PhysX Cards - 10 years later do they still suck??

PhysX cards have aged since their prime, and this video reexamines their relevance with modern hardware. The host outlines the goals: test the full range of current 1000-series Nvidia Pascal GPUs alongside a dedicated PhysX card to gauge real-world benefits, identify the best value for a PhysX card, and decide whether adding an older card to a new build makes sense or if selling it is better. The experiments span several titles, including Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, Metro Last Light, Fallout 4, and Batman Arkham Knight, highlighting how PhysX performance varies by title and workload. Early results with lower-end GPUs show mixed gains, with some setups providing only marginal improvements and others delivering more noticeable boosts in special effects like smoke and particle systems. The video then escalates to higher-end configurations, including GTX 1080 paired with a 730 or a 750 Ti, to illustrate how some scenarios yield diminishing returns or even negative impact when a weaker card is forced into the PhysX role. Throughout, the host emphasizes that the overall ecosystem still lacks broad game support, which undermines the practical value of dedicated PhysX hardware for most users. The conclusion is pragmatic: for most gamers, dedicated PhysX cards are not worth it unless you have a strong affinity for specific PhysX-heavy games such as certain Batman titles, and the best advice is to consider the limited software support and decide based on your titles of interest and budget. The video closes with a call to like, subscribe, and check related content, while noting the ongoing peculiarities of DirectX 12 and SLI as broader context for hardware interpolation in gaming.

Topics · hardware and GPUs · gaming hardware · pc gaming · technology reviews