there being so few games that actually use Physx.

Ill leave it as it is then if it does not utilise the card unless Physx is required.

 

yeah,
if the game does not use it, then it has no performance hit.
if a games does use it, you can toggle it on and off in the game (requires a restart of the game every time). if the fps is still acceptable ( >40 in my case) then i'd leave it on for the extra eyecandy.

 

i've always kept it on but even on my single 9600M GT , always got 20fps+ on high settings on 1280X800..