ATI Vs. NVidia: Phys-X Vs. Eyefinity

[samjc3]

Ive been thinking about building myself a new desktop (and spending lots of money on it), but I cant decide whether to go with AMD/ATI graphics or NVidia. I have always been very happy with NVidia in the past, and love them still. The multiple monitor support on new eyefinity cards is very appealing, however. So really what it comes down to, is Phys-X vs. Eyefinity. What do you think?

I am leaning towards NVidia, but there is also the higher price point to consider.

 

[XCVG]

PhysX is only used on a handful of games and I was never impressed. Keep in mind that turning PhysX on may slow down your graphics. Eyefinity is neat, but only if you have more than two (mostly identical) monitors.

 

[bic]

If you do a lot of video encoding, Nvidia is better about offloading those jobs to the GPU (which does the job much faster).

 

[samjc3]

PhysX is only used on a handful of games and I was never impressed. Keep in mind that turning PhysX on may slow down your graphics. Eyefinity is neat, but only if you have more than two (mostly identical) monitors.

You must not have been playing the same Phys-x games I have, because I have always been VERY impressed. And if I were to go the eyefinity route, I would probably buy the monitors specifically, so getting identical wont be an issue. Is it possible to run hybrid? like a gtx 580 and a 6870 and run display on output on one and phys-x on the other? Or I suppose I could use the ATI phys-x solution, but I dont really wanna deal with that. And I dont do any video editing or anything like that. This would be a strict gaming machine.

 

[XCVG]

To be honest, it's been a long time since I looked at PhysX. If you can afford three monitors for Eyefinity, go for it. nVidia has a similar technology but requires two cards in SLI to work. And it is indeed possible to run hybrid- nVidia for PhysX and ATI for graphics. A quick google search reveals that. With a hack, of course- this is not officially supported. You wouldn't need something like a GTX 580 though- even an old G92 based card would do fine.

 

[samjc3]

Hmm. If that is the case, then my current GTX 9500 or whatever it is and 2 6870's in crossfire should do quite nicely. And maybe I can overclock the phenom to 7.088ghz.

 

[Mako321]

http://www.lucidlogix.com/

 

[XCVG]

If you can afford two videocards, why not two nVidia cards?

 

[Bush]

Hmm. If that is the case, then my current GTX 9500 or whatever it is and 2 6870's in crossfire should do quite nicely. And maybe I can overclock the phenom to 7.088ghz.

Please tell me this is a typo.

 

[Mako321]

Nope, if you cool 'em right, phenoms clock speeds can go up the ceiling.

 

[Twilight Wolf]

And maybe I can overclock the phenom to 7.088ghz.

Not without a liquid nitrogen cooling setup you can't.

 

[bic]

But it's an AMD PHENOM it can do ANYTHING

 

[samjc3]

And maybe I can overclock the phenom to 7.088ghz.

Not without a liquid nitrogen cooling setup you can't.

Actually the potential for overclocking on liquid nitrogen tops at about 6.9ghz. They needed liquid helium to break 7ghz. Shame liquid helium is so expensive, otherwise I might do it. Ive been thinking maybe a modified industrial air conditioner with the radiators replaced with......

If you can afford two videocards, why not two nVidia cards?

Because Nvidia cards cant do multi monitor gaming at all the same. (Lestways nobody talks about it if they can.) Although I may go for an HMD, and if I did that, I would definitely go Nvidia. Probably SLI two GTX 460 FTW's.

 

[XCVG]

Actually, yes they can. It's not as slick as Eyefinity, but the feature is there for up to three monitors. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/07/ ... nce_review

Have you already bought the Phenom, or are you planning to buy it? Buying a Phenom now would be a questionable decision, since Sandy Bridge kicks its ass for the same price and Bulldozer is just around the corner.

 

[Bizzar1]

You can use 3 monitors on ANY game/program via: http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/

 

[Twilight Wolf]

XCVG, I am going to demand that your title be changed from "Resident Troll" to a much more fitting "Intel Adbot."

 

[XCVG]

I'm not being a huge Intel fanboy, just stating the facts. Sandy Bridge is significantly faster than Phenom II, Bulldozer probably will be too. AMD was competitive against i3/5/7 Nehalem, but they don't have an answer to Sandy Bridge out yet.

 

[Zero]

He is indeed an Intel Adbot, but he also has a very valid point.

Personally, I'm tempted to make a new rig with that new unlocked i7 if I get the money.

 

[samjc3]

I havent bought anything yet. And I will probably end up just upgrading my current desktop for now anyway. And I think Im gonna just get an HMD instead of multi monitor.

 

[Twilight Wolf]

And maybe I can overclock the phenom to 7.088ghz.

Not without a liquid nitrogen cooling setup you can't.

Actually the potential for overclocking on liquid nitrogen tops at about 6.9ghz. They needed liquid helium to break 7ghz. Shame liquid helium is so expensive, otherwise I might do it. Ive been thinking maybe a modified industrial air conditioner with the radiators replaced with......

Disproven.