Dedicated PhyisX card for an AMD rig

[Pendragon]

My PC plays most games well enough but with one small deficit, PhysX. Back when before nVidia bought them out you could buy a dedicated PhysX card. My ATI cards do their job well enough and I don't want to replace them. They owe me at least a years service... I was thinking of fitting a nVidia card and have it as PhysX card and not connected to a monitor. There is a PCIe slot free in my system but it would have to be single width and short, so not to block the air intake to one of my 6870's that it would be sat next to.

What would you guys recommend, it has to be powerful enough to get the job done. Not too big so it will fit but not affect air flow. Also not cost too much as spending a fortune would defeat the object. Don't forget this is just for PhysX nothing eles...

 

[kilobravo]

There are some slim gt440,and with a 750w psu,i think it may be the best option.

 

[Pendragon]

There are some slim gt440,and with a 750w psu,i think it may be the best option.

I have seen an Asus GeForce GT 520 it's nice and small and would meet the size and price requirements. However it's pointless if it's not powerful enough to handle the PhysX requirements of games. Is there any published benchmarks that comparer the PhysX ability's of the different nVidia cards?



Link to ASUS 520



Edit:

I forgot, Google is your friend!



http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/nvidia-physx-hack-amd-radeon,review-32051-8.html

 

[kilobravo]

The gt520 isnt much better than gt220. Gt240 and gt440 is on par.The gts250 is a powerhouse compared to the other mentioned.

But if you want single-slot,gt440 is the best option.

 

[S_I_N]

in reality since ur already running 2 6850's on a 750watt psu I dont think you have enough power to add a third gpu even if its only for physics. unless you find a card that has no psi-e power plugs and even then its going to take 75watts from the slot alone.

 

[Pendragon]

Thanks guys... After reading the Toms Hardware piece and having a think there may be better things to spend my money on. To get any real performance improvement out of it I will have to spend some hard cash and there is the issue of power as SIN pointed out. Along with driver issues as nVidia apparently don't like the idea of people running ATI cards as primary and bunging in a low spec nVidia to get the PhysX so the drivers can be problematic...