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Physics acceleration via the GPU

Mirror's Edge: Physx effects benchmark review

DICE's Mirror's Edge is the first big title that, due to Physx, displays additional effects exclusively on the PC. PC Games Hardware checked how visualization and gameplay are effected and also tested the required performance.


Mirror's Edge: Physx effects reviewed
 
Mirror's Edge: Physx effects reviewed [Source: view picture gallery]
Mirror's Edge - Physx effects reviewed: Introduction
Mirror's Edge is a visually and technically unique title: Besides the Unreal Engine 3 and lighting renderer Beat from Illuminate Labs Developer DICE (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment) also utilizes the Ageia's Novodex Physics Engine - better known as Nvidia Physx. The latter one is a middleware that is used in combination with the UE3.

Compared to the console version the PC counterpart shows off with additional physics effects, which can be switched on/off in the video options. If those are activated, bursting window panes, the interactive fragments of which can wound or even kill an opponent, create a more realistic atmosphere and a obviously better visualization. Furthermore there is dynamic, environmental reactive smoke and a Cloth Simulation that makes cloth interact with bullets or the wind.

Nvidia Control Panel: Use a second Geforce as dedicated Physx accelerator.
 
Nvidia Control Panel: Use a second Geforce as dedicated Physx accelerator. [Source: view picture gallery]
Mirror's Edge - Physx effects reviewed: Processor or Geforce?
There are two possibilities to have the additional effects calculated: Either the processor does it (for Radeon graphics cards or Geforce 7 and older Nvidia cards) or a GPU Physx compatible Geforce graphics card (Geforce 8 or better). IF you choose the GPU accelerated Physx you also can use a second Geforce card and have it calculate nothing but the Physx workload. To do so you select the card intended for Physx in the driver panel. It doesn't matter if you are using Vista or XP since Physx work on both operating systems. And because Mirror's Edge is a D3D9 game the graphics look the same on XP and Vista, too.

On the next page you can find all benchmark results as well as details on the processor usage and our conclusion.

Other articles related to Mirror's Edge:
Mirror's Edge: Graphics cards benchmarks plus comparative screenshots
Physx in Mirror's Edge: Video shows advantages of the PC version compared to consoles
Download: Mirror's Edge Patch 1.01 - Update solves Physx problems
Mirror's Edge: Final system requirements plus copy protection details

Picture gallery  (enlarge to view source)





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Author: Marc Sauter (Jan 22, 2009)


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Comments (7)

Comments 4 to 7  Read all comments here!
ruyven_macaran Re: Mirror's Edge: Physx effects benchmark review
Super Moderator
15.05.2009 02:50
Considering wider and wider Memory-Interfaces (up to two times 448Bit with the new GTX295 single PCB :wow: ): Never.
Personally I keep an eye on the case manufacturers returning to full-length-compatible cases, as it was standard a decade ago. (but somehow todays cases always have to put some 5,25" bays in front of this, so they get to deep for my setup while wasting free space in height)
ruyven_macaran Re: Mirror's Edge: Physx effects benchmark review
Super Moderator
12.05.2009 12:04
You should wait for the GTX260 (might also try a GTS250, which isn't that much worse and a huge improvement from a 8600GTS.), as for example Vista does not allow different graphic-card-drivers to be active, so you can only run several cards of the same manufacturer.
Also keep in mind, that a 8600+4870 might actually be slower, then a GTX260 by herself, as can been seen here:
www.pcgameshardware.de/ai...
(don't think we had an english edition of this article, but the benchmarks should be unilingual )
As you can see: 4870+PPU (this actually works on modern operating systems, as the ageia physX card doesn't need any graphic driver. but getting new drivers at all is also getting hard, so not realy an option) are hardly any better then the GTX260 by herself, while the gtx260+ppu pairing is definetly faster then gtx260+8600gt. take this difference and subtract it from the 4870+ppu results and this combination marks the lowest end of the list.
pcghx_Kristoffer Re: Mirror's Edge: Physx effects benchmark review
Administrator
10.02.2009 16:02
Quote: (Originally Posted by Unregistered - Giz)
Hi Marc,
Am I reading your graph on page 2 correctly and there is NEGATIVE performance by using a 8400GS as a Physx processor (as compared to not having an additional card, and using the 260 alone?) It looks like you get HALF the performance if you do this!

Your results:
G260-216 GPU, 9600GT PPU: 66.6
G260-216 GPU, 8600GT PPU: 60.1
G260-216 GPU AND PPU (single card): 52.3
***G260-216 GPU, 8400GS PPU: 24.7***

Thanks,
giz


Yes that's right. The 8400 is so overstressed by the calculations, that it slows the whole system down.

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