Using Maxwell’s GTX 750 Ti as a dedicated PhysX card

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-4770K (reference 3.5GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 3.7GHz; overclocked to 4.0GHz; DX11 CPU graphics), supplied by Intel.
• ECS GANK Domination Z87H3-A2X motherboard (Intel Z87 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x) supplied by ECS
• 16 GB DDR3 HyperX Kingston “Beast” RAM (2×8 GB, dual-channel at 2133MHz; supplied by Kingston)
• GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 2GB reference clocks, supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX 650 Ti, 1 GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia
• GTX 480, 1.2GB (reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• GTX 680, 2GB (reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• GTX 690, 4GB (+88MHz offset to match GTX 680 SLI reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB (reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX 780 3GB, supplied by Nvidia
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• Genius SP-D150 speakers, supplied by Genius.
• 2TB GB Toshiba 7200.10 hard drive
• Thermaltake ToughPower 775W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake
• Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro watercooler, supplied by Thermaltake
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake
• Philips DVD SATA writer
• HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD.

Test Configuration – Software

• NVIDIA GeForce WHQL 334.89. High Quality; Single-display Performance mode; Prefer Maximum Performance
• Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
• EVGA PrecisionX 4.21 overclocking and monitoring software; temperature and power targets set to maximum.
• Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions.
• vsync is forced off in the control panels.
• Varying AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied
• All results show average frame rates
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 7 64, all DX9 titles were run under DX9 render paths, DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths and DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.

The PhysX Game Benchmarks

• Borderlands 2

• Cryostasis (Tech Demo)
  

• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Metro: Last Light
• Batman: Arkham Origins

We wanted to feature Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag as it has been recently patched to include PhysX. Unfortunately, with the GTX 750 Ti installed, the game’s control panel does not even offer the options for PhysX at all, and we are waiting on a patch from Ubisoft to enable PhysX with GM107.

Cryostasis featured PhysX in 2008 but it was so demanding that it could barely run at 1920×1080 with GTX 280 Quad-SLI with everything else maxed out. Its particle and fluid simulations are still very demanding on a dedicated PhysX card.

We also picked the latest two Batman Arkham games as they feature PhysX and have built in benchmarks, as well as Metro: Last Light and Borderlands 2.

Let’s head to our performance charts.